Blake Lively is “looking forward” to facing Justin Baldoni in court during their upcoming trial — despite all but three of her claims being dismissed on Thursday.
“This case has always been and will remain focused on the devastating retaliation and the extraordinary steps the defendants took to destroy Blake Lively’s reputation because she stood up for safety on the set and that is the case that is going to trial,” Sigrid McCawley, a member of Lively’s legal team, told Page Six in a statement on Thursday.
McCawley added that for Lively, “The greatest measure of justice is that the people and the playbook behind these coordinated digital attacks have been exposed and are already being held accountable by other women they’ve targeted,”
The “Gossip Girl” alum “looks forward to testifying at trial and continuing to shine a light on this vicious form of online retaliation so that it becomes easier to detect and fight,” the lawyer said.
The attorney concluded, “Sexual harassment isn’t going forward not because the defendants did nothing wrong but because the court determined Blake Lively was an independent contractor, not an employee.”
Following the news on Thursday, in which a judge dismissed all of Lively’s sexual harassment claims — but allowed her claims of breach of contract, retaliation and aiding and abetting in retaliation to proceed — attorneys for Baldoni also spoke out.
“We’re very pleased the Court dismissed all sexual harassment claims and every claim brought against the individual defendants: Justin Baldoni, Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel,” Alexandra Shapiro and Jonathan Bach told Page Six in a statement.
“These were very serious allegations, and we are grateful to the Court for its careful review of the facts, law and voluminous evidence that was provided.”
They concluded, “What’s left is a significantly narrowed case, and we look forward to presenting our defense to the remaining claims in court.”
After months of rumored tension amid promotional events for “It Ends With Us” — which Baldoni directed and Lively co-starred in — Lively filed a complaint accusing Baldoni for on-set sexual harassment and retaliation in December 2024.
She subsequently sued Baldoni, claiming the director owed her damages of at least $161 million allegedly due to a coordinated smear campaign as the domestic-violence themed movie hit theaters.
Baldoni consistently denied all allegations and launched a $400 million countersuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, which was tossed by the judge last June.
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni, told Page Six at the time that he and Baldoni “remain fully committed to pursuing the truth through every legal and factual avenue available” and noted that they were “focusing on Ms. Lively’s claims.”
The co-stars faced each other in a Manhattan court on February 11 for a settlement conference, which was ultimately labeled “unsuccessful” by Freedman in comments to Deadline. Baldoni returned to court again the next day, though Lively did not appear to attend.
As the drama escalated, a numbers of A-list celebrities — including Lively’s former BFF Taylor Swift and Reynolds’ ex-wife Scarlett Johansson, among others, appeared in a deluge of unsealed documents earlier this year.
Baldoni and Lively’s trial date is set for May 18.
