Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni ended their bitter “It Ends With Us” legal battle last month, but a new development in the case revealed a hefty price tag.
Weeks after the two former co-stars settled the high-profile Hollywood case, California Federal Judge Lewis J.Liman ruled on June 12 and agreed with Lively’s request for Baldoni to pay some of her legal fees.
According to People, Judge Liman ruled that the “Gossip Girl” star won the right to attorneys’ fees and litigation costs for defending his $400 million countersuit, which a judge dismissed last year.
The judge partially granted the judgment under California Civil Code Section 47.1, a statute that protects sexual misconduct accusers from retaliatory defamation suits.
Liman threw out 10 of Lively’s 13 claims in April, and last month the two sides agreed to dismiss her remaining claims.
“The Court concludes that, on this record, the Wayfarer Parties have failed to carry their burden of demonstrating that the Section 47.1 privilege does not apply, and Lively is therefore entitled to fees and costs,” the judgment read.
However, the judge denied Lively’s additional multi-million-dollar request and ruled that Baldoni does not have to pay her damages.
Following the judge’s decision, Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, released a statement noting the $300 million word payout that Lively was initially seeking.
“We fought and won against a coordinated effort built on allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation, and a smear campaign that never happened,” Freedman said.
“Ms. Lively demanded over 300 million in fees and damages, had 10 of her 13 claims dismissed, she then chose to settle and received nothing.”
He added: “Not withstanding that all of her sexual harassment and defamation claims were thrown out by the court, Ms. Lively then pivoted to exploit a California law that was established to protect real victims in what proved to be a fruitless mission to obtain damages. Once again, she failed.”
Meanwhile, Lively’s attorneys called the ruling a victory despite winning only a partial judgment.
“Blake Lively won her motion under Civil Code Section 47.1,” Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb said in a press release.
“Today’s ruling makes it clear that Ms. Lively brought her claims in good faith, that there was no evidence she acted with malice, and that she is the prevailing defendant under Section 47.1,” they said.
Fans on X, formerly known as Twitter, didn’t hold back on their opinions of the ongoing saga that initially began back in late 2024.
“She’s DESPERATE to redeem her image ,not like anyone really cared to begin with because she was just a meh actress. Who really lost was her hubby. Hope they reap what they’ve sown,” one user shared.
“Judge threw out SH basically saying her claims were trash, she flaked on the retaliation because she did pretty illegal stuff in the back end and lied and colluded with the NYT and all that was going to come out, now she only get lawyers fees for one motion,Plantation Barbie OUT,” wrote another.
“Blake Lively career is OVER. Let her sink into oblivion. Congratulations to Justin, his family, friends and lawyers to stand tall and fight those Hollywood bullies. I hope Justin has a bright and successful future ahead of him,” a third commented.
Additionally, a fourth X user questioned why Baldoni has to pay her anything at all.
”Why in the world should he have to pay her fees? As if that monster Blake and co didn’t put him through enough,” they wrote.
Leave a Reply