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They say it’s important to have hobbies.
Despite some mass firings, Justin Baldoni is still embroiled in his legal war against Blake Lively.
However, one of his other lawsuits is moving forward.
This is nothing against Lively. But the matter is not separate, because it is the woman he is allegedly suing to talk To live.
This lawsuit is against Stephanie Jones, her former publicist
In December of 2024, Stephanie Jones — founder of Jonesworks PR — reportedly filed a lawsuit against Wayfarer, his production company, along with Baldoni’s crisis PR team.
Jones alleged several claims, including breach of contract.
Baldoni and Jennifer Appel, his publicist, filed a countersuit, accusing Jones of defamation and violating client confidentiality by sharing their private communications.
Jones filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni’s claims.
In Touch Weekly Reports indicate that Judge Louis J. Lehman has allowed two sides of Baldoni’s claim to move forward.
Wayfarer claims that “Jones and Jonesworks made one or more statements” to Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and publicist Leslie Sloan.
These were the alleged statements “that Wayfarer had retaliated against Lively and others for reporting alleged sexual misconduct.”
The retaliation “included organizing a ‘smear campaign’ by spreading false and misleading narratives about Lively for the purpose of damaging her image and reputation.”
Many in the general public may consider these to be statements of fact.
However, Baldoni and Wayfarer consider these statements to be defamatory – meaning that Jones made the statements and knew they were false.
Part of the lawsuit relies on the allegations against Baldoni being false
Baldoni and Wayfarer’s argument does not stop there.
“Wayfarer claims that Jones knew that the statement she made to Sloan was false,” the lawsuit alleges.
The documents continue: “Since she was not fully aware that Lively had not only been sexually harassed during filming, but also knew that there was no ‘smear campaign.’” This is…interesting.
“This is evident because Jones was copied in numerous Wayfarer emails and text messages during the relevant period,” the lawsuit alleges. “And he knew full well that Wayfarer was not interacting with the press at all in August 2024.”
The documents went so far as to claim: “Not to mention carrying out offensive tactics in retaliation for something that never happened.”
As we noted, Jones filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
However, the court refused to dismiss the defamation claims.
The reason is that “Jones may have been in a position to know the veracity of her statements at the time.”
It looks like Wayfarer will essentially force Jones to prove that she didn’t talk to Lively about it.
Or to prove that there was a smear campaign against Lively, and that Baldoni was the one who orchestrated it.
We’ve linked to this (dated) list of the initial lawsuit, if that’s helpful
Know something and proof It’s different things.
Of course, on the other hand, Baldoni may have to prove that Jones made the statements and that they were false.
That’s a tall order.
Even in 2026, after everything that has been revealed, there are still people in the comments sections who believe Baldoni is the target of some kind of elaborate conspiracy, framework, or even victim blaming.
These people consider the non-eviction a “victory” for Baldoni. And it is. But despite the subject matter, this case does not appear to be directly related to his legal war with Lively.
Remember, Baldoni and Lively are heading to court again starting in May. It will be here sooner than you think.
