NEED TO KNOW
Blake Lively’s deposition date has been revealed as the discovery process in her court battle with Justin Baldoni moves forward.
After Lively’s lawyers served subpoenas to two publicists connected to Baldoni who are not parties in the legal battle, the publicists’ attorney filed a motion for extension, asking for an extra week to produce documents. One email, sent on July 2, that is exhibited in the filing states that “…Lively’s deposition is set for July 17.”
Reps for Lively didn’t respond to PEOPLE’s request for confirmation on the date. PEOPLE is also out to Baldoni’s reps.
Lively, 37, has accused her It Ends With Us director-costar Baldoni, 41, of sexual harassment and retaliation, which he has denied. His counterclaims against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, allegations of extortion and defamation, were dismissed by Judge Lewis J. Liman, and his legal team opted not to refile amended versions of those claims.
Their trial is set for March 2026 in New York, and attorneys for both Lively and Baldoni have indicated that they plan to testify during the proceedings.
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Lively’s lawyer Mike Gottlieb told PEOPLE in May, “The ultimate moment for a plaintiff’s story to be told is at trial. We expect that to be the case here [with Lively]. So we would, of course, expect her to be a witness at her trial. Of course she’s going to testify.”
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni, has previously spoken about his plans for deposing Lively as they attempt to refute her allegations. He said on TMZ Live June 10 that Lively was scheduled to be deposed sometime later that month.
Asked for his strategy, Freedman said, “I’m gonna ask her questions under penalty of perjury, and she’s gonna have to provide evidence, and she’s gonna have to provide the truth of the stories. We have all of the video tape, all the footage. We have, you know, the text messages and we have emails. We’re gonna see how consistent her testimony is with the actual facts of what transpired.”
In that same interview, Freedman said Baldoni is “a person who wants to be vindicated, and that’s all that he cares about.” He added that Baldoni “knows who he is. He knows what he’s done. He knows what he hasn’t done. And he wants the truth to come out, and he wants to do that in the appropriate way. … He’s waiting for his day in court, where he can speak out to tell the truth.”
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Freedman said in a fiery statement to PEOPLE back in May that they should sell tickets to Lively’s deposition for everyone to tune in. “Since Ms. Lively is open to testifying, let’s make it count,” he said at the time. “Hold the deposition at MSG, sell tickets or stream it, and donate every dollar to organizations helping victims of domestic abuse.”
After Judge Liman dismissed Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against her, Lively spoke out in a statement, saying, “Like so many others, I’ve felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us.”
The actress added that she is now “more resolved than ever to continue to stand for every woman’s right to have a voice in protecting themselves, including their safety, their integrity, their dignity and their story.”
