Blake Lively’s Day In Court Delayed As Baldoni Trial Pushed; Judge Recommends Unlikely Settlement For ‘It Ends With’ Us Stars’ Bitter Dispute
Insisting on her “day in court,” Blake Lively has made it pretty clear she isn’t interested in settling her sexual harassment and online smear campaign lawsuit against It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios team. However, today a judge postponed the long-set start of the high profile trial and urged the parties to come to a deal.
Amidst a discovery hearing this morning in NYC, Judge Lewis Liman informed the assembled attorneys for Lively and Baldoni that “as important as this case is” he had to delay their March 9, 2026 starting civil trial date because “criminal trials take precedent” in the jam-packed court system.
The Lively vs. Baldoni trial is now scheduled to begin on May 18.
Yet, looking at the burdens on the judicial process, Judge Liman also Monday ordered the respective legal teams for the Another Simple Favor actress and the Jane the Virgin regular to seek a potential settlement in their big bucks and brazen headlines matter.
As it stands presently, with Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit over what really occurred during the making of the Sony-distributed IEWU and alleged preemptive retaliation against Lively in the lead-up to its August 2024 premiere kicked to the curb earlier this year, Lively is asking for damages in the realm of $500 million for damages to her reputation, brand businesses and stress on her and Ryan Reynolds‘ family.
Neither reps for Lively nor the Bryan Freedman-led legal team for Baldoni had any comment on what went down in court today when contacted by Deadline.
With the likely non-starter settlement talks now in the mix, at least on paper, the next significant date in this bitter and messy dispute is January 22. That’s when lawyers will argue before Judge Liman on Baldoni and Wayfarer’s summary judgement to have the case dismissed. Lively, as made obvious in a recent response filing, is opposed to such an end to the case. Baldoni is expected to file a response of his own to Lively’s opposition by the end of this week – just in time for the start of the holidays.
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