‘It Ends With Us’ director, Justin Baldoniscored another victory in his ongoing legal battle Blake Lively and Stephanie Jones in a defamation suit against her former publicist.
The Justin Baldoni vs. Blake Lively lawsuit
In their battle against Lively, Baldoni and her co-defendants won after Judge Lewis J Liman granted a request to postpone the pretrial hearings after the actress’ legal team complained that they were inundated with a “dump of documents,” including nearly 1,000 potential exhibits, People reported.“It is hard to imagine that even half of that amount would be put before a jury,” the letter, filed in the Southern District of New York, says. The letter also asks Judge Liman for a Zoom conference and a one-week extension of the deadline for filing pre-trial documents. Also, they have asked to change the last conference before the trial by one week.
Justin Baldoni’s team asked the judge for “more time”.
They also said they need more time to review materials and finalize jury instructions and other related defenses.In a March 26 filing, Lively’s lawyers rejected the request, calling it “an additional tactic to delay the trial.”However, the judge ruled on Baldoni’s request, extending the deadlines and setting a status conference for April 2.
Justin Baldoni vs. Stephanie Jones defamation case
In another major victory, the judge ruled that Baldoni can move forward with his defamation lawsuit against former publicist Stephanie Jones. The ruling comes after Jones sought to dismiss the case. However, the court ruled that Wayfarer presented sufficient grounds for further consideration of the claims.
The court has rejected Stephanie Jones’ motion to dismiss the case
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement to Page Six, “The court rejected Stephanie Jones’ effort to dismiss the case and will allow Wayfarer’s claims, including defamation, to be tested on a full evidentiary record.”Through this, it will be possible to analyze the communications of various people related to the legal battle. This includes Jones, Lively’s publicist Leslie Sloane, and any communication they had with Lively and her husband. Ryan Reynolds.
Messages from Justin Baldoni’s team were leaked
According to the 2025 lawsuit, Wayfarer alleges that Jones “maliciously” leaked private text messages, which ultimately contributed to a series of legal actions related to the film. Baldoni’s team also alleges that Jones shared damaging information with third parties, including Sloane, Lively and Reynolds.
