Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni trial postponed for major reason

The high-profile legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has taken another turn as the sexual harassment trial now postponed for two months due to the judge’s “extremely busy” calendar.

On Tuesday, Judge Lewis J. Liman ruled that the trial, which was initially scheduled to begin on March 9, 2026, was pushed back to May 18 because of his hectic schedule.

In the post-discovery hearing, the judge explained that he has two criminal trials and “as important as this case is … criminal trials take precedent.”

Background of the Case

In December last year, Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against his It Ends With Us director and costar, accusing him of sexually harassing her on the set of the film. Justin Baldoni denied the claims and filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist, alleging defamation, extortion and more in January.

In June, a judge dismissed Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit and also his $250 million libel lawsuit against the New York Times.

Judge Liman found that Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios team had failed to show Lively made any unprotected statements beyond those contained in her California Civil Rights Department complaint – which is legally privileged. He added that Baldoni’s accusations against Reynolds, Sloane, and the Times did not meet the legal threshold for defamation since they had not demonstrated that the parties could have “seriously doubted” the truth of the statements.

Though Justin Baldoni’s team was given the opportunity to amend their complaint, they declined. A final judgment was entered last month.

What’s Next

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s next hearing date is slated for January 22 and will include oral arguments on summary judgment.