Justin Baldoni's and Blake Lively's legal teams hash out details ahead of trial

Culture & TrendsJustin Baldoni's and Blake Lively's legal teams hash out details ahead of trialThe actors' attorneys said they'd most likely need roughly three weeks to present their cases. Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Justin Baldoni; Blake Lively.Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 28, 2026, 5:10 PM EDTBy Rebecca Keegan, Adam Reiss and Saba HamedyAs a courtroom showdown between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively approaches next month, lawyers for the former co-stars continued to hash out key pretrial issues Tuesday before a federal judge.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The civil case centers on the actors' 2024 film “It Ends With Us,” based on Colleen Hoover’s novel. The movie turned litigious when Lively sued Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment on set and alleging his production company, Wayfarer Studios, retaliated against her after she complained about the alleged misconduct. Baldoni, who was also the film's director, and Wayfarer have denied all of her claims.U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman tossed out 10 of Lively’s 13 claims against Baldoni this month, allowing three to move forward: breach of contract, retaliation and aiding and abetting in retaliation.On Tuesday, neither of the actors attended what was expected to be the final pretrial conference before the May 18 trial. During the roughly three-hour hearing, the actors’ legal teams debated expert witness testimony. FORSUBSCRIBERS00:0000:00Judge gives Baldoni major win in Blake Lively's lawsuit02:03Baldoni's and Lively's attorneys said they'd most likely need roughly three weeks to present their cases. Liman, however, didn't finalize timing, nor did he narrow the witness list. He instead asked both sides to look into the availability of some of the expert witnesses they plan to call at trial to participate in a pretrial hearing in a week. He asked specifically about two of L...