Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni battle begins in court; Judge to advance trial if lawyers continue public spat

The first hearing in the high-profile Blake Lively vs Justin Baldoni case began on Monday in a New York City court.
The Manhattan federal judge overseeing the legal battle between the 'It Ends With Us' co-actors kicked things off with a stern warning to the lawyers of both stars, asking them to adhere to court rules.
In court, Judge Lewis Liman said the latest amended complaint, which included emails and text messages between Baldoni and Lively and Reynolds - who Baldoni is also suing - broke court procedure.
During a hearing, Judge Liman signalled that the trial, currently scheduled for March 9, 2026, could be moved up if attorneys failed to restrain themselves from making comments that might taint a potential jury pool.
"You've got a lot in front of the court that gives, I think, the public plenty to feast upon," Liman said, as reported by US media
Neither Lively nor Baldoni was present at the hearing, but their legal teams clashed over accusations of unfair tactics.
Michael Gottlieb, representing Lively, criticised Baldoni’s lawyer for making what he described as “inflammatory” public remarks that had caused significant harm to Lively’s reputation. He stated that the actress was “very eager to move forward and have her day in court.”
On the other side, Bryan Freedman, who represents Baldoni and his production company, claimed his clients had suffered losses amounting to “hundreds of millions of dollars” due to Lively’s allegations of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us.
Freedman pushed back against claims that Baldoni was responsible for escalating the dispute in the media, stating, “I don’t want to say ‘they started it,’ but that is exactly what happened when Lively took her complaints public.”
"We just couldn't be more pleased with how all the issues were managed. We're going to move as quickly as we possibly can and prove our innocence," Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman said outside court following the hearing as reported by AFP.
Lively's lawyer Michael Gottlieb said he was "very happy with how the hearing went" -- but did not elaborate.
The case stems from allegations of misconduct during the filming of the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel. Lively sued Baldoni, his production company and others in New York in late December for sexual harassment and attacks on her reputation and sought unspecified damages. Baldoni hit back with a countersuit last month, accusing Lively and her actor husband Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion and seeking at least $400 million in damages.
Baldoni has also sued The New York Times for $250 million after it published a piece about that alleged smear campaign.