Blake Lively is making a final push to keep her lawsuit against actor and director Justin Baldoni moving forward as the high-profile legal battle surrounding the film It Ends With Us approaches a possible trial.
According to court filings, Lively’s legal team submitted a letter Thursday to U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman in the Southern District of New York, urging the court to reject Baldoni’s latest attempt to have the case dismissed.
The filing references a recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that Lively’s attorneys say supports allowing the case to proceed.
In their letter, the lawyers argue that a lawsuit should not be dismissed solely based on how the complaint is written if evidence has already been collected during the discovery process.
They contend that the court should consider the evidence already obtained—including documents and testimony—rather than focusing only on the allegations in the complaint.
Baldoni and other defendants have been attempting to dismiss the claims through several legal motions. One of those requests includes a motion for summary judgment, which would allow the judge to rule on the case without a full trial if the existing evidence clearly favors one side.
The dispute between the two actors began in December 2024 when Lively filed a lawsuit accusing Baldoni, her It Ends With Us director and co-star, of sexual harassment and retaliation.
Baldoni has strongly denied the allegations.
Lively is seeking more than $160 million in damages in the lawsuit.
In a related development, a judge previously dismissed Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit, which had accused Lively of extortion and defamation.
Earlier this year, both actors participated in a court-ordered mediation session in New York. The meeting, which lasted roughly six hours with Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave, ended without a settlement.
If the case continues, both Lively and Baldoni are expected to testify at trial.
The trial is currently scheduled to begin May 18, though Judge Liman has not yet ruled on the request to dismiss the claims.
