The judge tells the lawyers for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni not to fight the file via the media -media

Lawyers for Blake Lively and her former “It ends with us“The director and co-star Justin Baldoni, who accused of sexually harassing during the film full of film, met in the federal court for the first time, on Monday, on their complex legal saga that was subjected to dissection weeks. by social media social media spectators.

Neither Lively nor Baldoni were at the New York Court for the Pre-Process Conference, where Judge Lewis Liman advised their lawyers to avoid making public statements that could prejudice the procedure. If the parties are trying to litigin this case in the press, the judge said he has the ability to increase the trial, currently scheduled for March 2026.

Lawyers for both Lively and Baldoni have underlined in court the negative impact that the case had on their customers.

“My customers are financially and emotionally devastated,” said lawyer Baldoni, Bryan Freedman, adding that his customers have suffered hundreds of millions of dollars. He said that they want to advance quickly for the sake of their “future living”.

Lively’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb said that the “reprisal campaign” of Baldoni’s team was “devastating” for her.

“You do not have to launch attacks on the character of the other,” he said.

Gottlieb said he intends to file a modified complaint by February 14, which includes new requests and additional defendants.

In a statement after hearing, Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, another of Lively’s lawyers, said they were, please, with the results and “eager to move immediately with the discovery in this case”.

“The court granted our request that all lawyers in this regard actually follow the rule of law and make no statement that can harm a jury,” they said. “This case treats serious sexual harassment and reprisal accusations. We will respond to the defendants and we are sure that, once all the evidence is presented in this issue, Mrs. Lively will predominate. “

CNN addressed Baldoni’s lawyers for comments.

How did we get here

Baldoni – a writer, director and producer who also built a brand Around the encouragement of men to be better allies for women -and lively were in a legal struggle that started in December, when Lively accused him of sexual harassment and reprisals in a complaint First submitted to the California civil rights department, a civil process that followed about a week later.

Meanwhile, Baldoni denied Lively’s accusations. Last month, he filed a trial against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynoldsaccusing them of civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy.

At that time, Lively’s lawyer told CNN in a statement that Baldoni’s costume “is another chapter in the abuser playground. This is an old age story: a woman speaks with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and reprisals, and the abuser tries to turn the tables on the victim. “

The film, from Sony Pictures, was released in August 2024 and received over $ 148 million internally. Based on the novel with the same name of Colleen Hoover, “It ends with us” reflects domestic violence in a couple, which was depicted on the Lively and Baldoni screen.

Both Baldoni and Lively provided in the text messages of the costumes they say make their cases. Baldoni’s team also launched video Pictures during actors working together and, on Saturday, published a Web site with the modified complaint and a chronology of film production. Baldoni was heard in a audio The registration published by TMZ and apologized for Lively, was sent while working on the project.

CNN has not independently checked the text messages included neither in Baldoni or Lively processes nor in audio recording.

Baldoni’s trial claims that Lively, which is best known for his work on “Gossip Girl” movies in CW and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”, sought to take over much of the creative direction, including as Reynolds to re-write a stage writing to make “unauthorized changes to the scenario”. (Reynolds did not play any formal role in “It ends with us.”)

The costume claims that lively “called” Baldoni at the Penthouse he shares with Reynolds in New York for a meeting meeting, where Reynolds, along with a “Megacelebrite friend”, praised the proposed reviews of lively for the scenario.

One of the text messages included in Baldoni’s costume seems to show an exchange between Baldoni and lively about the changes proposed by the scenario: “I really like what you did. It really helps a lot. It makes him much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt like this without Ryan and Taylor), “he wrote with an eye with eyes.

While Baldoni’s text message does not include a name for “Taylor”, Lively is a close friend of artist Taylor Swift. CNN has previously addressed representatives for Baldoni, Lively, Reynolds and Taylor Swift to ask if “Taylor” mentioned in Baldoni’s text is, in fact, Swift.

In a Lively’s text messages in Baldoni’s costume, the actress refers to her friends, saying: “If you ever approached” Game of Thrones “, you will appreciate that they are Khaleesi, and as she, it happens to have a few dragons. “

Both Lively and Baldoni claim that in their processes they have been subject to advertising campaigns for reprisals by the other.

In Lively’s costume, she accuses the representatives of Baldoni’s PR of the orchestrated attempts of injuring her reputation in the media as part of a “social manipulation campaign”.

In his costume, Baldoni rejected this statement, accusing Lively and Reynolds of “carrying out his huge power to steal an entire film right from the hands of the director and his production studio.” Moreover, the costume accuses Lively and her advertising team of creating a “smear campaign against Baldoni and Wayfarer to deviate” away from the criticisms that Lively received during the press tournament for “ends with us ”.

Baldoni sued and New York Times For $ 250 million, accusing the newspaper of working with Lively’s team to publish a unilateral article that benefited Lively and contained doctorate evidence.

New York Times denied Baldoni’s accusations and said it was by his report.

A public feud

The legal records in this case are only part of the story. Representatives for Lively and Baldoni continued to consider the information provided to the public outside the court.

Livly’s lawyers accused Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, of making “misleading and selective” statements about Lively and continuous legal dispute with Baldoni, and previously asked the judge in their case for a hearing “to address the appropriate conduct. of the lawyer who goes on. “

At the Monday meeting, Gottlieb referred to the Baldoni site lawyer launched days ago, which contains documents regarding the legal battle.

Gottlieb said he has no problem with the site that registered records in the court, but has expressed concern that potential evidence will be released to the public in a unilateral manner and will create a “weapon race to the mass- The media ”on the problems that should be solved in the yard.

“It is very difficult to disappoint the bell if you have no limitations,” he said.

Freedman said Lively’s team “used the press a lot” and stressed that the damage can appear before a jury heard the case.

“This is why you both sued,” Liman replied. “I understand. I understand.”

Elizabeth Wagmeister from CNN, Alli Rosenbloom, Lisa Respect France and Dan Heching contributed to this report.

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