Lively frames her case as a fight for workplace safety and against 'digital violence'—positioning herself as a champion for anyone who's been retaliated against for speaking up. Her team wants this to be about the little guy, not celebrity drama.
Let’s be real: 10 of 13 claims got thrown out. Sexual harassment, defamation, conspiracy—all dismissed. The case that’s left isn’t exactly a smoking gun. But Lively’s team is spinning this as victory because other women have come forward, and the 'playbook' behind coordinated digital attacks has been exposed. They want a settlement now, and the magistrate judge is making both sides talk on Monday.
Judge Lewis Liman threw out 10 of 13 claims on Thursday, April 3, 2026. Only three claims proceed to trial: retaliation, aiding and abetting in retaliation, and breach of contract. Lively’s Instagram statement was posted Friday, April 4, 2026. The trial is scheduled for May 2026.
Lively’s case has been gutted, but she’s not throwing in the towel. The question now is whether she can actually win on the retaliation claims—or if this becomes a settlement before a jury ever hears it. WME has her back, and the pressure is on Baldoni’s team to make this go away.
Blake Lively is digging in. One day after a judge gutted most of her lawsuit against co-star Justin Baldoni, the actress took to Instagram on Friday to declare she's not backing down from her fight against what she calls “digital violence.” And here's the thing—she's taking this to a jury next month, claims be damned.
In her statement, Lively made clear she never wanted a lawsuit in the first place. “The last thing I wanted in my life was a lawsuit, but I brought this case because of the pervasive RETALIATION I faced, and continue to, for privately and professionally asking for a safe working environment for myself and others,” she wrote. She's framing this as a public service, urging fans to see themselves in her story rather than dismissing it as “celebrity drama.” That's a calculated move—make it about the everywoman, not the A-lister.
But let's talk about what actually happened in court. On Thursday, Judge Lewis Liman dismissed 10 of Lively's 13 claims—sexual harassment, defamation, and conspiracy all got thrown out. Why? Because Lively was an independent contractor, not an employee, so she couldn't bring a federal sexual harassment claim. And since the production was in New Jersey, California law didn't apply either. Ouch. That's a lot of ground to lose.
What DID survive: retaliation, aiding and abetting in retaliation, and breach of contract. That's the case heading to trial in May. Liman ruled Lively made a plausible case that she had good faith basis for her harassment complaints—so now a jury gets to decide if she faced unlawful repercussions for raising them. Meanwhile, WME—Baldoni's former agency that dropped him over this mess—issued a statement backing Lively completely, calling her a hero for exposing “covert digital takedown campaigns.” That's not nothing.
Now here's where it gets interesting: a magistrate judge ordered both sides to call in Monday to discuss updated settlement positions. The February conference went nowhere, but with the ruling changing the landscape, there's fresh pressure to settle. Lively's attorney Sigrid McCawley hinted the real win might already be achieved—“the people and the playbook behind these coordinated digital attacks have been exposed.” But Lively herself says she's “looking forward to testifying at the trial in May” and continuing to “shine a light on this vicious form of online retaliation.” So which is it? Settlement talks suggest everyone's ready to make a deal. But Lively's public stance says she's ready for war.
The bottom line: most of her case is dead in the water, but Lively's team has turned this into something bigger than one actress versus her co-star. Whether a jury buys the retaliation argument—or whether this all gets settled out of court first—that's the drama to watch.
