Actor Blake Lively has asked a judge to order Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios to pay nearly $8 million in legal fees and costs she says she spent defending herself against Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit, Variety said. The latest update has come just after Baldoni’s $400 million defamation suit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, was dismissed.
The lawsuit was filed after Lively accused her ‘It Ends With Us’ co-star and director of sexually harassing her on the film’s set and running an online campaign against her after she raised complaints. Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios denied the allegations and claimed Lively and Reynolds used false harassment claims to take control of the film. However, the court later dismissed the defamation suit, ruling that Lively’s allegations were protected under litigation privilege.
Although Lively later dropped her own lawsuit against Baldoni and others before the trial began, the settlement did not involve any financial payment. She was, however, allowed to continue seeking reimbursement for the legal costs she incurred while defending against the defamation case, according to Variety. As per the publication, Judge Lewis Liman, earlier this month, ruled that Lively is entitled to seek attorney fees under a 2023 California law that protects people who report sexual abuse from retaliatory defamation lawsuits. At the same time, the judge rejected her request for damages.
According to court documents filed on Monday, Lively’s legal team said she was billed $7.5 million in attorney fees, with hourly rates reaching $2,187, along with another $540,000 in legal expenses. Her lawyers argued that awarding the fees would help discourage retaliatory lawsuits against people who come forward with allegations.
In the filing, Lively’s lawyers, as per Variety, wrote, “This gross abuse of the legal system was not meant to win in court — its aim was to retaliate against Lively by falsely branding her a liar, intimidating witnesses and the media, and discouraging others from speaking out.”
After the judge’s earlier ruling, Lively’s lead attorneys, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, welcomed the decision, saying, “Thanks to this landmark decision, those considering using a lawsuit as a weapon of intimidation have been put on notice that there are consequences for doing so. The value of this ruling is in the precedent it creates, the accountability it imposes, and the protection it provides to those who may one day find themselves facing similar retaliation for speaking the truth.”
Earlier this month, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, responded to the ruling and said, “Ms. Lively was only awarded limited attorney fees for a single claim as part of a case that lasted only a matter of months, nothing more.” He also said, “Notwithstanding 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.”
Baldoni’s legal team has not commented on Lively’s latest request for attorney fees. They will have an opportunity to respond before the court decides whether to award the amount.