• A federal choose formally ended Justin Baldoni’s $400-million countersuit in opposition to Blake Vigorous after he and his firm, Wayfarer Studios, missed a deadline to refile.
• The choose had dismissed the case in June however left the door open for an amended grievance; when none was filed, he made the dismissal closing whereas permitting Vigorous’s request for attorneys’ charges to proceed.
• Vigorous’s personal lawsuit accusing Baldoni of sexual misconduct and retaliation stays lively, with a trial set for March 2026.
A federal choose has formally shut down Justin Baldoni’s $400-million countersuit in opposition to Blake Vigorous — the most recent improvement in an extended and bitter authorized feud that has shadowed their film “It Ends With Us.”
Decide Lewis Liman entered the ruling on Friday after Baldoni and his firm, Wayfarer Studios, missed an Oct. 17 deadline to revive their case. The choose had dismissed the lawsuit in June however left the door open for Baldoni to refile. When no amended grievance was submitted, Liman moved to shut the case for good. Vigorous was the one celebration to reply, asking that the dismissal be made closing whereas conserving her request for attorneys’ charges lively — which the courtroom granted.
The authorized battle between the 2 started practically a 12 months earlier, when Vigorous filed a lawsuit in December 2024 accusing Baldoni of sexual misconduct and of waging a smear marketing campaign after tensions on the set of “It Ends With Us,” the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel. Baldoni, who directed and co-starred within the film, denied the allegations and in January countersued Vigorous, her husband Ryan Reynolds and their publicist Leslie Sloane for defamation and extortion, in search of $400 million in damages.
In a separate submitting, Baldoni additionally sued the New York Occasions for $250 million over its protection of Vigorous’s claims. Liman dismissed each fits on June 9, ruling that Vigorous’s harassment allegations had been legally protected below California’s Defending Survivors From Weaponized Defamation Lawsuits Act (AB 933) — a regulation enacted within the wake of the #MeToo motion — and that Baldoni had not proven the defendants acted with “severe doubts” concerning the fact of her statements.
On the time of that June ruling, Vigorous’s attorneys referred to as the choice “a complete victory and an entire vindication.” Vigorous wrote on Instagram that she had “felt the ache of a retaliatory lawsuit” however was “extra resolved than ever to face for each girl’s proper to have a voice.” Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, additionally in June rejected that framing, calling Vigorous’s declaration of victory “false” and insisting his shopper had been focused by “false accusations.”
Reps for Baldoni and Wayfarer didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
By letting the enchantment deadline go, Baldoni successfully ended his personal problem to Vigorous’s authorized protections below California’s survivor safety regulation, leaving the June dismissal and her earlier courtroom victory totally intact.
Friday’s order makes the dismissal of Baldoni’s case closing until he appeals. Vigorous’s personal lawsuit, the one which began the dispute, stays lively and is scheduled for trial in March 2026. That case will decide whether or not her harassment and retaliation claims transfer ahead to a jury, which means the core of the dispute continues to be to be litigated subsequent 12 months.
For now, just one aspect of the “It Ends With Us” authorized battle has actually ended.
