A judge on Monday dismissed the lawsuit that actor and director Justin Baldoni filed against his ''It Ends With Us'' costar Blake Lively after she sued him last year for sexual harassment and retaliation.
U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman's decision is the latest development in the bitter legal battle surrounding the dark romantic film.
Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios countersued in January for $400 million, accusing Lively and her husband, ''Deadpool'' actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.
The New York judge ruled that Baldoni can't sue Lively for defamation over claims she made in her legal claim, because allegations made in a lawsuit are exempt from libel claims. Liman also ruled that Baldoni's claims that Lively stole creative control of the film didn't count as extortion under California law.
The judge, however, said Baldoni could revise the lawsuit if he wanted to pursue different claims related to whether Lively breached or interfered with a contract. His legal team indicated it planned to do so.
''Ms. Lively and her team's predictable declaration of victory is false,'' one of Baldoni's lawyers, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement. He said that Lively's claims that she was sexually harassed on the film set, and then subjected to a secret smear campaign intended to taint her reputation, were ''no truer today than they were yesterday.''
''It Ends With Us,'' an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie's release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.
The judge also dismissed Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which had reported on Lively's sexual harassment allegations.
