Justin Baldoni’s legal team slams Ryan Reynolds for filing a request to dismiss lawsuit against him
Justin Baldoni’s lawyers responded to Ryan Reynolds’ motion to junk the lawsuit against him, calling the latter a "co-conspirator" of his wife Blake Lively amid their legal drama.
In the court documents obtained by international outlets like PEOPLE Magazine and US Weekly, Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios’ legal team explained why the complaint against Reynolds must not be dismissed.
The legal team said that the Deadpool star "pretends that the Wayfarer Parties’ First Amended Complaint (the 'FAC') fails to set forth any basis for his liability and that he merely acted as a supportive spouse. Not so. The FAC specifically alleges ample facts to support the Wayfarer Parties’ claims against him, based on both his direct actions and his liability as a co-conspirator,” per PEOPLE Magazine.
It added that in the"extremely unlikely event" that Reynolds is dismissed in the lawsuit, the actor shouldn't be able to recover attorneys' fees.
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman also addressed Reynolds’ filing.
"Ms. Lively and her circle of Hollywood elites cannot prevent my clients from exercising their constitutional right to petition the court to clear their names from her false and harmful claims," the April 3 statement read, per US Weekly.
"What Ms. Lively is attempting to do is to set a dangerous precedent by barring the courthouse doors to my clients and punishing them for having their day in court, a right protected by the First Amendment. This right protects not only Mr. Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties in this particular case, but all Americans in the future who have false accusations levied against them and seek relief from our justice system," it read. "This must stop here, and we will continue to fight against this blatant attempt to block access to the court system and to weaken our nation’s Constitution to serve those who are in the position of power."
Prior to this, Freedman slammed Reynolds' request to dismiss the complaint last March, saying he is “exploiting” his “enormous influence” in Hollywood.
Freedman also claimed that Reynolds was a “key player” in defaming Baldoni in Hollywood.
Ryan Reynolds' motion to dismiss lawsuit
Reynolds filed to dismiss the $400 million (over PhP22 billion) lawsuit against him in March, saying Baldoni's reaction to his "satirical 'woke" Deadpool & Wolverine character, Nicepool, "does not even pretend to be tied to any actual legal claims."
"Instead, it falls into the [first amended complaint]'s general allegation of 'hurt feelings,' which in reality is nothing more than a desperate effort to advance the same curated 'bully' image that the Wayfarer Parties created and disseminated in the retaliation campaign they launched against Ms. [Blake] Lively in August of 2024," Reynolds legal team said.
Reynolds' team also filed a response to Baldoni's latest rebuttal, stressing "plain defects" in Baldoni’s complaint.
"The main takeaway from the Wayfarer Parties’ opposition to Ryan’s motion to dismiss their case is that they finally realize the plain defects in their complaint," the April 3 statement read, per US Weekly and PEOPLE. "They once again claim defamation without alleging who was defamed, what specifically was said, or how anyone suffered actual harm."
"Unlike Mr. Baldoni, who built his brand pretending to be a man who is 'confident enough to listen' to the women in his life, Ryan Reynolds actually is that man and he will continue to support his wife as she stands up to the individuals who not only harassed her but then have retaliated against her," it added.
Ongoing legal battle
The legal saga of Lively and Baldoni, who were co-stars in the movie adaptation of the novel It Ends With Us stemmed from her filing a sexual harassment complaint against him and Heath. She also accused them of running a smear campaign against her.
In her complaint, Lively accused Baldoni and Heath of telling her about their past sexual relationships and "previous porn addiction."
Heath also allegedly showed Lively a video of his wife naked and giving birth.
Baldoni and Heath likewise supposedly entered Lively's makeup trailer without permission, "including when she was breastfeeding her infant child."
Lively also recalled Baldoni claiming he could communicate with the dead, including her father, Ernie Lively. She found it "off-putting and violative."
The New York Times then published a report titled 'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine. It used excerpts from alleged text messages and emails Lively obtained through a subpoena and detailed the work of crisis management firm TAG PR for Baldoni, including allegedly planting negative stories in the media.
Baldoni's camp has called the accusations "categorically false."
Freedman said a crisis manager was hired ahead of the film's marketing campaign "due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production."
On Jan. 1, Baldoni filed a $250 million (PhP14.5 billion) lawsuit against the Times—plus 10 other plaintiffs, including publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel—for libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud, and breach of implied-in-fact contract for its report.
The Times defended its article as "meticulously and responsibly reported."
Later, Baldoni's camp released a series of video takes during the production of It Ends with Us in an attempt to debunk Lively's sexual harassment allegations against him. It also announced plans to launch a website containing "all correspondence" with her and "relevant videos."
Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, in turn, requested a gag order.
On Feb. 3, Baldoni launched a website containing two documents: his $400 million (P23.4 billion) 224-page amended complaint against Lively and Reynolds and a 168-page "timeline of relevant events," which included a compilation of screenshots as an additional exhibit to his amended complaint. It came two days before their first court hearing.
