Ouch, this one must hurt!
Justin Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios have been ordered to pay the New York Times‘ legal fees after a judge tossed out his suit against the newspaper and another against Blake Lively last summer. The actor had alleged their reporting about the drama on the It Ends With Us set was part of a smear campaign against him. He went after them for $250 million, and they later fought back, requesting attorney’s fees under New York’s anti-SLAPP laws. Now, Justin’s the one coughing up money!
Related: Justin Baldoni BREAKS 2-YEAR SILENCE On ‘Trauma’
Legal docs obtained by TMZ on Monday show that Wayfarer has been ordered to pay the newspaper $171,616!
In response to the legal blow, a source close to the production company told TMZ:
“The team fully understood the enormous risks involved in taking on The New York Times over what were now proven blatant falsehoods published by journalist Megan Twohey.”
They went on:
“The case was lost on journalistic privilege, not on the facts. Very few people have successfully challenged The New York Times in modern history, but pursuing the case was one of the only ways to bring the evidence into the public record, challenge the hideously, false narrative being advanced by Blake Lively and expose the serious inconsistencies at the heart of her claims. For the Wayfarer team, getting that evidence into the open was a significant victory in itself. It also shows how completely out of reality Lively’s attempt to extort millions out of Wayfarer for attorney fees for just one portion of their defamation countersuit really is.”
Trying to spin a big financial loss into a win…
At least it’s not as large a sum as Blake wants!
Thoughts?!
[Image via ABC/YouTube & MEGA/WENN]
