Ryan Reynolds isn’t letting Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit slide without a fight. The Deadpool star has officially filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni’s complaint against him, arguing that the case is baseless and should be thrown out.
If you missed the initial legal drama, Baldoni filed a massive $400 million lawsuit in January against multiple parties, including his It Ends with Us co-star Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds. As part of his complaint, Baldoni even included what he claimed were text messages exchanged between him and Reynolds.
Now, Ryan is firing back. His legal team, led by attorneys Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, issued a statement to Just Jared, breaking down why they believe the case has no merit.
“The entirety of Mr. Baldoni’s case appears to be based on Mr. Reynolds allegedly privately calling Mr. Baldoni a ‘predator,’ but here is the problem, that is not defamation unless they can show that Mr. Reynolds did not believe that statement to be true,” the statement reads. “The complaint doesn’t allege that, and just the opposite, the allegations in the complaint suggest that Mr. Reynolds genuinely believes Mr. Baldoni is a predator. Mr. Reynolds’ wife has accused Mr. Baldoni — privately and in multiple complaints — of sexual harassment and retaliation, and as pointed out by Mr. Reynolds’ motion, Mr. Baldoni has also openly spoken about his past of mistreating women and pushing the boundaries of consent. Mr. Reynolds has a First Amendment right to express his opinion of Mr. Baldoni, which should be comforting to a group of people who have repeatedly called Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds ‘bullies’ and other names over the past year.”
Beyond the legal arguments, Ryan’s spokesperson didn’t hold back either, calling the lawsuit a transparent attempt to discredit the actor.
“The claims filed against Mr. Reynolds are simply a list of grievances attempting to shame Mr. Reynolds for being the man Mr. Baldoni has built his brand pretending to be, a man who is ‘confident enough to listen’ to the woman in his life,” the spokesperson stated. “We look forward to this lawsuit being dismissed, and to collecting on Steve Sarowitz’s $100 million pledge by recovering Mr. Reynolds’ costs and attorneys’ fees incurred to toss this frivolous case.”
The legal team also made it clear in their court filing that they see Baldoni’s complaint as more of a PR stunt than a legitimate legal argument. “The First Amended Complaint that Sarowitz and his co-Plaintiffs filed seeks to fulfill that promise by polluting this Court’s docket with hundreds of paragraphs of clickbait, designed for an audience other than this Court, with virtually no bearing on cognizable legal claims.”
Ryan’s lawyers outlined three major reasons they believe the lawsuit should be dismissed:
- “They claim defamation without alleging who was defamed, what specifically was said, or how anyone suffered actual harm.”
- “They claim ‘tortious interference’ without explaining a single thing that Mr. Reynolds allegedly did that was ‘tortious.’”
- “They allege an outrageous $400 million in damages without explaining which plaintiffs have any actual loss, or accounting for the millions of dollars that Wayfarer and its billionaire chairman, Mr. Sarowitz, made in profits off of this Film they claim was ruined.”
This legal battle has been escalating since January, with both sides presenting their own evidence. After Baldoni shared what he claimed were private text exchanges with Reynolds, Blake Lively also jumped into the conversation, releasing her own messages that reportedly show Ryan giving instructions to her publicist.
With Ryan’s legal team now formally requesting a dismissal, all eyes are on the court’s next move. Will this high-profile lawsuit be thrown out, or is this just the beginning of an even bigger legal showdown? Either way, it’s clear that Reynolds isn’t backing down.
