Feb. 28, 2025: Lively Hires CIA Alum
Lively brought onboard CIA's former Deputy Chief of Staff Nick Shapiro to "advise on the legal communications strategy for the ongoing sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit occurring in the Southern District of New York," a member from her litigation team Willkie Farr & Gallagher told Variety on Feb. 28.
Shapiro—who worked for the CIA from 2013 to 2015 under the Obama administration—went on to become Visa’s vice president of global security and communications and then Airbnb’s global head of crisis management. After three years at the rental company, he founded his own consulting firm, 10th Avenue Consulting LLC.
Feb. 28, 2025: The New York Times Files Motion to Exit the Lawsuit
The New York Times filed a motion to dismiss itself from the $400 million lawsuit that also includes Lively, Baldoni, Sloane and Sloane's company in documents obtained by E! News.
The newspaper argued in the filing that Baldoni’s team was telling a "one-sided tale that has garnered plenty of headlines" but that "The Times does not belong in this dispute."
The New York Times' attorneys also noted that the $250 million lawsuit Baldoni and his Wayfarer associates had originally filed against The New York Times was dismissed after The New York Times was added to the $400 million lawsuit, per court documents obtained by Deadline.
March 4, 2025: Judge in Baldoni’s $400 Million Lawsuit Pauses Discovery
Following The New York Times motion for dismissal, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman granted the newspaper's request for stay of discovery, according to documents obtained by E! News.
The filing, which requested that the judge temporarily halt parties from having to exchange information or documents, was granted as the judge looked over The New York Times' Feb. 28 motion.
Liman noted in the March 4 document that the The New York Times presented "substantial grounds" and "a strong showing that its motion to dismiss is likely to succeed on the merits."
The judge added that he didn't believe Baldoni’s team would be "unfairly prejudiced by a stay while the Court decides the pending motion."
In a statement to E! News, a New York Times spokesperson addressed the update, writing, "We appreciate the court’s decision today, which recognizes the important First Amendment values at stake here. The court has stopped Mr. Baldoni from burdening The Times with discovery requests in a case that should never have been brought against."
May 2025: Baldoni's Team Attempts to Subpeona Taylor Swift
After Baldoni accused Lively of using her friendship with Swift as leverage for more creative control over It Ends With Us, with his legal team seeking to subpeona the singer, a rep for the singer fired back.
"Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie," the spokesperson told E! News in a May 9 statement. "She was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film."
"The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, 'My Tears Ricochet,'" Swift's representative continued. "Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case."
Baldoni's attorneys withdrew their request later that month, per Lively's legal team.
June 9, 2025: Baldoni's Countersuit Against Lively & Reynolds Dismissed
A judge granted a motion to dismiss the countersuit against Lively, Reynolds, their publicist Sloane, Sloane's company Vision PR and The New York Times, saying that Baldoni and his legal team failed to prove their allegations of defamation or civil extortion.
"Like so many others, I've felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us," Lively shared on Instagram Stories after the dismissal. “While the suit against me was defeated, so many don't have the resources to fight back.”
She added, “With love and gratitude for the many who stood by me. Many of you I know. Many of you I don't. But I will never stop appreciating or advocating for you.”
Meanwhile, Baldoni's attorney told E! News in a statement that Lively's "predictable declaration of victory is false."
"This case is about false accusations of sexual harassment and retaliation and a nonexistent smear campaign," the lawyer said, "which Ms. Lively’s own team conveniently describes as ‘untraceable’ because they cannot prove what never happened."
July 31, 2025: Lively Deposed
Lively sat down for a deposition at her attorneys' New York office. Though media reports surfaced claiming that it was a "face-to-face showdown" between Lively and Baldoni, her attorneys later filed a motion slamming the so-called narrative that she "needed a large contingent of people with her to testify."
The truth, according to Lively's counsel, was that Baldoni was in the room alongside other defendants named in her lawsuit as well as their respective legal representation.
Aug. 17, 2025: Isabela Ferrer Accuses Baldoni of Bullying
In a court filing obtained by E! News, Isabela Ferrer—who played a younger version of Lively's Lily character in It Ends With Us—alleged Baldoni and his associates "tried to manipulate, threaten, control and otherwise act inappropriately towards" her after she was subpoenaed as part of the legal battle.
According to Ferrer's attorneys, the actress reached out to Wayfarer Studios to have her legal fees covered in accordance with her movie contract. However, they said Ferrer soon received a response from the company asking her to "relinquish control of her response to the Lively subpoena to Wayfarer" before being granted compensation.
"Ms. Ferrer has already had to resist Baldoni’s inappropriate conduct in connection with her response to the Lively Subpoena," they said in their filing, accusing Baldoni of trying to "bully" Ferrer by filing a motion against her.
Sept. 30, 2025: Baldoni Sued by The New York Times
Four months after Baldoni's $400 million lawsuit against the NYT was dismissed by a judge, the newspaper filed a complaint seeking punitive damages "to recover costs, fees and expenses incurred."
Baldoni’s lawyer vowed to fight the lawsuit, telling People, “Win, lose or draw, we refuse to cave to power brokers even in the face of seemingly impossible odds. We continue to stand tall for a reason: the pursuit of truth, in the face of giants.”