If you’re a little tired of the never-ending mudslinging between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni lately, you’re not alone — because the judge presiding over their civil lawsuits has pulled up their legal teams for pretty much the same thing.
While neither actor was present in court on Monday, Judge Lewis Liman addressed their lawyers, noting both parties have given the public “plenty to feast upon” and observed the need to avoid making “extrajudicial statements” that could sway a jury.
“You’ve got a lot in front of the court that gives, I think, the public plenty to feast upon,” Liman said at the end of the first hearing before ordering both sides to follow federal rules that limited public statements about litigation.
The order — in adherence to the New York Rules of Professional Conduct — bars attorneys from making comments that are likely to prejudice a jury, but it does allow them to talk to the press to protect their clients from adverse publicity, as reported by Variety.
Any continued back-and-forth in the public eye could even see the trial moved up from its original date of March 9, 2026 if it looked like the case would be “litigated in the press”, Liman cautioned both parties.
However, the judge noted that’s still pretty unlikely given the sheer amount of discovery that needed to be finalised before the trial.
In the much-anticipated hearing this week which saw the legal teams come face-to-face after months of verbal sparring, Lively’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb pointed to the recently-launched website by Baldoni’s team that lays out a timeline of the dispute and claims to have “receipts” to prove their case.
He also highlighted “inflammatory comments” that had been made about the actress in the media, including an appearance on the podcast of media personality Megyn Kelly and comments to People magazine.
All these comments have been “reposted and circulated hundreds of times, perhaps more, to outlets all around the world,” Gottlieb said, per the New York Post.
Meanwhile Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman retaliated that they were simply responding to the initial New York Times article in December about Lively’s complaint and accused Lively’s camp of working with the publication for months in advance. (You might recall Baldoni is also suing theTimes for defamation for that article.)
“I can offer you statements made by Ms. Lively’s attorneys. This is not a one-way street,” his lawyer Freedman said.
Admittedly, the legal drama has seen both parties throw some proverbial punches, with Baldoni’s lawyer describing Lively’s claims as “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious” and Lively’s attorneys dismissing Baldoni’s lawsuit as “meritless” and “desperate”.
Thankfully, it looks like the court hearing might’ve highlighted the sheer pettiness of it all, as Freedman did cop to the pretty childish nature of their jabs as they both agreed to the court order.
“Not to sound like a four-year-old fighting a four-year-old with ‘They started it’, but in these kinds of cases, once someone says something it becomes fact: There’s no way to fight against it,” Freedman said.
For the moment, it might look like we could enjoy a truce in what’s been a very public, very bitter battle between the It Ends With Us co-stars since December last year.
You’ll recall Lively, 37, commenced legal action with a lawsuit against Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios, claiming Baldoni sexually harassed her while filming and launched a “smear campaign” when she spoke out.
Per the New York Post, she might even be expanding this lawsuit in the next few weeks, potentially adding more parties as defendants and including more claims.
Meanwhile, Baldoni, 41, has denied all accusations and filed his own countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist Leslie Sloane of defamation, civil extortion and invasion of privacy.
Lead image: Cindy Ord and Jeff Spicer/ Getty Images
