Justin BaldoniProduction company Wayfarer Studios has been ordered to pay the New York Times more than $171,000 in damages after its defamation lawsuit against the paper was dismissed.
Justin Baldoni and the production company ordered to pay The New York Times
According to a ruling issued on Monday, July 27, New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits awarded the New York Times $171,616.20 after granting “summary judgment” in favor of the newspaper under New York’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Suit Against Public Participation) law. The newspaper had originally sought about US$181,622.70 in attorney’s fees. However, Judge Lebovits lowered the amount after determining that some of the legal work done after the case was filed was “non-recoverable.”
About the court ruling
According to People, Judge Lebovits ruled, “The underlying federal action here arose out of publicly published media coverage … of a legal proceeding initiated by a prominent actress.” The judge concluded that the newspaper’s reports concerned “matters of public interest”.Judge Lebovits also rejected Wayfarer Studios’ request to stay the state case pending a possible appeal. The judge noted that the parties’ May 2026 settlement in the underlying federal litigation included a waiver of appeal rights, making the request moot.
The New York Times responds
After the latest ruling, The New York Times said in a statement to People: “We are delighted by the court’s decision. The anti-SLAPP statute is designed to combat exactly these types of meritless lawsuits brought to silence the press.”
Justin Baldoni’s ‘It Ends With Us’ Lawsuit
This update comes months after Wayfarer Studios sued The New York Times over its December 2024 investigation, titled “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” which detailed Blake Lively’s allegations of sexual harassment and workplace retaliation against Baldoni and others associated with the production of “It Ends With Us.”As previously reported, in the federal lawsuit filed by Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios in January 2025, they alleged that the newspaper had defamed them through their reporting. However, in June 2025, US District Judge Lewis J Liman dismissed all claims against the newspaper with prejudice, effectively preventing the claims from being filed again.