Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni made headlines as they got into a major legal dispute after working on the adaptation of It Ends With Us. The actress filed a lawsuit against her former co-star and director Baldoni, along with Wayfarer and others. And Baldoni responded with a countersuit, which was later dismissed. But later, he filed a motion to dismiss the case before it could go to trial.

While the case is still set to proceed to trial, there has been a shocking development for Lively. 

Blake Lively’s case against Justin Baldoni faced a major obstacle as several of her claims were dismissed. U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman tossed 10 of her 13 claims, including those of harassment and defamation. This comes after Baldoni’s bid for the judge to throw the case before the trial. 

Both the Title VII retaliation claim and the California Labor Code retaliation claim were also dismissed. Judge Liman ruled that some of Lively’s claims were legally invalid, especially those tied to her employee status, while certain claims can still move forward. And that includes two retaliation-related allegations and one involving breach of contract.

The judge also noted that there is some "direct evidence" (as reported by E!News) supporting her claims of a smear campaign. As a result, the case is still set to go to trial on May 18. As per Lively's lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, the actress is set to take the rest of the claims to trial.

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Speaking of this massive development in the case, both parties have shared their opinions.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s legal dispute began in 2024, when the actress filed a case against the director. Since then, there have been several updates, the most recent being a February 11 court-mandated settlement conference that ended without an agreement, followed by the April 2 ruling. Speaking of the dismissal, Baldoni’s team had responded, sharing their stance.

“These were very serious allegations, and we are grateful to the Court for its careful review of the facts, law, and voluminous evidence that was provided,” Alexandra Shapiro and Jonathan Bach of Shapiro Arato Bach’s statement to PEOPLE read. “What’s left is a significantly narrowed case, and we look forward to presenting our defense to the remaining claims in court.”

Blake Lively’s lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, has also responded to the ruling. McCawley clarified that her s***** harassment claim against Baldoni was not dismissed due to lack of wrongdoing, but because the court ruled that she was an independent contractor, not an employee. Even though several claims were dropped, the dispute is not over yet. 

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What do you think of this new development? Let us know in the comments.