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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Blake Lively sued It Ends with Us costar and director Justin Baldoni after alleging sexual harassment and retaliation during and after production. The case later changed substantially: a judge dismissed Lively’s standalone sexual-harassment claims, certain retaliation and contract claims survived, and the parties settled before trial. The settlement was confidential, while a separate fee proceeding continued.
Public-record note: This article reflects the pleadings, court rulings, settlement filings, and fee filings available through June 30, 2026. Allegations are attributed to the relevant complaint; they are not presented as established facts.
What happened in the Blake Lively–Justin Baldoni case?
Blake Lively sued It Ends with Us costar and director Justin Baldoni after alleging sexual harassment, boundary violations, and retaliation during and after production of the 2024 film. She first filed with the California Civil Rights Department on December 20, 2024, then filed a federal lawsuit in New York on December 31.
Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties denied Lively’s account and later filed their own lawsuit, alleging that Lively and Ryan Reynolds seized control of the film and damaged Baldoni’s reputation through a coordinated campaign. The dispute never reached the scheduled May 18, 2026 trial. On April 2, Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Lively’s standalone sexual-harassment claims but allowed some retaliation and contract-related theories to continue. The parties then settled the consolidated litigation before trial.
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The settlement was confidential. The public record does not establish a settlement payout, and it should not be described as an admission by Baldoni or an exoneration of him. A separate fee dispute continued after the settlement: on June 12, 2026, the court held that Lively was entitled to attorney fees and costs under California Civil Code section 47.1, while denying treble and punitive damages. A June 30 filing said Lively was seeking $7,495,526.87 in fees and costs, but the available materials do not establish the final amount awarded.
Case status at a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who filed first? | Lively filed an administrative complaint with the California Civil Rights Department on December 20, 2024, followed by a federal complaint on December 31. |
| What did Lively allege? | She alleged sexual harassment and boundary violations during production, a hostile working environment, and retaliation—including a reputation-damaging crisis-communications campaign—after she raised concerns. |
| What did Baldoni say? | Baldoni and affiliated Wayfarer plaintiffs denied Lively’s allegations and accused Lively and Reynolds of taking control of the film and orchestrating a campaign against him. |
| Did a jury decide who was telling the truth? | No. The planned trial did not occur. |
| What did the April 2026 ruling do? | It dismissed Lively’s standalone sexual-harassment claims and other claims while leaving certain retaliation and contract-related theories alive. |
| Was the case settled? | Yes. The parties filed a settlement notice and joint stipulation on May 7, 2026. The settlement terms were confidential. |
| How much money did Lively receive? | No public source in the available record establishes a settlement payment. Her separate $7,495,526.87 fee-and-cost request was a request, not a confirmed settlement amount or final award. |
What Lively alleged
Lively’s complaint described two connected categories of allegations: conduct she said occurred during the making of It Ends with Us, and retaliation she alleged followed after she objected to that conduct.
According to Lively’s filings and reporting based on the complaint, she alleged that Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath made inappropriate comments, crossed physical boundaries during intimate scenes, and engaged in conduct she considered unwanted or improvised. She also alleged comments about her appearance and concerns about nudity and the handling of a birth scene. Lively characterized the alleged conduct as contributing to a hostile working environment.
Those descriptions are allegations, not findings by a court. The April 2026 opinion did not decide that the alleged conduct occurred, nor did it find that it did not occur.
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Lively also alleged that, after she raised concerns, a crisis-communications effort was used to damage her reputation. Her retaliation theories focused on the alleged response to her complaints rather than solely on whether the underlying on-set conduct met the legal definition of sexual harassment.
Why the retaliation allegations mattered separately
Sexual-harassment and retaliation claims are related but legally distinct. A court can reject a standalone harassment cause of action while still allowing a claim that a person or company retaliated against someone for raising concerns about alleged misconduct.
That distinction became central to the April 2, 2026 ruling. Judge Liman dismissed Lively’s standalone federal and California statutory harassment theories in substantial part. The ruling addressed legal questions including Lively’s status as an independent contractor for certain claims and the territorial reach of California law. The court also concluded that alleged on-set conduct in New Jersey could not automatically support California statutory harassment claims.
At the same time, the court allowed certain retaliation claims against It Ends With Us Movie LLC and Wayfarer to proceed. It also allowed some aiding-and-abetting retaliation theories involving public-relations defendants, along with certain contract-related claims. The opinion stated that alleged harassment could still be relevant as background evidence for the surviving retaliation theories.
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In practical terms, the ruling was not a verdict about who was truthful. It was a decision about which legal theories could proceed under the applicable statutes, parties, locations, and pleadings.
Timeline of the dispute
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| August 9, 2024 | It Ends with Us, starring Lively and Baldoni, was released by Sony Pictures. |
| December 20, 2024 | Lively filed with the California Civil Rights Department and requested an immediate right-to-sue notice. The CRD notice states that the administrative matter was closed the same day because she requested the immediate notice. |
| December 21, 2024 | The filing became public through reporting describing Lively’s allegations of sexual harassment, boundary violations, and a later reputation-damaging campaign. |
| December 31, 2024 | Lively filed her federal action in the Southern District of New York, docket number 1:24-cv-10049. |
| January 16, 2025 | Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties filed a separate action against Lively, Reynolds, Leslie Sloane, Vision PR, and others. Public reporting described the damages demand as $400 million. |
| April 2, 2026 | The court issued a major merits ruling. Standalone sexual-harassment claims and several other causes of action were dismissed, while certain retaliation and contract-related theories survived. |
| May 7, 2026 | The parties filed a notice of settlement and joint stipulation in the consolidated actions. The stipulation preserved Lively’s fee-related claims under section 47.1. |
| May 18, 2026 | The scheduled trial did not take place because the main litigation had settled. |
| June 12, 2026 | The court held that Lively was entitled to attorney fees and costs under California Civil Code section 47.1, but denied treble and punitive damages. The court ordered further briefing on the amount. |
| June 30, 2026 | Lively filed materials stating that she sought $7,495,526.87 in fees and costs. That figure remained a requested amount in the available materials, not a confirmed final award. |
What Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties alleged
Baldoni and the affiliated Wayfarer plaintiffs denied Lively’s account. Their January 2025 complaint alleged that Lively and Reynolds took control of the production and then coordinated efforts to harm Baldoni’s reputation and career. The action named Lively, Reynolds, publicist Leslie Sloane, Vision PR, and others, and asserted defamation and related theories. Public reporting described the demand as $400 million.
The Wayfarer parties’ claims were part of the consolidated federal litigation. The later resolution dismissed their defamation action against Lively as part of the settlement-related disposition. That procedural result does not by itself establish that either side’s underlying narrative was true or false.
What the settlement did—and did not—settle publicly
The May 7 notice and joint stipulation said that nearly all claims in the consolidated actions had been resolved and dismissed. The agreement ended the main litigation before the scheduled trial, but it preserved Lively’s pending request for fees, treble damages, and punitive damages under California Civil Code section 47.1.
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The settlement itself was confidential. For that reason, responsible coverage should avoid stating that Lively received a particular sum, that Baldoni admitted wrongdoing, or that Baldoni was cleared. None of those conclusions follows from the public settlement filing.
The June 12 order resolved part of the remaining issue by granting Lively entitlement to attorney fees and costs under section 47.1. It denied her request for treble and punitive damages and required additional submissions to determine the amount. Lively’s later request for $7,495,526.87 should therefore be described as a fee-and-cost demand, not as the value of the confidential settlement.
How to interpret the April ruling accurately
- It was not a harassment finding. The court did not find that Baldoni or Heath committed the alleged conduct.
- It was not a blanket exoneration. Dismissal of standalone harassment claims did not mean the court found that every allegation was false or that no retaliation theory was legally viable.
- It was partly about legal coverage. The ruling addressed independent-contractor issues, the geographic reach of California statutes, and the specific claims pleaded.
- Some retaliation theories survived. The court allowed certain retaliation and contract-related claims to proceed until the parties settled.
- There was no trial verdict. The surviving claims were resolved through settlement before the scheduled trial.
The film and the book behind the dispute
It Ends with Us is a 2024 drama-romance film based on Colleen Hoover’s novel. Sony released the film on August 9, 2024, and Sony’s home-media information confirms digital, Blu-ray, and DVD editions.
The source novel was published by Atria Books on August 2, 2016, in the edition identified by the publisher. Readers who want to compare the adaptation with its source can start with It Ends with Us book.
Hoover’s follow-up novel is It Starts with Us. For readers interested in both books rather than only the film’s source, the It Ends with Us boxed set provides the two-book context. Those reading or viewing options are separate from the legal dispute and do not resolve the contested allegations.
For home viewing, Sony confirms that the film was issued on disc; an It Ends with Us Blu-ray is the relevant physical-media option. Streaming and digital availability can change by country, service, and date, so a current listing should be checked before publication or viewing.
Bottom line
Lively did sue Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation connected to It Ends with Us. Baldoni denied the allegations and countersued. The court later dismissed the standalone harassment claims on legal and jurisdictional grounds while allowing certain retaliation and contract theories to survive. The parties settled before trial, with confidential terms. The court subsequently awarded Lively entitlement to fees and costs under section 47.1 but denied treble and punitive damages; the available record does not establish the final fee amount or any settlement payout.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Did Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni go to trial?
No. The scheduled May 18, 2026 trial did not occur. The parties filed a settlement notice and joint stipulation on May 7, before trial.
Did the court find that Justin Baldoni sexually harassed Blake Lively?
No. The April 2, 2026 ruling dismissed Lively’s standalone sexual-harassment claims, but it was not a factual finding that the alleged conduct did or did not occur. The court allowed certain retaliation and contract-related theories to continue until the parties settled.
How much money did Blake Lively receive?
No public source in the available record identifies a settlement payout. The settlement was confidential. Lively’s separate request for $7,495,526.87 concerned attorney fees and costs, not a disclosed settlement payment, and it was not established as the final award in the available materials.
What did Justin Baldoni claim in response?
Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties denied Lively’s allegations. They alleged that Lively and Ryan Reynolds took control of the film and orchestrated a campaign that damaged Baldoni’s reputation and career. Their separate action sought damages described in public reporting as $400 million.
Is the film based on a book?
It Ends with Us is based on Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name, published by Atria Books in 2016. Hoover later published the sequel It Starts with Us.
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The Bottom Line
Lively’s lawsuit began with allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation, but it ended without a trial verdict. The court dismissed the standalone harassment claims, preserved some retaliation-related theories until settlement, and later granted Lively entitlement to fees and costs while denying treble and punitive damages. The confidential settlement amount and final fee award were not established in the available public materials.
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