A judge has dismissed the sexual harassment claims in Blake Lively's lawsuit against It Ends with Us director Justin Baldoni - but before anyone starts celebrating or condemning, let's be very clear about what this actually means.
The dismissal wasn't on the merits. The court didn't rule that nothing happened. Instead, the judge ruled on jurisdictional grounds: California's sexual harassment laws don't apply because the alleged incidents occurred on a New Jersey film set, and because Lively was classified as an independent contractor rather than an employee.
As Lively's attorney noted in a statement, the sexual harassment claims aren't proceeding "not because the defendants did nothing wrong, but because the court determined Blake Lively was an independent contractor, not an employee." That's lawyer-speak for: the substance of the allegations remains unaddressed.
The original complaint alleged that Baldoni kissed Lively in scenes where the script didn't require it, entered her trailer while she was breastfeeding, and had a producer show her a video of his wife giving birth. Baldoni's team has characterized at least one allegation - about missing "sexual harassment training" - as a joke about wardrobe taken out of context.
Here's what survives: three claims focused on retaliation, aiding and abetting in retaliation, and breach of contract. These allege a coordinated effort to damage Lively's reputation after she raised safety concerns on set. Translation: the case is far from over.
The trial is scheduled for May 18, 2026, which means we'll be hearing a lot more about this in the coming weeks. What remains to be seen is whether the focus shifts entirely to the retaliation claims, or whether Lively's legal team attempts to refile the harassment allegations under New Jersey law.
This case matters beyond the specifics of what did or didn't happen on the set of a romantic drama. It highlights the legal gray areas around on-set conduct, the classification of actors as independent contractors versus employees, and the often murky question of what constitutes actionable behavior in an industry built on intimacy and improvisation.
In Hollywood, nobody knows anything - except me, occasionally. And what I know is that dismissal doesn't mean exoneration, and this story is far from finished.
