Thursday’s ruling was supposed to settle something. It didn’t.
A federal judge in Manhattan dismissed most of Blake Lively’s claims against Justin Baldoni — including the sexual harassment claims. Baldoni’s team is calling it a win. His supporters are already doing victory laps. But before anyone starts engraving the trophy, they should read what actually survived. What is left in this case is the part that keeps the ugliest question alive.
Three claims survived: two retaliation-related claims and a breach-of-contract claim that sends this mess toward a May 18 trial. And that matters because this case was not just about what allegedly happened on the set of It Ends With Us. It was also about what allegedly happened after Lively complained. Judge Lewis J. Liman said a jury can still decide whether Wayfarer Studios, Baldoni’s production company, retaliated against Lively and damaged her reputation or career after she raised concerns. That is the trial.
Why the Dismissal Isn’t the Clean Win It’s Being Sold As
The sexual harassment claims were dismissed for legal reasons, not because the court declared the set normal or harmless. Liman found that Lively was working as an independent contractor rather than an employee, which blocked her Title VII claim. He also dismissed her California harassment claim because the alleged conduct did not occur in California. And he ruled that some alleged conduct had to be evaluated in the context of filming scenes, not a standard workplace.
What he did not do was bless the conduct. The ruling recounts Lively’s allegations that Baldoni leaned in as if to kiss her, rubbed his face and mouth against her neck, flicked her lower lip with his thumb, and told her her neck “smells good.” It also says she alleged he pushed to film a birth scene with simulated nudity and left the set open to people she said should not have been there. The ruling further references an allegation that, after asking her to remove a jacket, Baldoni said she looked “pretty hot” and then quipped, “Sorry, I missed the sexual harassment training.” While those allegations remain allegations, some of them could still be relevant to the retaliation claims headed to trial. Yes, the case got smaller, but it did not get cleaner.
Both Sides Have Already Lost Big
Anyone selling this as one long Baldoni comeback needs to check the record. His $400 million countersuit against Lively and Ryan Reynolds was dismissed in June 2025. His related $250 million defamation case against The New York Times was dismissed too. That doesn’t sound like the record of one side steamrolling the other. It is the record of a legal war that has already chewed up major claims on both sides and is now closing in on the issue that was always going to be the hardest to contain: whether Lively raised concerns about the set and whether that triggered retaliation.
Lively’s attorney said she “looks forward to testifying” and cast the surviving claims as proof the case “has always been” about retaliation after she raised safety concerns. Baldoni’s lawyers called what remains a “significantly narrowed case.” Both statements are true as far as they go. Neither tells the whole story. One side lost most of its original claims. The other already lost the blockbuster countersuit it used to punch back. That counts more as a reset than a closure.
The Part No One in Hollywood Wants To Examine Out Loud
This saga dragged in Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Swift, PR operatives, leaked texts, and a press cycle that turned a box office hit into a reputational brawl. It Ends With Us grossed more than $351 million worldwide, which only made the off-screen fight more visible and more useful to every camp trying to control the narrative. Lively supporters think they know exactly what this says about Baldoni. Baldoni supporters think the court just exposed the whole thing. Hollywood, as usual, would probably prefer to pretend this is just another ugly celebrity feud.
Everybody please congratulate me on Blake Lively’s psycho claims about Justin Baldoni being dismissed.
We worked really hard on that one.
In the end, truth wins.
🙌
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) April 2, 2026
It is not that simple. What lands in front of that jury on May 18 is a very specific question dressed up in legal language: if you complained that something went wrong on set, and your reputation or career took a hit afterward, was that retaliation?
That is why this ruling still matters, even after most of the claims were thrown out. The sexual harassment claims are gone. The reputational war is not. And the remaining claims point straight at the part of this story the industry never likes to look at for very long — what speaking up can cost once the publicists, lawyers, and fan armies get involved.
So here’s the question that should make executives nervous right now. If you were the actor in that situation — whether you loved Blake Lively, hated Justin Baldoni, or trusted neither of them — would you speak up right away, or would you start calculating the price first?