Did the court rule in favor of Justin Baldoni? Candace Owens breaks down latest ruling against Blake Lively’s emotional distress claims

Judge Lewis Liman, who is overseeing Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s legal drama, according to a Variety article dated June 3, 2025, recently shut down the claims of emotional distress made by the actress.

After this recent development in the legal battle between the It Ends With Us stars made headlines, American political commentator and author Candace Owens took to her YouTube channel and broke down the latest ruling against the 37-year-old actress’ emotional distress claims.

On Tuesday, Judge Lewis J Liman of the Southern District of New York reportedly released a succinct order and ruled in favor of Baldoni.

“Lively’s request that ‘because the parties have agreed to dismiss Ms. Lively’s tenth and eleventh causes of action... the Court exercise its inherent authority and authority under Rule 15 to dismiss them without prejudice’ is denied without prejudice to renewal,” the judge ruled, according to Variety.

The judge weighed in further on Blake Lively’s emotional distress claims.

“The parties shall stipulate to whether the dismissal is with or without prejudice, or Lively shall renew her request by formal motion. For avoidance of doubt, if the claims are not dismissed, the Court will preclude Lively from offering any evidence of emotional distress,” he stated.

On June 4, 2024, Candace Owens noted in her video how Judge Lewis Liman’s latest ruling was a “win” for the It Ends With Us director.

“This is a major major win for Team Baldoni. Because throughout this entire case… they’ve effectively butchered their entire lawsuit,” she said.

Notably, the NYC-based federal official’s latest ruling came after Justin Baldoni’s lawyers filed a motion for Blake Lively to bring forth her medical records. Although the actress’ side fought the move, Judge Lewis Liman said that Lively’s team would need to file a formal motion for dismissal, as per the Variety report.

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Candace Owens details the latest ruling in the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal drama

After Judge Lewis Liman released an order on June 3, 2025, dismissing Blake Lively’s attempt to withdraw her emotional distress claims, Candace Owens, in her YouTube video, reacted to the same.

“Judge Liman has just come back, and he has very much decided in favor of team Baldoni. He’s effectively saying, via an order, which we can pull this up, and you can see the language on this, which he has stamped, that he’s not going to compel her at this time to sign the HIPAA privacy release. Granted that he fully expects her to, therefore, drop all claims of emotional distress,” she said.

Candace Owens further broke down his ruling and added that the judge was allegedly “committing right here” that if Blake Lively did not drop the claims of emotional distress, he would not allow her to present any evidence of her alleged emotional distress throughout the trial. Owens also claimed that the judge might effectively tell the jury that they were “not allowing this evidence whatsoever.”

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The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni first made headlines in December 2024 when the actress filed a formal complaint accusing her It Ends With Us co-star and director of sexual harassment. Baldoni then filed a countersuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, in January 2025.

Notably, since the legal conflict began to unfold, both sides filed multiple lawsuits against each other. Meanwhile, the trial is scheduled to begin on March 9, 2026.