Lively’s attorneys called the move “routine,” adding, “We are doing what trial lawyers do: preparing our case for trial by streamlining and focusing it”

NEED TO KNOW

  • Blake Lively has requested the withdrawal without prejudice of two of her claims, relating to the infliction of emotional distress, against
    It Ends with Us
    director-costar Justin Baldoni
  • After requesting that Lively produce relevant medical information, Baldoni’s legal team filed a letter to court asserting that they’re entitled to a dismissal of those claims with prejudice so they won’t be re-filed
  • “We are doing what trial lawyers do: preparing our case for trial by streamlining and focusing it,” Lively’s lawyers said of the move


Blake Lively

is abandoning some of her claims against

Justin Baldoni

, new legal filings show.

In the latest volley in her ongoing court battle with her

It Ends with Us

director-costar over their

behind-the-scenes conflict

, Lively, 37, requested on Tuesday, June 2 to withdraw and dismiss her claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Kevin Fritz, a lawyer for Baldoni, 41, filed a letter addressed to Judge Lewis J. Liman in U.S. District Court Southern District of New York requesting “an order compelling Blake Lively to identify her medical and mental health care providers” by signing a HIPAA release for access to therapy notes and relevant medical information.

The document adds that “instead of complying,” Lively requested to withdraw claims of emotional distress without prejudice. Doing so, it alleges, means that Lively refuses “to disclose the information and documents needed to disprove that she suffered any emotional distress” and seeks to “maintain the right to re-file her [infliction of emotional distress claims] at an unknown time in this or some other court after the discovery window has closed… Ms. Lively cannot have it both ways.”

Lively’s lawyers, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, responded in a statement shared with Big One News, “Once again, this is a routine part of the litigation process that is being used as a press stunt. We are doing what trial lawyers do: preparing our case for trial by streamlining and focusing it; they are doing what they do: desperately seeking another tired round of tabloid coverage.”

The
Gossip Girl
actress “continues to allege emotional distress, as part of numerous other claims in her lawsuit, such as sexual harassment and retaliation, and massive additional compensatory damages on all of her claims.”

The costars’ conflict began last December, when Lively

filed a sexual-harassment complaint

against Baldoni, alleging misconduct on the

Colleen Hoover

adaptation’s set and a retaliatory smear campaign, which he has denied. The
Jane the Virgin
alum

countersued

Lively, her husband

Ryan Reynolds

and their publicists in January, alleging extortion, defamation and more. Both cases in
Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al.
are scheduled for trial in

March 2026

.


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In the original filing, Lively alleged that due to Baldoni’s behavior during and after the filming of
It Ends with Us
, “the emotional impact” on her “has been extreme, not only affecting her, but her family, including her husband and

four children

.”

In a statement given to

The New York Times

in December, Lively said, “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm Big One Newswho speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”

Read the original article on

Big One News