Attorneys for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are gathering in court ahead of the upcoming trial.
The legal teams will meet with New York Southern District Judge Lewis Liman on Tuesday to iron out details of the trial, including the trial’s length, witness sequestration and which experts and evidence each side will be allowed to present.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin May 18, and opening statements could be heard that same day.
Potential jurors will be asked about their opinions on sexual harassment claims.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
Getty Images
According to the jury questionnaire, one question includes, “Is there anything about the subject matter or nature of the allegations made by Ms. Lively – which include sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation – that would make it difficult for you to consider the evidence in this case with an open mind to both sides?”
Prospective jurors will also be asked whether they personally know Taylor Swift, Ryan Reynolds and a long list of other celebrities and if they’ve seen the movie “It Ends With Us” or read the book on which the movie is based.
Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department in December 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of “It Ends with Us” and accusing both Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios of engaging in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
The two later filed lawsuits against each other in New York, with Lively reiterating the claims made in her earlier complaint and accusing Baldoni and Wayfarer of allegedly engaging in “unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing” to ruin her reputation in a lawsuit seeking $500 million in damages.
Baldoni’s attorney denied the allegations.
Shortly after Lively filed her lawsuit, Baldoni filed a $400 million countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and the couple’s publicist for extortion and defamation, claiming Lively had “robbed” him of control over the film and had destroyed his reputation.
Lively’s lawyers denied the allegations and called Baldoni’s suit “another chapter in the abuser playbook.”
A federal judge in New York dismissed Baldoni’s suit last June, formally ending the counterclaim in October after Baldoni did not refile an amended complaint.
Earlier this month, Liman also dismissed much of Lively’s case against Baldoni, including her claims she was subjected to sexual harassment on set.
Lively is allowed to pursue certain claims of retaliation against Baldoni’s public relations team over alleged harm to her reputation, according to Liman’s ruling.
In February, the two actors spent six hours inside a New York City courtroom in an attempt to settle Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni, but were unsuccessful.
The court-ordered settlement conference was a last-ditch attempt at resolving the legal battle that has now stretched on for more than a year.
Leave a Reply