Court is in session for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni! And there are a few key takeaways…
On Monday, the embattled It Ends with Us co-stars’ pretrial hearing kicked off at the United States District Court in New York. And one matter has already been settled! Do you remember the gag order Blake was seeking after Justin announced he’d be going live with a website containing all their correspondences? Well, too bad for Blake. Judge Lewis Liman denied her request!
Yikes! We mean, the damage is already done, anyway. The website went live over the weekend!
Judge Liman did have a strict warning for both sides of the legal battle, though: he threatened to move up the trial, which is currently slated to begin in March 2026, if their parties don’t chill out on the public relations back-and-forth a bit! Specifically, he instructed both parties’ legal teams to properly adhere to the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, which prevent attorneys from issuing statements to the press outside of court that could have a “substantial likelihood” of swaying a jury.
Oof!
The inneresting thing is, Justin’s legal team has said it wants a trial sooner, so… don’t expect them to stay quiet!
Despite Blake’s legal loss, her lawyers Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson gave the following statement relating to the pretrial hearing:
“We are pleased with the result of today’s hearing and eager to move forward immediately with discovery in this case. The court granted our request that all attorneys in the matter actually follow the rule of law and not make any statements that could prejudice a jury. This case deals with serious allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation. We will hold the defendants accountable, and we are confident that once all the evidence is submitted in this matter, Ms. Lively will prevail.”
Justin’s lawyer Bryan Freedman was somehow also happy though? He noted on their end:
“I couldn’t be more pleased with how the case was handled today. We’re going to move as quickly as possible and prove our innocence.”
What are your thoughts, Perezcious readers??
[Images via Phil Lewis/Avalon/WENN]
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