Justin Baldoni’s legal battle with his “It Ends With Us” co-star Blake Lively has left him “devastated financially and emotionally,” his lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said Monday at a pretrial conference in Manhattan.
Speaking in front of a judge assigned to oversee the stars’ warring lawsuits, Freedman added that the accusations Lively leveled against the “Jane the Virgin” alum and his co-defendants — “It Ends With Us” producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz, their production company Wayfarer Studios and publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel — have allegedly amounted to “hundreds of millions of dollars of prejudice.”
Justin Baldoni. Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock
Baldoni and Blake Lively on the set of “It Ends With Us” on Jan. 12, 2024, in Jersey City, New Jersey. GC Images“My grave concern is that my clients suffered hundreds of millions of dollars of prejudice as a result of actions they were blindsided by,” he said.
Freedman also pleaded with the judge to fast-track the case, claiming his clients were “suffering greatly.”
Michael Gottlieb, an attorney for Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, insisted they were not dragging their feet.
In this courtroom sketch, Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ attorney Michael Gottlieb (right) stands in front of Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, inside the United States District Court in Manhattan as they argue with Judge Lewis J. Liman during a trial conference on Feb. 3, 2025. REUTERSIn her lawsuit filed in New York on New Year’s Eve, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and, along with his associates, of orchestrating a public smear campaign against her. The claims, which the “Gossip Girl” veteran first made in an interview with the New York Times, mirrored those included in her California Civil Rights Department Complaint against Baldoni.
He denied her accusations.
For his part, Baldoni sued the New York Times for defamation and filed a countersuit against Lively, accusing her and Reynolds of civil extortion, defamation and more. Her team denied his claims.
“Our clients are devastated and want to move the case along as quickly as possible,” Freedman said outside the courtroom on Monday.
“We just couldn’t be more pleased with how the case was handled today, how it was managed. We’re going to move as quickly as we possibly can and prove our innocence, in a world where sometimes people judge you before they give you a chance. And we’re going to change that.”
Baldoni filming “It Ends With Us” on May 25, 2023, in Hoboken, New Jersey. GC Images
Lively at the UK gala screening of “It Ends With Us” at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on Aug. 8, 2024, in London, England. Gareth Cattermole/Getty ImagesLively’s legal team also struck an optimistic note after Monday’s proceedings.
“We are pleased with the result of today’s hearing and eager to move forward immediately with discovery in this case,” attorneys Gottlieb and Esra Hudson said in a statement, per People magazine.
“The court granted our request that all attorneys in the matter actually follow the rule of law and not make any statements that could prejudice a jury,” they added, referring to the judge’s warning that lawyers for both Lively and Baldoni steer clear of making “extrajudicial statements” that could sway potential jurors before the trial scheduled for March 2026.
Neither Baldoni nor Lively was present in court on Monday.
The Post has reached out to both sides for comment.






