It feels like it’s been a never-ending stretch of legal drama between It Ends With Us co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, but the end is here (kinda) with an official trial date on the calendar.
As reported by Variety, Judge Lewis Liman has confirmed the two could be getting their day in court early next year, with the trial date set for March 9, 2026 — that is, if they don’t settle their legal battle beforehand.
To recap a long-winding saga, the co-stars are suing each other in federal court in New York. Lively filed a lawsuit in December for sexual harassment and allegedly orchestrating a “smear campaign” to destroy Lively’s career.
Two weeks later, Baldoni fired back with a lawsuit of his own, accusing her, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist Leslie Sloane of defamation, civil extortion and invasion of privacy.
Scenes from behind-the-footage published by Baldoni’s legal team last week. Source: Entertainment Tonight
The legal battle has seen a number of twists and turns, such as Baldoni taking action against Marvel and Disney for Reynolds‘ Nicepool character from Deadpool & Wolverine.
The latest development saw Baldoni’s legal team share behind-the-scenes footage they claim demonstrates “respect and professionalism” during filming. However, Lively’s legal team said this same footage actually corroborates her original allegations instead.
Not long after the video’s release last week, Lively and Reynolds’ legal team sent a letter to a federal judge, arguing Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman “violated the New York Rules of Professional Conduct by litigating their dispute in the press”, as reported by Variety.
While not a gag order per se, the letter is believed to ensure Baldoni’s legal camp follows rules around making public statements that have a likelihood of prejudicing the jury.
An initial hearing is slated next month for February 3, where Lively’s legal team are expected to ask for a protective order that will stop the release of discovery materials in the case. This will likely put a halt to Baldoni’s plans for a website with correspondence and videos that promise to “directly quash” Lively’s claims.
Of course, Baldoni’s legal team haven’t taken this lying down.
Freedman has since issued a fiery response to any allegations that he’s attempting to taint the jury pool in their upcoming trial, telling Us Weekly: “The irony continues to be rich for team Lively/Reynolds.
“Our intention with the upcoming website is to do the exact opposite of what they themselves did when they gave probably false information to the New York Times.”
He continued: “We will not be selective, we will not cherry pick and we will not doctor text messages. Both Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds do not yet understand that there isn’t one rule for them and one rule for everybody else.”
We’ll keep you updated as things continue to unravel, but for now, it seems like this showdown could be far from over.
Lead image: Gilbert Flores and John Nacion / Getty Images
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