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Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's trial was initially scheduled for March 2026, but Judge Lewis Liman said that he would move up the date if there were continued PR leaks. The legal battle between the It Ends with Us co-stars continued, with their lawyers facing off for the first time at the pretrial meeting in Manhattan on Monday, February 3, 2025.
Both of their legal teams accused one another of verbally attacking each other's clients in the media, prompting the New York judge to threaten to move up the trial date. Lively's lawyer, Michael Gottlieb, told Judge Liman that the case "is supposed to be resolved here in court. It's not supposed to be resolved in the press," per BBC.
Gottlieb had accused Justin Baldoni's attorney, Brian Freedman, of trying to sway the public's perception of the case with his "inflammatory extrajudicial comments" to the press. Per BBC, Freedman responded that Blake Lively's party was trying to pin him with a "gag order," further painting his client as the victim in the case and claiming that Baldoni was "devastated financially and emotionally."
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After each legal representative's verbal sparring on Monday, Judge Liman intervened, saying that both of them had "given the public plenty to feast upon," per Newsbreak. The outlet also reported that the Judge threatened both sides that he would have no choice but to move up the trial date if the case continued to be "litigated in the press." The judge reasoned that an earlier trial date would prevent a jury from becoming prejudiced.
Judge Liman further announced that he would adopt Rule 3.6 of the New York Bar Association. This rule would prevent both legal teams from making public comments that could materially prejudice an adjudicative proceeding.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's lawyers are "pleased" with the result from Monday's hearing
Following the Monday, February 3, 2025, hearing, both sets of lawyers for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni shared their comments. Lively's attorneys, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, said in a press statement, per The Wrap and Variety:
"We are pleased with the result of today's heating and eager to move forward immediately with discovery in this case."
The attorneys also mentioned that the court granted their request that all legal counsels "follow the rule of law and not make any statements that could prejudice the jury."
Meanwhile, Justin Baldoni's primary lawyer, Brian Freedman, spoke to the press outside of the New York courtroom after the hearing on Monday. Per The Wrap, Freedman said:
"Our clients are devastated and want to move the case along as quickly as possible. We just couldn't be more pleased with how the case was handled today, how it was managed."
The lead-up to the Monday pretrial hearing was a series of new filings and statements from both sides. One of Baldoni's lawyers, Kevin Fritz, filed a letter to the Judge on January 30, stating Blake Lively's refusal to have Freedman take her deposition. On the same day, Gottlieb sent a notice to Judge Liman that they were planning to file a motion to have Baldon's $400 million defamation lawsuit dismissed.
Neither Blake Lively nor Justin Baldoni were in court on Monday.
