Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds Request Dismissal of Justin Baldoni’s $400M Lawsuit

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have filed court papers to dismiss Justin Baldoni’s $400-million defamation lawsuit against them.

In a letter to Judge Lewis J. Liman, the legal team for the couple wrote, “The Lively-Reynolds Parties intend to move to dismiss Plaintiffs’ complaint."

The dismissal request comes days before Monday’s hearing about the case.

Baldoni’s team also wrote a letter to the judge about Lively’s objection to his lawyer Bryan Freedman sitting for a possible deposition on her.

Justin’s lawyer Kevin Fritz wrote, “During a conference of the parties’ counsel on January 30, 2025, counsel for the Wayfarer Parties requested the earliest possible deposition of Blake Lively. Counsel for Ms. Lively and Ryan Reynolds (the “Lively Parties”) stated their objection to the Wayfarer Parties’ lead counsel conducting the deposition of Blake Lively. Specifically, the Lively Parties’ counsel indicated that they object to Bryan J. Freedman, personally, taking Ms. Lively’s deposition, based upon unspecified statements made by Mr. Freedman. When asked to elaborate on the grounds for their objection, counsel for the Lively Parties declined to do so.”

Fritz went on, “Counsel for Ms. Lively has made clear that Ms. Lively does not want Mr. Freedman to be the attorney who takes her deposition. We are unaware of any situation that would warrant the deposed party to have a choice in which attorney takes her deposition. Parties to litigation simply do not have the right to dictate which of their opponents’ attorneys may or may not take their deposition or perform any other aspect of the opposing party’s case.”

Blake and Ryan’s team recently requested a gag order on Freedman after he released statements about an unedited footage of a dance scene in “It Ends with Us.”

Along with accusing Freeman of tainting the jury pool and the court of public opinion, her legal team asked for a hearing to “address the appropriate conduct,” due to “imminent harm caused by Mr. Freedman’s misleading and selective statements and leaks."

In response to the gag order request, Baldoni’s legal team argued that his lawyer Bryan Freedman issued statements “required to protect a client from the substantial prejudicial effect of recent publicity not initiated by the lawyer or the lawyer’s client.”