Judge considers moving Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively lawsuit forward due to public comments
A judge in New York is threatening to move Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively’s legal battle forward due to their ongoing conflict, which is playing out in the press. As it stands, their trial isn’t due to happen until 2026.
In December 2024, Lively filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star and director for sexual harassment, sharing alleged texts between Baldoni and a PR team who appeared to be planning a purposeful smear campaign against her. In response, Baldoni launched a $400 million lawsuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, as well as another against The New York Times, which reported the texts.
The battle between the two has escalated ever since. Baldoni’s team leaked a video from on-set and brought up Taylor Swift’s alleged involvement in the conflict. Meanwhile, Lively’s side leaked a voice note from Baldoni. With words and actions on both sides, the battle between them is growing increasingly complex and only heightening public interest in the case.
Initially, Judge Lewis J Liman has requested a trial on March 9th, 2026, unless the parties can reach an agreement beforehand.
However, in a two-hour-long pretrial on February 3rd, 2025, Lively’s attorney, Michael Gottlieb, declared to the judge the case “is supposed to be resolved here in court,” adding, per the BBC, “It’s not supposed to be resolved in the press.” Gottlieb accused Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, of making “inflammatory extrajudicial comments” about Lively, while Freedman responded, “My client is devastated financially and emotionally,”
The judge stated that both sides had “given the public plenty to feast upon.” He said that if the trial keeps being discussed and developed in the press, he will have no choice but to move the trial date forward to prevent a jury from becoming prejudiced by the media.
Freedman declared that he would follow the New York Bar Association Rule 3.6, a measure that stops lawyers from making statements publicly that could “have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding in the matter,” according to the American Bar Association.
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