Judge tosses Blake Lively’s sexual harassment claims against Justin Baldoni one month before trial

By Nicki Brown, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge tossed out all of Blake Lively’s legal claims against her “It Ends With Us” director Justin Baldoni, leaving only three claims against other defendants to be addressed at the upcoming trial.

In her civil complaint, Lively accused Baldoni, who also co-starred in the film, of sexually harassing her during the movie’s production and then orchestrating a smear campaign to retaliate against her for speaking up about the alleged mistreatment. Baldoni denied the allegations.

In an order issued Thursday, District Judge Lewis Liman threw out the majority of the claims in Lively’s lawsuit, including sexual harassment and defamation. Out of thirteen claims, only three remain in the case – retaliation, aiding and abetting retaliation, and breach of contract. All the remaining claims are against defendants that do not include Baldoni.

Jury selection for the trial, which would have been the climax of more than year-long legal back-and-forth that generated countless headlines, is scheduled to begin on May 18.

“This case has always been and will remain focused on the devasting retaliation and the extraordinary steps the defendants took to destroy Blake Lively’s reputation because she stood up for safety on the set and that is the case that is going to trial,” Sigrid McCawley, an attorney for Lively, said in a statement to CNN.

The statement added that for Lively, “the greatest measure of justice is that the people and the playbook behind these coordinated digital attacks have been exposed and are already being held accountable by other women they’ve targeted.”

“She looks forward to testifying at trial and continuing to shine a light on this vicious form of online retaliation so that it becomes easier to detect and fight,” the statement concluded.

CNN has reached out to attorneys for Baldoni for comment.

This story is developing and will be updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Carolyn Sung contributed to this report.