Justin Baldoni Sues New York Times Over Blake Lively Article [Video]

Justin Baldoni is suing the New York Times after it reported that he and his public relations team were behind a smear campaign against his It Ends With Us costar Blake Likely.

In the 87-page complaint filed on Tuesday, Dec 31. and obtained by PEOPLE, Baldoni and a group of nine other plaintiffs, including his production company Wayfarer Studios, business partners and public relations team, are suing the Times for $250 million. They allege libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract.

After Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, the Times published “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” on Saturday, Dec. 21.

The plaintiffs, including Baldoni and It Ends With Us producers Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz, along with Jed Wallace, and publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, accuse the Timesof using “‘cherry-picked’ and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced …