Read the lawsuit Justin Baldoni filed against The New York Times over its bombshell Blake Lively story

• Justin Baldoni sued The New York Times over its story on Blake Lively's sexual-harassment claims.

• The Times stood by its reporting and said it would defend against the lawsuit.

• Lively also filed a lawsuit accusing Baldoni of retaliation for her harassment claims.

Justin Baldoni is taking legal action against The New York Times after the paper reported about his costar Blake Lively's allegations of misconduct against him.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court, named Baldoni, his publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, and the "It Ends With Us" producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz as plaintiffs.

The lawsuit, obtained by Business Insider, accused the Times of relying "almost entirely" on what it described as "Lively's unverified and self-serving narrative" and said the newspaper disregarded "an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives."

The lawsuit, embedded in full below, included screenshots of messages that it said contradicted the Times' reporting.

The lawsuit said the plaintiffs suffered damages that amounted to at least $250 million.

In a statement provided to BI, a Times spokesperson said the outlet stood by the reporting and would "vigorously defend against the lawsuit."

"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," the statement said.

The spokesperson also said the paper published Baldoni's full response statement to its story and said he and other subjects "have not pointed to a single error" in its reporting.

Lawyers for Lively said in a statement provided to BI: "Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively's California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today."

The federal suit, also reviewed by Business Insider, named Baldoni and members of his PR team. It was based on the California civil-rights complaint and accused Baldoni and others of orchestrating a campaign to retaliate against her for speaking up about what she said was sexual misconduct.

The lawyers also said they encourage everyone to read Lively's full lawsuit, which is embedded below.

Representatives for Baldoni did not address Lively's lawsuit directly when reached by BI.

Bryan Freedman, a lawyer for Baldoni and the other plaintiffs suing the Times, told BI in a statement that Lively and her team had orchestrated a "vicious smear campaign" against his clients and that the Times had "cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful 'untouchable' Hollywood elites."

The Times' bombshell story, "'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine," was published December 21 and detailed messages exchanged between Baldoni and his PR team.

Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni at about the same time, where she accused him of sexual harassment and of coordinating a smear campaign to tarnish her reputation.

Baldoni's lawyers argued in their complaint Tuesday that the Times' story was based on "a premise that is categorically false and easily disproven," saying the Times had access to messages proving that Lively and not Baldoni was at fault.

Read Baldoni's lawsuit against the Times:

Read Lively's lawsuit against Baldoni and others:

Read the original article on Business Insider