Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds To Seek Dismissal Of Justin Baldoni's $400M Lawsuit Amid Messy Legal Battle

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are seeking the dismissal of a $400 million lawsuit filed by Justin Baldoni amid their ongoing legal battle.

Lively and Baldoni both co-starred in the film, "It Ends With Us," but have had to slug it out on the legal front after the actress alleged he sexually harassed her while filming.

Before their bitter legal battle, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni appeared to have been close with each other as screenshots of their friendly conversations hit the internet.

The Hollywood power couple has asked a judge to dismiss Baldoni's $400 million lawsuit against them.

According to Variety, Lively and Reynolds made the request in a letter written to Judge Lewis Liman by their attorney, Michael Gottlieb, after Limam asked them to send a written notice to "indicate in one sentence the Defendant's intent to make a motion to dismiss."

"The Lively-Reynolds Parties intend to move to dismiss Plaintiffs' complaint," Gottlieb wrote.

Lively's publicist Leslie Sloane, who was also named as a defendant in Baldoni's suit, filed a similar notice on Wednesday.

Attorneys for both parties are set to face off in court on Monday in the first hearing of the case with a pretrial conference.

The conference was pushed up from an initial date of February 12, with a trial scheduled for March 9, 2026.

The judge has also requested that both parties file a plan allowing for a trial by that date.

The "Gossip Girl" star and her husband face an "imminent" subpoena to release all forms of communication they shared about Baldoni and his film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling novel, "It Ends with Us."

The subpoena would see them hand over all relevant correspondence, including emails, text messages, and any other forms of communication that may be deemed appropriate to the case.

They were also being hit with a deposition, alongside their publicist Sloane, which will see them ordered to provide hours of testimony and be quizzed by Baldoni's lawyers.

However, Lively has reportedly chosen not to follow through with the court's deposition request if Freedman is not handed a gag order.

According to Variety, Baldoni's team wants to take the deposition as soon as possible. But they told the judge that her lawyers have indicated that she will refuse to let Freedman do the deposition, due to "unspecified statements made by Mr. Freedman."

"We are unaware of any situation that would warrant the deposed party to have a choice in which attorney takes her deposition," Baldoni's attorney, Kevin Fritz, wrote.

Fritz continued, "Parties to litigation simply do not have the right to dictate which of their opponents' attorneys may or may not take their deposition or perform any other aspect of the opposing party's case."

Lively and Reynolds requested that the judge place a gag order against Baldoni's attorneys, led by Bryan Freedman, for making "extrajudicial statements."

Their lawyer, Gottlieb, wrote a letter to the judge demanding an urgent conference to highlight their "growing concerns" about what they described as Freedman's alleged "extrajudicial misconduct."

He decried reports of a new website Baldoni's camp is reportedly creating to "strategically release selected documents and communications," slamming it as a ploy to "influence proceedings and the public perception" of the case with "inflammatory content."

"He further has made it clear that his priority is to 'torpedo Blake Lively's career for good' by, among other things, creating a website to release strategically selected documents and communications between Ms. Lively and Mr. Baldoni," Gottlieb wrote in the letter.

"The planned website will release what Mr. Freedman self-servingly proclaims will be 'full unedited WhatsApp, text and email exchanges between Lively and Baldoni,' although neither the media nor public will have any way of knowing which communications Mr. Freedman has selectively omitted from disclosure, including communications that Mr. Freedman and his clients may have deleted," Gottlieb continued.

Lively and Baldoni were apparently friends before their relationship went sour while filming "It Ends With Us."

The Daily Mail obtained a snapshot of their conversation, in which the pair seems friendly and almost flirtatious.

In court documents, Baldoni claimed that his relationship with Lively "grew close" on set and that they often "shared stories and pictures from their lives, commiserated over family illnesses, and exchanged jokes and memes."

In one of their text messages, Lively told Baldoni, "I feel the same. It's such a good feeling to get work done that we're proud of. And to do it together," adding, "It just clicks when we find it."

"I like sentimental Blake," Baldoni replied, prompting Lively to joke: "Never met her."

He quipped, "I also like a-shole Blake… don't worry."

These texts came after Baldoni released 10 minutes of raw footage from "It Ends With Us," showcasing a slow dance scene crucial to Lively's sexual harassment lawsuit and a voice note he sent her by 2 am.