Blake Lively Seeks Fees and Damages From Justin Baldoni After $350 Million Film Dispute
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 2
Blake Lively Seeks Fees and Damages From Justin Baldoni After $350 Million Film Dispute
16 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 2
Lively’s lawyers returned to a New York federal court Monday seeking legal fees and damages from Baldoni after the parties reached an out-of-court settlement last month.
The team argued Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios’ defamation suit was unlawful retaliation under California law, while Baldoni’s lawyers disputed that claim; the amount Lively is seeking was not disclosed.
The fight grew out of Lively’s December 2024 complaint accusing her It Ends with Us co-star and director of inappropriate sexual remarks, pushing unscripted sex scenes and orchestrating a campaign to damage her reputation.
Judge Lewis Liman previously dismissed Baldoni and Wayfarer’s countersuit against Lively and Ryan Reynolds, while also trimming some of Lively’s claims but allowing her retaliation allegations to proceed.
It Ends with Us, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s novel, grossed more than $350 million in 2024, making the courtroom battle over one of that year’s biggest hits especially high-profile.
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Can a California law turn a dismissed $400M lawsuit into a multi-million dollar penalty for Justin Baldoni?