The legal battle surrounding the upcoming film It Ends With Us has intensified, as an Austin-based public relations consultant filed a defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively in Texas federal court on Tuesday. The suit alleges that Lively falsely implicated him in her highly publicized claims of sexual harassment and retaliation against director and co-star Justin Baldoni.

Defamation Claims and Alleged Reputational Harm

The plaintiff, Jed Wallace, along with his crisis management firm, Street Relations Inc., is seeking $1 million for reputational damage and $6 million in punitive damages, claiming Lively’s accusations have caused substantial harm to his career.

Wallace’s lawsuit stems from Lively’s December complaint to the California Civil Rights Department, where she accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and claimed that publicists—including Wallace—had orchestrated a retaliatory smear campaign against her. While Wallace and his firm were later removed from the list of defendants in Lively’s federal lawsuit in New York, they argue that her initial accusations were widely publicized and falsely tied them to misconduct.

“Plaintiffs were nowhere near where the alleged harassment/retaliation took place,” Wallace and Street Relations stated in their court filing. “She knew (and knows) that they were not the harassers/retaliators but made these allegations anyway, leaked them to the press hoping they would be widely republished (which they were) but then excluded plaintiffs from the formal lawsuit (knowing they had nothing to do with the events depicted therein).”

Wallace's Attorney Calls Lawsuit a Fight for Justice

Wallace’s attorney, Chip Babcock of Jackson Walker LLP, emphasized his client’s need to protect his name.

“Mr. Wallace, who is a very private person, has never met or spoken to Ms. Lively. Ever,” Babcock said in a statement. “He has not engaged in a smear campaign against her at any point in time.”

Lively’s Legal Team Calls Lawsuit ‘Retaliation’

Lively’s attorneys, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP, dismissed Wallace’s claims, characterizing the lawsuit as an attempt to silence the actress.

“Another day, another state, another nine-figure lawsuit seeking to sue Ms. Lively into oblivion for speaking out against sexual harassment and retaliation,” Lively’s legal team said in a statement. “While this lawsuit will be dismissed, we are pleased that Mr. Wallace has finally emerged from the shadows, and that he too will be held accountable in federal court.”

Expanding Legal Fallout in the ‘It Ends With Us’ Controversy

Wallace is just one of several public relations professionals entangled in the high-stakes Hollywood dispute.

• Lively is also suing PR professionals Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel for their alleged role in the smear campaign.
• Baldoni has fired back with a countersuit, claiming that Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, took control of the film’s production and fabricated defamatory allegations against him.
• Baldoni’s former publicist, Stephanie Jones, has launched her own legal action against him, Nathan, and Abel for defamation and client poaching.

With multiple lawsuits unfolding in different jurisdictions, the legal drama surrounding It Ends With Us continues to escalate.