Judge in ‘It ends with us’ the case falls to limit Lively’s and Baldoni’s lawyers in the middle of word war

On By Littum

The judge who presides over the legal feud between the “IT end with us” stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni kept limiting what the lawyers can say about the matter in public, but he may be able to move up the trial if the word war between The actors’ representatives move on.

US district judge Lewis J. Liman issued the warning on Monday at an experimental hearing in New York City – first time lawyers on both sides of the legal dispute met face to face in a courtroom. Lively and Baldoni were not present. The trial is to begin in March 2026.

“You have a lot in front of the court that gives, I think the public masses to party on,” Liman told the lawyers.

Lively has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment in the film and then worked with others to lubricate her in the media. Baldoni sued in response lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, who claimed defamation.

Lively and Reynolds’ legal team asked the judge in a letter Last month for a gag order to Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, who accused Baldoni’s legal team of continuing his “harassing and retaliatory media” against Lively with “Almost Daily Media Statements or other releases to the press.”

Michael Gottlieb, Lively’s lawyer, said that Lively is destroyed by the Battle of Baldoni, who also directed “It ends with us”, a drama of domestic violence based on a best -selling novel by Colleen Hoover.

During the hearing, Gottlieb said the attacks from both sides playing out in the media have created a “weapon race” without protective frames.

Gottlieb compared the dynamic with his opponent, Freedman, with “Two 4-year-olds in a playground.”

The hearing – apparently to discuss a case management plan, legal questions and discovery – developed into allegations of leaks, harassment and retaliation.

Both sides say they will move on with Discovery and Freedman has said he is ready to set aside lively. She and her team are hard against that plan. Liman said that Freedman is not allowed to sell her, but that otherwise “she will not be elected her interrogation.”

Attorneys for Baldoni, who co-starred, instructed and adapted “It ends with us” recently went on offensive and launched a website linking to his trial and 168 pages of what he says is hundreds of personal emails, documents And texts between the two as well as their publicists and crisis managers.

Most of the alleged messages are friendly, including one from lively to Baldoni that reads: “If you knew me (personally) longer, you would have a sense of how flirting and delicious the ball busting will play. It’s my love language. Spicy and playful fat, never with teeth. “It was not clear what lively specifically referred to in that text.

Gottlieb told the court on Monday that he wants to know who created the site and who financed it.

Baldoni seeks $ 400 million in the case against lively and Reynold’s claim of defamation and extortion. Lively’s legal team responded by accusing Baldoni’s team of using a tactic associated with perpetrators of abuse called Darvo – Need, Attack, Reverse Offer and Offender.

He and his publicists also sue the New York Times claim of defamation after it published a Bombshell article in December on Lively’s claims of a smear campaign. Baldoni has claimed that the newspaper was working with lively to lubricate him.

In a statement that appeared in his article on the libel, Times said, “We plan to vigorously defend against the trial.”

“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts in which they lead,” the statement states. “Our story was carefully and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages with original documents, including text messages and e emails that we quote exactly and at length in the article. “

Freedman said Baldoni has lost hundreds of millions of dollars since the article was published. “People respond before a legal decision on who is right and who is wrong,” he said.

The clash began when Lively filed a complaint with civil rights in Los Angeles against Baldoni on December 20 and accused him of sexual harassment on the set. She accused him of hiring a crisis company to participate in a “social manipulation campaign” of lubricating her while both promoting the film. She then filed a federal trial in New York. Baldoni’s lawyer has called the allegations “totally false.”

Baldoni bought the rights to “IT End With Us” through Wayfarer Studios in 2019. Plans on its development, including Lively’s Casting, had been a buzzing topic in the years leading up to the film’s release.

During the film’s media tour, fans theorizing of dynamics began between the stars behind the scenes. It led to a fire storm too lively when an online tale began to spread, accusing her of being insensitive and controlling and engaging in “average girl” behavior. “She says Baldoni’s team found the flames to try to destroy his reputation, a claim his lawyer has denied.