Taylor Swift’s texts revealed in Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni lawsuit
Taylor Swift’s text messages revealed in Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit.
A federal judge in New York has dismissed most of Blake Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation claims against Justin Baldoni.
Judge Louis Lehman issued a 152-page opinion and order on Thursday, April 2nd. The ruling, obtained by USA TODAY, granted in large part and denied in part a motion for summary judgment by Mr. Baldoni and his co-defendants to avoid a trial scheduled to begin May 18.
The virtual court hearing will take place on the evening of April 2nd.
In a 2024 California complaint that followed a lawsuit later filed in New York federal court, Lively alleged that Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios CEO and “It Ends With Us” producer Jamie Heath engaged in inappropriate conduct in the workplace and then engaged in a retaliatory “social manipulation” smear campaign against the actress.
Lehman admitted three of the 13 legal claims Lively filed against director and co-star Baldoni, including breach of contract, retaliation, and aiding and abetting retaliation, and allowed the film to proceed to trial. The remaining claims involve It Ends With Us Movie LLC (breach of contract and retaliation), Baldoni’s production company Wayfarer Studios (retaliation), and The Agency Group PR LLC (aiding and abetting retaliation), which accused Lively of organizing an online campaign to cast Lively in a negative light.
Ten claims were dismissed, including claims related to sexual harassment and defamation.
The sexual harassment claim was dismissed due to jurisdictional issues. Lehman wrote that although Lively filed the lawsuit under California law, the alleged misconduct did not take place in that state.
The legal battle began in late 2024, when Lively filed a California complaint alleging sexual harassment and retaliation by Baldoni and producer Jamie Heath, followed by a lawsuit in New York federal court.
What did the judge say in his dismissal?
Lehman said in the filing that “the relevant considerations overwhelmingly point out” that Lively’s “degree of financial independence” classifies her as an independent contractor rather than an employee. Therefore, he ruled that the actress could not bring a sexual harassment suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Lehman also stressed that the “social context” of sexual harassment allegations must be assessed based on the context in which the sexual harassment occurred, noting that the two had filmed several romantic scenes together. She confirmed Lively’s claims that Baldoni made kissing gestures to her during filming, kissed her forehead, rubbed his mouth against her neck, put his thumb over her mouth, leaned into her neck and said, “You smell good.”
“Under this framework, it would be difficult to see Mr. Baldoni’s conduct as reflecting gender-based hostility or prejudice,” Liman wrote. “He was acting in the scene. Assuming he was improvising, his conduct did not go far beyond what could reasonably be expected to occur between the two characters during the slow dance scene, giving rise to an inference of hostile treatment based on sex.”
He added: “While these incidents alone cannot support a hostile work environment claim, sexual harassment claims must be evaluated in the totality of the circumstances.”
Justin Baldoni, co-defendant, “grateful” that “case has been narrowed down significantly”
Mr. Baldoni’s co-defendants include producer Mr. Heath, his company Wayfarer Studios, its co-founder Steve Sarowitz, crisis public relations expert Melissa Nathan, and publicist Jennifer Abel.
“We are very pleased that the court dismissed all sexual harassment claims and all claims brought against the individual defendants, including Justin Baldoni, Jamie Heath, Steve Sarowitz, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel,” defendants’ attorneys Alexandra Shapiro and Jonathan Buck told USA TODAY in a statement.
“These are very serious allegations, and we appreciate the court’s careful consideration of the facts, the law, and the extensive evidence provided,” the statement added. “What remains is a fairly narrowed case, and we look forward to defending the remaining claims in court.”
The defendants previously denied Lively’s claims that they waged a “defamatory ‘smear campaign'” against her.
Rather, the lawyers argued in a Nov. 12 filing that Mr. Baldoni “sought the advice of a crisis public relations firm” simply to “minimize the impact of media reports of increasing efforts to distance Mr. Lively from the film.”
In October, Mr. Lehman entered a final judgment in a $400 million counterclaim from Mr. Baldoni and co-defendants, effectively ending the January 2025 lawsuit against Ms. Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and the New York Times. Parties have the right to appeal.
Blake Lively says she’s looking forward to testifying at trial
One of Lively’s attorneys, Sigrid McCauley, said in a statement that the sexual harassment charges “cannot proceed not because the defendant has done nothing wrong, but because the court has determined that Blake Lively is an independent contractor and not an employee.”
“This case has been, and continues to be, focused on the devastating retaliation and extraordinary steps the defendants took to destroy the reputation of Blake Lively, who stood up for safety on set,” the statement continued. “For Blake Lively, the greatest measure of justice is that the people and schemes behind these coordinated digital attacks are exposed and are already being held accountable by the other women who were targeted.”
“Lively looks forward to testifying at trial and continuing to shine a light on this vicious online retaliation, making it easier to detect and fight,” McCauley said.
This high-profile controversy has involved several other celebrities over the past year and a half, as the stars’ private communications were exposed during the discovery process of Lively and Baldoni’s affair.
The hundreds of exhibits unsealed in January included messages from Taylor Swift, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Seraph of the End star Jenny Slate.
Contributor: Anthony Robredo, USA TODAY
