Blake Lively awarded $400K in legal fees from Justin Baldoni after $8M request

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.

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.”