Blake Lively suffers smear campaign setback in Justin Baldoni case as social media advisor dismissed
Amid the ongoing It Ends With Us legal case, Blake Lively has suffered a blow after a judge dismissed her case against social media expert Jed Wallace.
In a lawsuit filed in December, Lively claimed that the social media guru ran an untraceable smear campaign against her at Justin Baldoni’s instruction. However, on July 16th, a judge granted Wallace’s motion to dismiss himself as a defendant.
Now, Lively has until July 31st, 2025, to file an amended complaint or sue him in a different jurisdiction. This ruling pushes against her claim that Baldoni and publicists Melissa Nathan and Jen Abel masterminded the smear campaign in the run-up to the 2024 movie.
“The Wallace Defendant’s motion to dismiss must be granted because the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over them,” Judge Liman wrote in a 38-page ruling. “The alleged negative publicity campaign against Lively largely took place outside of New York. The few alleged actions targeting New York were taken by others, and there are no allegations suggesting the Wallace Defendants were aware of them. Therefore, the Wallace Defendants cannot be forced to defend this lawsuit in New York.”
Lively’s spokesperson gave a statement to Variety in response, which stated: “Ms. Lively respects the Court’s decision, which has nothing to do with the merits of her allegations about Mr. Wallace’s role in the smear campaign and relates solely to the procedural question of whether he is subject to jurisdiction in New York or elsewhere.”
It added, “We currently are evaluating our numerous options for holding Mr. Wallace accountable for the pivotal role he served in the retaliatory effort that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties paid him at least tens of thousands of dollars a month to perform.”
On July 17th, Lively will give evidence to the case. A judge has granted her the right to deliver her deposition at her attorney’s office, rather than at the office of Baldoni’s attorney to avoid a paparazzi frenzy.
Lively’s upcoming statement in the case comes a month after a judge threw out Baldoni’s $400 million counterclaim against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist for extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy that the director and actor had made in January.
Following Lively’s deposition and the collection of further evidence on both sides, the case is expected to head to court in March 2026.
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