Judge Orders Justin Baldoni To Pay Blake Lively’s Legal Fees As Legal Fight Nears End

The bitter ineligible conflict betwixt Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni complete allegations of misconduct and retaliation tied to nan making of “It Ends With Us” moved person to a conclusion Friday aft a national judge ordered Baldoni and his accumulation institution to salary Lively’s attorneys fees related to his unsuccessful defamation suit against her, while rejecting her bid for further damages.

In a 47-page order, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman recovered that Lively was entitled to retrieve ineligible fees nether a California rule intended to protect group who study intersexual misconduct from retaliatory defamation claims, ruling that Baldoni’s broadside had grounded to show she acted pinch malice erstwhile making her allegations.

But Liman denied Lively’s petition for treble and punitive damages, concluding that nan procedural system her lawyers utilized permitted betterment of attorneys fees and costs but not broader financial penalties.

Lively’s attorneys, Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb, called Friday’s ruling a triumph for their customer and emphasized that nan judge recovered “there was nary grounds she acted pinch malice.”

“The Court is awarding Ms. Lively attorneys’ fees and costs and has explained that a prevailing suspect nether Section 47.1 whitethorn activity damages utilizing different procedural mechanisms,” nan attorneys said successful a statement. “The parties’ colony statement expressly preserves Ms. Lively’s authorities to get those damages.”

While nan judge rejected Lively’s petition for further damages successful this peculiar motion, her ineligible squad said she could still activity them done different ineligible avenues permitted nether nan statute.

Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s attorney, sharply disputed Lively’s characterization of nan ruling, arguing that nan court’s anterior decisions had substantially undercut galore of her original claims.

“There was nary intersexual harassment. There was nary retaliation. There was nary smear campaign,” Freedman said successful a statement. “The tribunal recognized it, nan grounds reflects it, and we person maintained it from nan very beginning.”

The magnitude Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios yet whitethorn person to salary has not yet been determined. Lively’s lawyers must still taxable billing records and interest calculations for tribunal approval.

The ruling follows last month’s settlement betwixt Lively and Baldoni, which came conscionable earlier what had been expected to beryllium a intimately watched national proceedings successful Manhattan. Under that settlement, neither broadside received financial compensation. But nan statement preserved Lively’s expertise to seek attorneys fees and damages nether California Civil Code Section 47.1, a comparatively caller statute designed to shield intersexual harassment and battle accusers from retaliatory defamation claims.

Lively sued Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, Wayfarer CEO Jamey Heath and others successful December 2024, alleging Baldoni and his associates orchestrated a coordinated effort to harm her estimation aft she raised concerns astir misconduct during accumulation of nan film, which Baldoni directed and co-starred in. Baldoni denied wrongdoing.

Baldoni and Wayfarer later filed a $400 cardinal defamation suit against Lively, her publicist Leslie Sloane and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, that was dismissed past year. Friday’s ruling dealt specifically pinch whether Lively could retrieve attorneys’ fees and damages tied to that dismissed suit nether California Civil Code Section 47.1.

The latest ruling comes aft Liman earlier this twelvemonth dismissed 10 of nan 13 claims successful Lively’s lawsuit, including intersexual harassment and defamation claims, while allowing retaliation-related claims to proceed.

In Friday’s ruling, Liman wrote that Baldoni’s squad had produced nary grounds demonstrating Lively acted maliciously erstwhile making her allegations.

“Allegations are insufficient connected their ain to show that statements were successful truth made pinch malice,” nan judge wrote. “That determination requires immoderate evidence.”

Friday’s ruling offered each broadside caller grounds to declare vindication successful a ineligible conflict that has played retired arsenic overmuch successful nationalist statements arsenic successful tribunal filings. Lively’s squad pointed to nan judge’s uncovering that she acted without malice, while Baldoni’s attorneys emphasized that galore of her original claims had been dismissed.

Still, nan colony statement bars either broadside from appealing Liman’s ruling, perchance drafting 1 of Hollywood’s ugliest caller ineligible fights to a close.