Blake Lively received a partial award of $400,000 from her request for $8 million in legal fees and costs related to her legal dispute with actor and director Justin Baldoni. The two worked together on the 2024 film It Ends With Us.
Lively initially filed a lawsuit against Baldoni alleging sexual harassment and retaliation. Baldoni subsequently filed a counterclaim for defamation. A judge dismissed his defamation complaint in 2025. Lively then sought $7.5 million to cover attorney fees and $540,000 for additional costs associated with defending against his defamation claim.
The presiding judge determined that Lively should receive $407,451 total, finding that her fee request exceeded what was reasonable and necessary. The judge noted that she had requested compensation for excessive attorney hours and improperly included costs related to other aspects of the broader legal dispute rather than limiting claims to the defamation defense. The judge characterized her approach to calculating billable hours as a “blunderbuss approach.”
The award was granted under a California law enacted in 2023 designed to protect sexual harassment accusers from retaliatory defamation suits. Earlier this year, the judge had dismissed portions of Lively’s original complaint, including the sexual harassment allegations. Subsequently, the two parties reached a settlement agreement to resolve the case.
Both sides characterized the judge’s decision favorably. Lively’s legal team highlighted the precedent-setting nature of the fee award under the California statute, while Baldoni’s counsel emphasized that the reduced award amount supported their position regarding the merits of the dispute.
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