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The trial date for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's legal dispute has been set. The court date for the case was set for March 9, 2026, one month after the Gossip Girl alum filed a complaint against her costar and director of It Ends With Us, according to court documents acquired by E! News on January 27.
Additionally, the hearing, which is scheduled to take place in New York, will cover more than just Lively's lawsuit, which claims that Baldoni sexually harassed her on the set of the 2024 Colleen Hoover movie adaptation and hired a crisis PR specialist to help carry out a plan to ruin her reputation in order to preserve his own.
In the filing, Judge Lewis J. Liman disclosed that the procedures would "consolidate" her case with Baldoni's lawsuit, which is requesting $400 million and claims that Lively not only usurped his role as director of It Ends With Us but also carried out her own smear campaign against him.
Another significant date was also confirmed in Liman's filing, which stated that on February 3, 2025, both parties would have a pre-trial conference to discuss Lively's earlier request for a gag order to be placed on Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman for the duration of their legal proceedings due to alleged "improper conduct." (Freedman has refuted any improper conduct.)
Baldoni refuted Lively's claims of sexual harassment and retribution. Baldoni also sued the New York Times for libel when the newspaper reported on the A Simple Favor star's claims of a retaliatory smear campaign.
On behalf of Baldoni, Freedman stated in a statement to E! News in December that "these claims are completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious" with the intention of hurting the public and rehashing a media narrative.
Both Lively and the New York Times have denied any misconduct, and the actress's defense team has called Baldoni's lawsuit against her "desperate."
Lively's lawyers told E! News in a statement on January 16 that, "This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation, and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim." Experts refer to this as DARVO. Attack. Deny. Victim Offender in reverse.
According to a statement released by the magazine, The New York Times intends to "vigorously defend against the lawsuit."
According to the NYT's statement, "an independent news organization's role is to follow the facts where they lead." "Our article was reported with care and responsibility. Reviewing thousands of pages of actual documents served as its foundation, including the emails and texts that we appropriately and correctly lengthen in the article.”
