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The judge dismissed 10 out of 13 lawsuits brought by Blake Lively against Justin Baldoni.
Perhaps not so for the reasons some of his supporters seem to believe.
Apparently the nature of her work and filming location means she is unable to pursue her allegations of sexual harassment.
Although her retaliation lawsuit moves forward, Team Baldoni appears to be headed toward victory.
Because, in fact, that’s why anything good happens
Lively accused Baldoni, her director and co-star, of sexual harassment during the film’s production And it ends with us.
She described him as making unwelcome comments about her appearance and weight, among other things.
On Thursday, April 2, Judge Louis Lehman ruled that 10 of 13 of Lively’s claims could not proceed.
Simply put, Lively cannot file a sexual harassment claim under federal law because the court determined that she was an independent contractor.
She also cannot file a lawsuit for sexual harassment under California law because And it ends with us Filmed in New Jersey.
To be frank, this is a shocking highlight of the major shortcomings of our legal system. More on that in a moment.
Lively also accused Baldoni of hiring a publicist to launch a smear campaign against her.
The goal was to plant and amplify negative stories about her. Anyone who was on social media in the late summer of 2024 remembers how intense things were.
She says this was clear retaliation against her.
Judge Lehman ruled that retaliation claims could proceed. That aiding and abetting retaliation and breach of contract remains part of the claim.
“The defendants were not afraid of the truth,” Baldoni’s attorney, Brian Friedman, said in a statement. TMZ On Friday, April 3.
“The plan was not just to tell the truth, but also to show the same truth over and over again by presenting actual evidence,” the statement claimed.
Friedman then claimed: “Neither Justin Baldoni, Jamie Heath, nor any of the other defendants participated in the sexual harassment of Blake Lively.”
“Despite our client being accused of DARVO (Denial, Attack, Reverse Victim and Perpetrator) in defending these allegations and despite referring to our client in writing as a predator,” the statement continued.
“What I said on behalf of our client on day one and every day since has been true,” Friedman claimed. “Our clients are very good people and did not engage in this sexual harassment as is alleged.”
“As such, they deserve a vigorous defense conducted through transparency,” Friedman insisted.
He then expressed: “It is pleasing to see the court’s ruling confirm what the legal team believed from day one.”
Just to be clear, the court’s ruling confirmed that Lively was an independent contractor, and that And it ends with us Not filmed in California.
Meanwhile, Lively’s lawyer, Sigrid McCauley, said the case “is and will always be focused on the devastating retaliation and extraordinary steps the defendants took to destroy Blake Lively’s reputation.”
McCauley also stressed that “the sexual harassment will not go forward, not because the defendants did nothing wrong, but because the court determined that Blake Lively was an independent contractor, not an employee.”
This is an indictment of our legal system
As many on social media point out, this ruling has more to do with our legal system than with any facts in the case — in Baldoni’s favor or in Lively’s favor.
Federal Title VII protections allow employees to sue for sexual harassment.
But an independent contractor — which can mean anything from someone hired for a one-time job to someone who effectively works as a full-time employee without benefits — has no such recourse.
This, like the lines on the map dividing California from New Jersey, is technical. This is not the reality of the case. It’s not justice.
If Baldoni really wanted to prove his alleged innocence, this was not it. In the eyes of the public — at least anyone who reads after a headline — this may be as much a setback for him as it is for Lively.
