A New York judge has set March 2026 as the trial date for a courtroom showdown between Blake Lively and her “It Ends With Us” costar and director Justin Baldoni.
According to reports, the New York federal judge, Lewis J. Liman, told both sides in an order late Monday to prepare for a March 9, 2026, trial. He also moved an initial conference from mid-February to next week and told lawyers to be prepared to address complaints about pretrial publicity and attorney conduct.
The Judge took the actions after Lively’s lawyers claimed in a filing on Monday that an attorney for Baldoni was trying to ‘taint potential jurors’ over lawsuits the actors have filed against each other.
The lawyers said Baldoni’s attorney was trying to wreck Lively’s career and turn potential New York jurors against her by creating a website that released selected documents and communications between them. They added, “The endless stream of defamatory and extrajudicial media statements must end.”
Freedman, in his statement, responded to Monday’s assertions that the “irony is not lost on anyone that Ms. Lively is so petrified of the truth that she has moved to gag it.”
“We will always respect the court; however, we will never be bullied by those suggesting we cannot defend our clients with pure, unedited facts,” the lawyer said. “All we want is for people to see the actual text messages that directly contradict her allegations, video footage that clearly shows there was no sexual harassment and all the other powerful evidence that directly contradicts any false allegations.”
In a letter to the judge on Thursday, Baldoni attorney Kevin Fritz accused Lively of a publicity campaign that made Baldoni and the other defendants “objects of public scorn and contempt.”
He also added that the actress’ actions had caused damages totalling hundreds of millions of dollars due to her “scorched-earth media campaign.”
In the separate filing in Hays County, Texas, a precursor to another potential lawsuit, Lively asks for an order for a deposition from Jed Wallace, a crisis management specialist she alleges was behind much of the social media manipulation surrounding the film that turned public sentiment against her through posts on Reddit and TikTok.
“He weaponized a digital army around the country, including in New York and Los Angeles, to create, seed, manipulate, and advance disparaging content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums,” the filing alleges according to AP.
Wallace is identified in Lively’s federal lawsuit, but he is not a defendant.
Lively sued Baldoni, his production company and others in New York in late December for sexual harassment and attacks on her reputation and asked for unspecified damages.
Baldoni, on the other hand, filed his own suit earlier this month, accusing Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion and seeking at least $400 million in damages.
The judge said Monday that he’ll likely combine the lawsuits for trial.