Blake Lively<\/a>\u2018s claims of sexual harassmen<\/a>t against \u201cIt Ends with Us<\/a>\u201d director Justin Baldoni<\/a> have been thrown out by a federal judge, but the judge allowed her accusations of retaliation on the part of Baldoni to move forward to a jury trial.<\/p>\n In a ruling on Thursday, April 2 in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Judge Lewis J. Liman ruled that in response to sexual harassment claims Lively made on the set of \u201cIt Ends with Us\u201d that a reasonable jury could view this as retaliation. Liman wrote that, while some things would be acceptable for a crisis PR campaign to do, other aspects may have \u201ccrossed the line.\u201d But by focusing Lively\u2019s case only on the retaliation, it limits what Lively\u2019s legal team can have be considered by a jury in a trial.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere are limits to the response that the accused can make in response to claims of harassment,\u201d Liman wrote in the 152-page opinion. \u201cThere comes a point where the accused stops simply defending him or herself and starts taking action that a reasonable jury could view as retaliation for the fact that the accuser had the temerity to make the accusations.\u201d<\/p>\n The ruling continues: \u201cHere, certain conduct could be construed as directed not at Lively\u2019s allegations and at undermining their credibility, but as an attack on her professional reputation and livelihood\u2026There is evidence from which a jury could find that the Wayfarer Parties planned more aggressive action, not only to \u2018destroy\u2019 Lively\u2019s accusations but to destroy her and her career.\u201d<\/p>\n The judge argued that Lively\u2019s sexual harassment claims did not meet legal standard. Among her accusations, she made reference to texts between Baldoni and his Wayfarer partner that she believed sexualized her, as well as comments in front of crew that she had never watched pornography. Baldoni\u2019s legal team has denied the claims.<\/p>\n Lively filed suit in December 2024, claiming that, after she had complained about a sexual harassment incident in which she claimed Baldoni\u2019s partner Jamey Heath had stared at her bare breasts in a trailer, Baldoni hired a crisis PR firm designed to smear her reputation on social media. He has argued that it was to protect his own reputation, not to smear Lively. He filed a counter defamation suit<\/a> against Lively regarding the actress speaking to the New York Times about her legal complaint, but a judge last June tossed that suit.<\/a><\/p>\n The trial, which is meant to kick off in May unless a settlement is reached, will focus on whether the social media narrative that stirred around Lively and \u201cIt Ends with Us\u201d was organic or if it was orchestrated by the crisis PR team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Blake](\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Untitled-design-6.jpg?w=300&h=168&crop=1\")
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