Blake Lively is pushing back against Justin Baldoni as their legal battle enters another costly phase. Their latest disagreement centers on how much Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios should pay toward her legal fees.
Blake Lively responds after Justin Baldoni challenged her request for legal fees
Blake Lively’s side has rejected Justin Baldoni’s comparison between her legal fee request and the smaller bill submitted by The New York Times. A source close to Lively told People that the cases involved “significant differences,” particularly during discovery.
On July 13, Baldoni challenged the $8 million request, asking U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman to deny or reduce it. His filing accused her attorneys of excessive billing, duplicated work, and overstaffing, People reported. The filing said 82 timekeepers billed 7,070.20 hours. Baldoni’s lawyers compared that total with the $181,622.70 The New York Times requested after defeating a related defamation claim.
Lively’s side said that comparison ignored a major difference. The court paused discovery involving the Times before dismissing the claim, while Lively went through lengthy discovery defending herself against Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit, according to People.
Her June 29 fee application seeks $7,495,526.87 in attorneys’ fees and $539,514.01 in litigation costs. The legal fee request covers work performed from January 2025 through June 2025, when Baldoni’s deadline to amend the dismissed complaint expired. Lively’s lawyers argued that the case’s scale, public attention, and extensive document production made that work necessary.
In a June 12 order, Judge Liman ruled that Lively could recover reasonable fees and costs under California Civil Code Section 47.1. However, he has not set the final amount. The judge also denied her request for treble and punitive damages.
The “It Ends With Us” stars settled their broader dispute without a financial payout in May. Those court settlement details left the legal-fee issue unresolved. Judge Liman must now decide whether Lively’s request reflects reasonable legal work or includes costs Baldoni should not cover.
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