New York Times Sues Baldoni for Fees, Damages

The New York Times filed suit in New York Supreme Court seeking roughly $150,000 in legal fees and additional compensatory and punitive damages from Justin Baldoni’s Wayfarer Productions after a federal judge dismissed Baldoni’s defamation case against the paper. The Times invokes New York’s anti‑SLAPP statute, arguing Baldoni commenced and continued a baseless suit that forced the outlet to incur defense costs. The filing says the district court found the Times’ December 2024 reporting about Blake Lively’s Civil Rights Department complaint was protected by New York’s fair‑report privilege and, to the extent reporting went beyond that material, was not plausibly published with actual malice. Baldoni had sought hundreds of millions in damages and amended his claims during litigation but declined to file a further amended complaint after the dismissal. Separately, Lively has moved for a multi‑million‑dollar award against Baldoni for costs she incurred responding to his defamation suit, and the dispute over It Ends With Us continues to generate new legal filings.