The Hot Bench judges believe it’s too soon to reach a ruling in Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively’s ongoing legal battle.
“I think there is so much more to come in this one that you could change your mind every two minutes,” Judge Rachel Juarez exclusively shared with Us Weekly before celebrating Hot Bench’s 2,000th episode on Thursday, January 23. “Every time someone says something, you can change your mind. I’m withholding judgment. I have some strong opinions that are starting to form. But I think we don’t know yet.”
Juarez and her fellow Hot Bench judges Michael Corriero and Yodit Tewolde are not affiliated with the case.
In December 2024, The New York Times broke the news that Lively was suing Baldoni for sexual harassment and for allegedly launching a “social manipulation” campaign against her to “destroy” her reputation. (Baldoni has denied the allegations via his attorney Bryan Freedman.)
Baldoni later sued The New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy. (A New York Times spokesperson stood by the story saying it was “meticulously and responsibly reported.”)
The Jane the Virgin star also sued Lively for $400 million in damages and accused the actress of being “determined to make Baldoni the real-life villain in her story.” (Lively has also denied all of his allegations.)
“When you’re filing a lawsuit like that and you’re picking a number, you really are just starting out with a number from thin air,” Juarez explained to Us when reacting to the $400 million number. “No one’s actually calculated the specific damages.”
She described Freedman as a “smart guy” and “strategic attorney” who may have “wanted the sticker shock value of the $400 million.”
“That would seem to me, even if he does recover, to be an unlikely amount for him to actually recover,” Juarez continued. “But I think they were sending a message saying, ‘This is how bad what she did is. It’s a $400 million problem.’”
Judge Tewolde joked that she’s waiting “to see more receipts” before picking a side in the highly publicized legal battle.
She pointed to a new video of an It Ends With Us scene that Baldoni’s team believes proves his side of the story.
“Justin Baldoni’s team releasing that unedited footage of that one clip and having watched the movie now and now piecing it together and comparing it to the words in her complaint, I’m kind of not really seeing things,” she shared, “but I’m gonna wait and see how this thing plays out.”
What all judges can agree on is this case will be a “fascinating” one to watch unfold.
“I saw the movie, and I thought it was a great movie with a good message and I thought it was done very well, but I think what this is all going to turn on are the actual unedited versions of the scenes that are an issue,” Judge Corriero predicted. “I think that’s going to be very important for the judge and jury to see.”
Juarez added, “It’s such an evolving process. This is going to be a fascinating one.”
The Hot Bench judges have been tackling their own unique cases on the small screen for several years now. On January 23, the trio celebrated 2,000 episodes of their courtroom show that features the first-ever three-judge panel.
UPDATE 1/16/25 at 12:43 p.m. ET: Justin Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios filed a $400 million lawsuit against It Ends With Us costar Blake Lively and her publicist, Leslie Sloane, on Thursday, January 16. In the 179-page filing obtained by Us Weekly, Baldoni claimed that Lively was “determined” to make him a “real-life villain in her story.” […]
While their litigants are far less famous, Juarez, Corriero and Tewolde are determined to make the right verdict in every case.
“You’re getting to hear why we come to a conclusion and whether we can have a consensus together or what’s our rationale,” Corriero teased. “I think that makes it a little bit more intriguing because it gives us an opportunity perhaps to educate and test our views with each other and entertain.”
Hot Bench airs weekdays. Check your local listings.
