Justin Baldoni‘s manufacturing firm Wayfarer Studios LLC was sued by The New York Occasions in September 2025 over a dismissed defamation case towards the publication.
Baldoni and Wayfarer initially sued The New York Occasions for $250 million in December 2024 over accusations that the outlet libeled the actor in its protection of Blake Vigorous's sexual harassment swimsuit towards her It Ends With Us director and costar.
Baldoni and his associates alleged that The New York Occasions “cherry-picked” info to mislead readers about his dispute with Vigorous in its December 2024 article “We Can Bury Anybody: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.” The New York Occasions has persistently stood behind its reporting.
A big authorized setback for Baldoni and Wayfarer passed off in June 2025 when Decide Lewis J. Liman dismissed each Baldoni's defamation swimsuit towards The New York Occasions and his $400 million countersuit towards Vigorous. Three months later, The New York Occasions began authorized proceedings towards Wayfarer to recoup at the least $150,000 in prices related to Baldoni's dismissed authorized motion, in line with courtroom paperwork obtained by Us Weekly.
After a five-month hiatus, Justin Baldoni returned to Instagram with a heartfelt put up in honor of Mom's Day. “My mother gave us religion. My spouse is the definition of it. Our youngsters are rising up within the fortress of that love,” Baldoni, 41, wrote by way of Instagram on Sunday, Could 11, alongside a photograph of himself […]
Preserve scrolling for a full rundown of the case.
Why Did Justin Baldoni Sue The New York Occasions?
Us confirmed that Baldoni and Wayfarer have been amongst a gaggle of 10 plaintiffs — additionally together with publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, plus It Ends With Us producers James Heath and Steve Saraowitz — who started authorized proceedings towards The New York Occasions over its December 2024 article “We Can Bury Anybody: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”
Chief amongst their complaints was that The New York Occasions and its reporters Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire and Julie Tate supposedly “cherry-picked and altered communications stripped of essential context” to make Vigorous look extra favorable in her sexual harassment swimsuit towards Baldoni. The lawsuit accused Vigorous — who the actor additionally countersued on the identical time — of participating in a “strategic and manipulative” media marketing campaign by creating false “sexual harassment allegations to say unilateral management over each facet of the manufacturing [of It Ends With Us].”
“The Occasions story relied virtually totally on Vigorous's unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it almost verbatim whereas disregarding an abundance of proof that contradicted her claims and uncovered her true motives,” Baldoni and his fellow plaintiffs alleged of their lawsuit.
Blake Vigorous and Justin Baldoni are filming ‘It Ends with Us' in January 2024. Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Pictures
Baldoni particularly rebutted accusations within the Occasions article that he repeatedly entered Vigorous's It Ends With Us trailer whereas she was breast-feeding and as soon as confirmed her a “pornographic video” that includes a fellow producer's spouse.
“This declare is patently absurd,” Baldoni's authorized staff insisted of their swimsuit. “The video in query was a (non-pornographic) recording of [producer Jamey Heath's] spouse throughout a house delivery — a deeply private one with no sexual overtone. To distort this benign occasion into an act of sexual misconduct is outrageous and emblematic of the lengths to which Vigorous and her collaborators are keen to go to defame plaintiffs.”
In response to Wayfarer's defamation swimsuit, a New York Occasions spokesperson advised Us that the position of “an impartial information group is to comply with the info the place they lead.”
Some textual content messages and emails between Justin Baldoni and others have been unsealed by a choose in his and Blake Vigorous's ongoing authorized battle. In keeping with courtroom paperwork obtained by Us Weekly on Monday, August 25, Decide Lewis J. Liman ordered on August 14 to unseal redacted displays from Vigorous's movement to compel. One among […]
“Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based mostly on a evaluate of 1000's of pages of authentic paperwork, together with the textual content messages and emails that we quote precisely and at size within the article,” a rep for the outlet responded. “These texts and emails have been additionally the crux of a discrimination declare filed in California by Blake Vigorous towards Justin Baldoni and his associates.”
In keeping with the spokesperson, The New York Occasions deliberate to “vigorously defend towards the lawsuit.”
Why Was Justin Baldoni's Lawsuit In opposition to The New York Occasions Dismissed?
Baldoni was dealt a double blow in June 2025 when Decide Liman dismissed each his lawsuit towards The New York Occasions and his $400 million countersuit towards Vigorous.
“The Wayfarer Events haven't alleged that Vigorous is liable for any statements aside from the statements in her CRD grievance, that are privileged,” Decide Liman dominated in his opinion and order submitting on June 9. “The Wayfarer Events have alleged that [Lively's husband Ryan] Reynolds and [publicist Leslie] Sloane made further statements accusing Baldoni of sexual misconduct and that the Occasions made further statements accusing the Wayfarer Events of participating in a smear marketing campaign.”
The choose went on, “However the Wayfarer Events haven't alleged that Reynolds, Sloane or the Occasions would have significantly doubted these statements have been true based mostly on the data accessible to them, as is required for them to be responsible for defamation underneath relevant regulation. The Wayfarer Events' further claims additionally fail. Accordingly, the Amended Criticism have to be dismissed in its entirety.”
Decide Liman gave Baldoni and his authorized staff the prospect to amend the dismissed claims for breach of implied covenant and tortious interference with contract, although the filmmaker's legal professionals opted not to take action.
Justin Baldoni in December 2024. Raymond Corridor/GC Pictures
“The Court docket's determination on the movement to dismiss has no impact by any means on the reality that there was no harassment nor any smear marketing campaign, and it doesn't in any manner have an effect on our vigorous protection towards Ms. Vigorous's claims,” Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman advised Individuals in June 2025. “Discovery is continuing [in Lively's lawsuit] and we're assured that we'll prevail towards these factually baseless accusations. As an alternative of revising the present claims, our shoppers will probably be pursuing further authorized choices which can be accessible to us.”
Vigorous's legal professionals Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb hailed the countersuit dismissal as “a complete victory and an entire vindication for Blake Vigorous” in a press release to Us.
“As we now have mentioned from day one, this ‘$400 million' lawsuit was a sham, and the Court docket noticed proper by way of it,” they mentioned on the time. “We look ahead to the subsequent spherical, which is searching for attorneys' charges, treble damages and punitive damages towards Baldoni, Sarowitz, Nathan and the opposite Wayfarer Events who perpetrated this abusive litigation.”
Why Did The New York Occasions Sue Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer?
The New York Occasions Firm sought “compensatory and punitive damages” of at the least $150,000 associated to Baldoni's dismissed defamation declare in a movement filed in New York's Supreme Court docket in September 2025, in line with courtroom filings obtained by Us.
The corporate accused Baldoni of violating New York's anti-SLAPP regulation towards lawsuits that search to “inhibit the train of free speech and harass publishers by forcing them to expend time and assets on baseless litigation.” If Baldoni is discovered to have violated the regulation, he and Wayfarer associates could also be required to pay “prices and lawyer's charges” associated to their authentic swimsuit.
“It's now well-established that information protection of issues of public curiosity fall inside the scope of the regulation,” the New York Occasions lawsuit asserted.
The New York Occasions constructing in September 2025. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Pictures
The authorized submitting accused Baldoni of wrongly pursuing allegations of “false mild” and “promissory fraud” towards The New York Occasions, significantly over the timing of the publication of “We Can Bury Anybody: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.” In his authentic submitting, Baldoni accused The New York Occasions of violating a promise to carry off publication of the article till “midday on December 21, 2024” to present the filmmaker ample time to reply.
The New York Occasions revealed the article simply after 10 a.m. ET on December 21 however solely after “receiving remark from the lawyer for Wayfarer and its associates,” in line with the publication.
“The Amended Criticism tried to construe the e-mail as promising that the Article wouldn't be revealed earlier than midday on December 21, 2024,” the Occasions' authorized staff argued.
Blake Vigorous and Ryan Reynolds are respiratory a sigh of reduction after a federal choose dismissed Justin Baldoni‘s $400 million lawsuit towards the couple. “They really feel reduction and vindication,” a supply near Vigorous and Reynolds tells Us Weekly solely. “Blake is feeling a way of delight that she continued to make use of her voice and […]
The New York Occasions Firm subsequently alleged that Decide Liman's June 2025 dismissal of Baldoni's defamation declare proved that the actor's accusations “lacked any foundation the truth is or regulation.”
“The District Court docket's opinion makes clear that Wayfarer and its associates each commenced and continued the lawsuit towards The Occasions with no substantial foundation the truth is and regulation,” The New York Occasions asserted.
The New York Occasions Firm is searching for “cheap prices, lawyer's charges and disbursements” pursuant to New York civil rights regulation, plus “additional reduction as [the] Court docket deems simply and correct.”
In response to this newest swimsuit, Baldoni's lawyer Freedman advised People: “Win, lose or draw, we refuse to cave to energy brokers even within the face of seemingly unimaginable odds.”
“We proceed to face tall for a purpose: the pursuit of reality, within the face of giants,” Freedman went on. “Our unwillingness to compromise our values, regardless of the percentages or the end result, displays a easy conviction that standing up for the reality and what's proper issues. If the present legal guidelines defend legacy media on this method, maybe it's as much as us to ignite that change.”
In the meantime, Vigorous's sexual harassment trial towards Baldoni is predicted start in March 2026.
