Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni trial date pushed back
The trial date for the case between "It Ends with Us" co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has been moved back by nearly two months.
The proceeding is now scheduled to start on May 18, 2026. The original trial date was March 9.
The trial date is being moved back because the judge overseeing the case, New York Southern District Judge Lewis Liman, notified the parties that he has two criminal trials scheduled for March, he told attorneys for both sides during a hearing on Tuesday.
"As important as this trial is, criminal trials take precedence," Liman said.
Neither Lively nor Baldoni was in court for the hearing. A rep for Baldoni confirmed to ABC News that the trial date had been delayed. The rep further said that the date change has no bearing on the pleadings themselves and that the outcome of the summary judgment hearing will ultimately determine the next steps.
Judge Liman also told attorneys that he will hear oral arguments Jan. 22, 2026, on Baldoni's request for a summary judgment.
Baldoni's attorneys filed a motion in November asking the judge to issue a summary judgment instead of holding a trial, writing that Lively's allegations are "minor grievances." Lively's attorneys pushed back in their own filing, arguing that not having a trial would "deny Blake Lively her day in court."
Lively is accusing Baldoni and his team of retaliating against her after she raised concerns about alleged workplace behavior. She is suing for nearly $500 million in damages.
The former castmates have been embroiled in a heated legal feud since December 2024, when Lively first filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of "It Ends with Us," which Baldoni also directed. The complaint, which Lively formalized into a lawsuit filed in New York on Dec. 31, 2024, claimed "severe emotional distress" after she said Baldoni and key stakeholders in the film sexually harassed her and allegedly attempted, along with Baldoni's production company, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
Also on Dec. 31, Baldoni filed a lawsuit in California against The New York Times, claiming libel and false light invasion of privacy after the newspaper published an article about Lively's California complaint and seeking $250 million in damages. Baldoni filed a separate lawsuit the following January in New York against Blake Lively; her husband, Ryan Reynolds; the couple's publicist, Leslie Sloane; and Sloane's public relations company, Vision PR, for, among other things, alleged extortion and defamation. That suit sought $400 million in damages.
In February, Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni, said they planned to dismiss their California suit against The New York Times and would add it to the New York action. The following June, Judge Liman dismissed Baldoni's suit, which included all of the allegations against Lively, Reynolds, their publicist and her PR company, and The New York Times.
In a statement weeks after the dismissal, Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said, "Instead of revising the existing claims, our clients will be pursuing additional legal options that are available to us."
"The Court's decision on the motion to dismiss has no effect whatsoever on the truth that there was no harassment nor any smear campaign, and it does not in any way affect our vigorous defense against Ms. Lively's claims," Freedman added. "Discovery is proceeding and we are confident that we will prevail against these factually baseless accusations."
ABC News has reached out to representatives of Lively for any further comment. A rep for Baldoni confirmed the trial was pushed, and clarified the date change has no bearing on the pleadings themselves and the outcome of summary judgment will ultimately determine next steps.
