Justin Baldoni’s $400M lawsuit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and NYT dismissed

New York: In a decisive legal setback for filmmaker and actor Justin Baldoni, a federal judge has immediately dismissed his 400 million dollars countersuit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and publicist Leslie Sloane, along with a separate 250 million dollars defamation claim against The New York Times, citing insufficient legal merit across all allegations.

The decision, issued by US District Judge Lewis J. Liman, found the claims leveled by Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties to be legally insufficient. The ruling, issued Monday, leaves Baldoni's legal team the option to amend certain breach of contract-related claims, specifically breach of the implied covenant of good faith and tortious interference, with a filing deadline of June 23, reports PEOPLE.

"The Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Lively is responsible for any statements other than the statements in her CRD complaint, which are privileged," Judge Liman wrote in the opinion and order filing.

"The Wayfarer Parties have alleged that Reynolds and Sloane made additional statements accusing Baldoni of sexual misconduct and that the Times made additional statements accusing the Wayfarer Parties of engaging in a smear campaign.

"But the Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Reynolds, Sloane or the Times would have seriously doubted these statements were true based on the information available to them, as is required for them to be liable for defamation under applicable law," judge Liman wrote.

In a statement obtained by PEOPLE on Monday the actress's attorneys Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb said, "Today's opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Sloane and The New York Times."

Baldoni had also sued the Times for $250 million in December, accusing the newspaper of using “‘cherry-picked’ and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead" in its December article, " 'We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine." The Times stood by its reporting.

Judge Liman's decision to toss Baldoni's countersuit comes amid recent developments in his legal battle with Lively that have included a journalist clarifying that Sloane never claimed Baldoni "sexually assaulted" Lively, as well as the actress agreeing to withdraw two of her claims, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Baldoni, who has denied all allegations, had earlier accused Lively of misusing the legal system,  (With inputs from agencies)