Blake Lively awarded $400,000 of $8m she claimed for legal fees in Baldoni battle

Actress Blake Lively was awarded $400,000 of the $8 million she sought from former co‑star Justin Baldoni to cover legal fees in a defamation dispute, a US District Judge ruled on Monday. The decision follows a series of legal battles that began when Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment and retaliation after he directed the 2024 film *It Ends With Us*. Baldoni counter‑sued, claiming the accusations were defamatory.

In 2025, Judge Lewis Liman dismissed Baldoni’s defamation complaint and, after reviewing Lively’s claim, ordered that she receive a total of $407,451. The judge said Lively had asked for more money than was justified, citing “intertwined” costs and a “blunderbuss approach” to calculating hours. Lively had originally sought $7.5 million for attorneys’ fees and $540,000 for other costs, but the court reduced the amount to a fraction of the original request.

The award is the first time a California law designed to protect sexual‑harassment accusers from retaliatory defamation suits has granted fees and costs. The law, enacted in 2023, allows plaintiffs to recover expenses when defendants file lawsuits that the court deems retaliatory. Lively’s lawyers said the ruling “demonstrates that there are real consequences of bringing retaliatory lawsuits” and that the case was “never about money – it was about accountability.”

Baldoni denied the harassment allegations and said he had not orchestrated a smear campaign. His attorney, Bryan Freedman, called the decision a “significant victory” for his client, arguing that the court had shown that even powerful individuals cannot abuse the legal system for personal gain.

Earlier this year, the judge also struck down parts of Lively’s original lawsuit, including the sexual‑harassment claim. The following month, the parties reached a settlement that ended the dispute. Under the settlement, Baldoni agreed to pay Lively a sum that was not disclosed publicly, and Lively dropped the remaining claims.