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Blake Lively is seeking $8 million from Justin Baldoni to pay legal fees and costs resulting from fending off a defamation lawsuit he filed as part of a sprawling legal battle over the filming of a movie. And it ends with us.
The figure, disclosed in an attorney’s fee bid on Tuesday, represents a portion of what Lively spent over the course of the lawsuit and her last chance to get any monetary compensation unless she decides to file another lawsuit.
The battle spilled over into court in 2024 after Lively made allegations of sexual harassment on the film set and a smear campaign to undermine her reputation. The case was settled last month without damages being paid to the actress, though she reserved her right to recover damages and legal costs under a California law intended to protect victims of sexual harassment from retaliatory defamation lawsuits.
A federal judge earlier this month rejected her bid for damages but found she was entitled to recover attorneys’ fees. It is believed to be among the first applications of the state law, a point Lively considers a major victory.
“Thanks to this historic decision, those who consider using a lawsuit as a weapon of intimidation are put on notice that there are consequences for doing so,” a spokesperson for the actress said in a statement. “The value of this ruling lies 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 telling the truth.”
Lively is represented by Michael Gottlieb of Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Isra Hudson of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, the lead attorneys in complex employment and First Amendment cases. The $8 million request represents her bill for defeating Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit over the course of six months in early 2025.
During that period, Gottlieb billed $457,000 over a 224-hour period, according to the court document. His typical hourly rate was discounted by 15 percent at an average rate of $2,187 over the course of the litigation. In total, his company received approximately $4.5 million.
Hudson, who is also a senior advisor to Lively, similarly agreed to a discount for Lively, whose total bill from the company is $2.9 million.
In their bid to obtain the fees, the lawyers asserted that they had succeeded in “every conceivable measure” by securing the dismissal of Baldoni’s lawsuit, which they described as a “gross abuse of the legal system” intended to retaliate against Lively.
In less than two years of litigation, the court docket for the case has reached nearly 1,500 entries, with extensive legal and public relations maneuvering by each side. Baldoni’s attorney, Brian Friedman, estimated Lively’s legal cost at $30 million to $60 million.
“He didn’t get the result they were hoping to get in this case,” Friedman said of Gottlieb. “When you file a case and hope you win that case, if you have the evidence that you’re right, you go to court, so it was easy for us to end up in court.”
The court will decide what attorney fees are owed to Lively after Baldoni files a response.
