Blake Lively will receive just over US$400,000 of the $8 million she sought in legal costs from Justin Baldoni after they settled their legal battle over the production of their 2024 film, It Ends With Us.
Judge Lewis J. Liman explained in a written decision, obtained by Global News, why Lively was not entitled to the full amount that her lawyers claim she spent after Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios LLC, filed their own claims in response to her December 2024 lawsuit.
Liman wrote that Lively and Baldoni had “waged fierce battle against each other in court,” and denied Lively the bulk of legal fees she sought.
He cited the limits of a California law designed to protect survivors of sexual harassment and discrimination from retaliatory lawsuits.
The law meant to protect sex abuse survivors from legal actions designed to intimidate and silence victims could only be construed to let her be reimbursed for what she paid lawyers to defend against defamation claims rather than all claims Baldoni made against her, Liman wrote.
Lively’s lawyers previously disclosed an amount of $7,495, 526.87 in lawyer fees from two law firms that represented her and $539,514.01 in other expenses with 7,070.20 hours billed by 82 timekeepers in a legal filing, obtained by Global News.
In his ruling, Liman wrote, “Lively seeks attorneys’ fees for 82 timekeepers, including 53 from Willkie and 29 from Manatt. But she includes biographical information, title, and billing rate information for only 11 timekeepers. Id. The Court has no basis to evaluate the fee request for the remaining timekeepers and therefore denies it. The number of hours for which Lively seeks reimbursement is unreasonable.”
He noted that Lively did not submit the invoices for her legal representatives.
The Gossip Girl actor was also denied costs, including fees of experts not ordered by the court, investigation expenses in preparing the case for trial, postage, telephone and photocopying charges, except for exhibits, costs in investigation of jurors and transcripts of court proceedings not ordered by the court.
Lively is entitled to $363,245 in attorneys’ fees and $44,206 in costs, the judge ruled.
In a statement to The Associated Press, lawyer Bryan Freedman, representing Baldoni, called the ruling a “significant victory for my clients” that will leave Lively with less than five per cent of the amount she initially requested in legal fees.
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He said in a statement that it also “sends a clear message that, no matter how powerful you may be, the courtroom is not a place to take advantage of the law for your own personal gain.”
Lawyers Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb, representing Lively, said in a statement that Liman’s decision was “historic” because it was the first time under California law that money was awarded. They said it showed “there are real consequences of bringing retaliatory lawsuits.”
The lawyers added that Lively had “lifted the curtain for other victims, and set the precedent for others to come forward and expose similar conduct.”
Last month, Baldoni asked Liman to deny or “substantially reduce” Lively’s “excessive” request for $8 million in legal fees.
In the legal filing, obtained by Global News, Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios referred to Lively’s request as “anything but a typical fee motion.”
“Lively claims that she is entitled to a stunning $7,495,526 in attorney’s fees for 7,070.20 hours billed by no fewer than 82 timekeepers, to obtain the dismissal of a single defamation claim at the pleading stage. In contrast, The New York Times is seeking $181,000 in a fee request filed in state court for its motion to dismiss precisely the same defamation claim,” Baldoni’s lawyers wrote in the legal filing.
Baldoni’s legal team was referencing the New York Times seeking $181,000 in lawyer fees to dismiss the same defamation claim after Baldoni sued the newspaper for libel, over accusations that he engaged in a “smear campaign” against Lively but the lawsuit was dismissed in June 2025.
In the legal filing, Baldoni’s lawyers Ellyn S. Garofalo and Freedman said that Lively “could not possibly have spent over 7,000 hours preparing the portion of the motion to dismiss directed to Wayfarer’s defamation claim.”
His legal team noted that the court “has discretion to exclude time that is excessive, redundant or otherwise unnecessary.”
“Lively does not provide billing statements or other records to support her $7.5 million demand, much less allocate fees to her defense of Wayfarer’s defamation claim,” the filing added.
Baldoni’s legal team also suggested that the court should consider “whether the case was overstaffed, how much time the attorneys spent on particular claims, and whether the hours were reasonably expended.”
Lively and Baldoni’s legal saga began in December 2024, when Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, first in a complaint. Then, in a lawsuit about a week later, Baldoni claimed in a January court filing that he felt pressured by Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds’ “megacelebrity friend” to approve scene revisions after a meeting at Lively and Reynolds’ home.
Baldoni sued Lively and Reynolds for defamation in January 2025. That lawsuit came the same day that Baldoni sued the New York Times for libel, alleging the paper worked with Lively to smear him.
In late March, Lively asked a judge to dismiss Baldoni’s countersuit, calling his claims “vengeful and rambling,” after she filed the lawsuit against him for sexual harassment and retaliation.
Last June, a judge dismissed Baldoni’s $400-million defamation claim against Lively and Reynolds after finding that her accusations of sexual harassment were legally protected, making them exempt from libel claims.
Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios denied Lively’s allegations, and Baldoni was dismissed as a defendant in U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman’s April 2 ruling, when he threw out Lively’s sexual harassment claims.
Lively and Baldoni settled in May just before a trial was to start in federal court in Manhattan following Lively’s claims that Wayfarer Studios retaliated against her for complaining about misconduct and organized what she refers to as a “smear campaign” aimed at destroying her reputation and career prospects through negative social media posts.
In a joint statement released in May, lawyers for Lively and Baldoni shared their feelings about moving on from the legal battle.
“The end product — the movie It Ends With Us — is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life. Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors — and all survivors — is a goal that we stand behind,” both parties’ lawyers said in a statement to Variety.
“We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard. We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online,” Freedman, Garofalo, Gottlieb and Hudson said.
In May, Baldoni’s lawyers asked a judge to deny any future proceedings related to Lively’s request to recover legal fees and damages that resulted from the legal dispute against Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer Studios.
Lively received no money in the settlement at the time, but a judge subsequently ruled that she was entitled to recover some legal costs she incurred after Baldoni filed a countersuit against her.
—With files from The Associated Press
