Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively in High-Stakes Showdown as Legal War Threatens Their Bottom Line

Quick update on the Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni situation: the lawyers just spent a day in court trying to sort out what this thing is even about anymore — mostly, who owes what if anyone owes anything — and the numbers getting tossed around are... big.

What just happened

At a pretrial conference in New York City on Tuesday, April 28, neither Blake Lively nor Justin Baldoni showed up, but their attorneys did. Lively's side said she lost serious money because of the fallout around It Ends With Us, including a potential payday for a sequel. Baldoni's team said those figures are pure speculation and tried to narrow what the jury will actually hear.

'Baldoni had suggested at one point that Ms. Lively would direct the sequel, and the lead actress would be compensated more,' Lively's lawyer said in court, per NBC News.

The money fight, in one place

• Lively's claim: she missed out on up to $35 million tied to a hypothetical It Ends With Us sequel (including a boost if she directed it).
• More claimed losses: Lively's team says she lost between $39 million and $143 million after the film 's release because of the controversy and its ripple effects.
• Baldoni's pushback: his lawyers called the sequel payday 'speculative' and argued those losses cannot be laid at his feet. One attorney also jabbed that Lively 'has a track record of brands that have not succeeded' and labeled the damages 'pie-in-the-sky,' per NBC News.
• Reputation hit, per filings: Lively's court papers say negative PR has made buyers more cautious and less generous, and that her Betty Buzz beverage brand saw a spike in negative social comments after the legal battle went public.

Yes, those damage ranges are huge. That is going to be a major battlefield at trial, where both sides will wheel in experts to argue over how you actually calculate any of this.

Where the judge landed (for now)

U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman did not lock in a trial schedule or trim the witness list yet. Instead, he told both sides to confirm when some of their expert witnesses can appear so the court can hold a pretrial hearing on that testimony. The lawyers also sparred over what the experts should be allowed to say. Each side told the judge they expect to need roughly three weeks to present their case to a jury — which means the full trial could stretch to around six weeks once you add it up.

Outlets have requested comment from both legal teams about Tuesday's hearing. No big takeaways there yet.

How we got here

This case kicked off in December 2024, when Lively accused her It Ends With Us costar and director, Justin Baldoni, of sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment, and orchestrating a smear campaign. She sued Baldoni, his publicity team, and other defendants, alleging she was retaliated against after raising the harassment claims. Baldoni denied everything and filed a countersuit, which a judge dismissed in June 2025.

Judge Liman has previously floated the idea of settling before trial. That has not happened. Both sides are gearing up for a jury trial expected to start Monday, May 18 (mark your calendars — that date lines up with this year), with expert availability and witness lists still being hammered out.

Bottom line: the legal wrangling is now very much about money, optics, and whose version of events the jury believes. And if those damage estimates make your eyebrows go up, you are not alone.