Lively v. Baldoni: The Smear Factor Showdown

Yes, a judge narrowed the case. But there’s still plenty at stake in Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s long-running legal showdown, which now centers largely on Team Baldoni’s alleged retaliatory media campaign as the clock ticks down to a trial.

The wreckage of the dismissed claims, combined with what remains—including the allegation that the producers breached the anti-retaliation clause in the contract rider, Lively’s now-infamous 17-point list of demands from the production—guarantees a great deal of posturing before trial. Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Eriq Gardner

April 7, 2026

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With six weeks to go before the Blake Lively–Justin Baldoni trial opens in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the case feels less like a sober legal proceeding and more of a social media circus whose main event remains maddeningly hard to discern. Last week, Judge Lewis Liman tossed 10 out of 13 causes of action. But while much of the coverage has treated the ruling as a gutting of Lively’s case, that strikes me as an unduly severe read. Lively can still pursue her incendiary claim that she’s been the victim of a Hollywood smear job, with damages potentially large enough to have the lawyers browsing real estate on Nantucket.