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They say that it’s important to have hobbies.
Despite some massive dismissals, Justin Baldoni is still embroiled in his legal war against Blake Lively.
Another of his lawsuits, however, is moving forward.
This one isn’t against Lively. But it’s not unrelated — because the woman he’s suing allegedly spoke to Lively.
This lawsuit is against Stephanie Jones, his former publicist
In December of 2024, Stephanie Jones — founder of Jonesworks PR — reportedly sued Wayfarer, his production company, alongside Baldoni’s crisis PR team.
Jones alleged multiple claims, including breach of contract.
Baldoni and Jennifer Abel, his publicist, filed a countersuit, accusing Jones of defamation and violating client confidentiality by sharing their private communications.
Jones filed to dismiss Baldoni’s claims.
In Touch Weekly reports that Judge Lewis J. Liman has allowed two aspects of Baldoni’s claim to move forward.
Wayfarer alleges that “Jones and Jonesworks made one or more statements” to Blake Lively, to Ryan Reynolds, and to publicist Leslie Sloane.
These alleged statements were “to the effect that Wayfarer had retaliated against Lively and others for reporting alleged sexual misconduct.”
The retaliation was “including orchestrating a ‘smear campaign’ by propagating false and misleading narratives about Lively for the purpose of damaging her image and reputation.”
Many in the general public might consider these to be statements of fact.
However, Baldoni and Wayfarer consider these statements to be defamatory — meaning that Jones made these statements and knew them to be false.
Part of the suit hinges upon the claims against Baldoni being false
Baldoni and Wayfarer’s argument doesn’t stop there.
“Wayfarer alleges that Jones knew the statement she made to Sloane was false,” the lawsuit alleges.
The documents continue: “‘As not only was she well aware that Lively had not actually been sexually harassed on set, she also knew that there had been not been a ‘smear campaign.’” That’s … interesting.
“This is clear because Jones was copied on many of Wayfarer’s email and text threads during the relevant period,” the lawsuit alleges. “And knew full well that Wayfarer was scarcely engaging with the press at all in August 2024.”
The documents went so far as to allege: “Much less carrying out offensive tactics in retaliation for something that never happened.’”
As we noted, Jones filed to dismiss the lawsuit.
However, the court declined to dismiss the defamation allegations.
The reasoning is that it is possible that “Jones was in a position to know the veracity of her statements at that time.”
It sounds like Wayfarer is going to essentially force Jones to prove that she didn’t speak to Lively on the topic.
Or to prove that there was a smear campaign against Lively, and that Baldoni orchestrated it.
We linked this (admittedly dated) rundown of the initial lawsuit, if that’s helpful
Knowing something and proving it are different things.
Of course, on the flipside, Baldoni may have to prove that Jones made these statements and that they were false.
That’s a tall order.
Even in 2026, after everything that’s come out, there are still people in comments sections who believe that Baldoni is the target of some sort of elaborate conspiracy or frame-job or even victim-blaming.
These folks are framing the lack of dismissal as a “win” for Baldoni. And it is. But despite the subject matter, this case doesn’t seem to be tied directly to his legal war with Lively.
Remember, Baldoni and Lively butt heads in court again starting in May. That will be here sooner than you think.
