December 31, 2024: Legal Action Taken Against The New York Times

A group consisting of Baldoni, Wayfarer, Heath, Sarowitz, Nathan, TAG, Abel, RWA Communications, Wallace, and Street Relations launched a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times on December 31.

According to documents reviewed by E!, the lawsuit accuses The New York Times of several offenses, including libel, invasion of privacy through false light, promissory fraud, and breach of an implied-in-fact contract. These charges stem from an article that claimed the plaintiffs orchestrated a retaliatory smear campaign against Lively after she raised concerns about alleged misconduct during production.

The plaintiffs argue that the article was “false” and rooted in Lively’s complaint to the CRD. They assert that accusations and messages highlighted in both the article and complaint were misrepresented and taken out of context.

The lawsuit claims, “While The New York Times purportedly ‘reviewed these along with other documents[,]’ their report heavily leaned on Lively’s unverified and biased account, echoing it almost word-for-word, and ignored substantial evidence that countered her allegations and revealed her true intentions.”

They alleged “it was Lively, not Plaintiffs, who engaged in a calculated smear campaign.” She denied this.

The New York Times said it planned to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” it stated to E!. “Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article.”