Additional Coverage:
Justin Baldoni’s legal team has asked a federal judge to dismiss any further proceedings related to Blake Lively’s request for legal fees and compensatory damages stemming from their “It Ends With Us” lawsuit.
The former co-stars reached a surprise settlement earlier this week, but Lively’s attorneys are still pursuing legal fees connected to a countersuit Baldoni filed in January 2025, which was ultimately dismissed by the court.
Details of the settlement remain confidential, though a source confirmed to NBC News that no money exchanged hands.
Baldoni’s lawyer, Ellyn Garofalo, urged U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman to reject Lively’s fee request, noting that Lively settled her remaining claims without Baldoni or his production company, Wayfarer, paying any portion of the $300 million in damages she initially sought.
Baldoni’s team emphasized that the lengthy legal battle, which spanned over 18 months, should conclude based on the court’s existing rulings rather than continue with additional filings and arguments.
They also argued that Lively had not demonstrated why further court involvement was necessary, especially after previously asserting that the court had sufficient information to decide on her claims for attorney’s fees, punitive damages, and other relief under California Civil Code Section 47.1. This statute protects individuals who report sexual misconduct allegations from retaliatory defamation lawsuits.
In his $400 million countersuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Baldoni accused Lively and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, of attempting to damage his reputation and alleged that Lively used her claims to gain control over the film project. However, Judge Liman dismissed that countersuit.
Earlier this year, Liman also dismissed most of Lively’s claims against Baldoni-including harassment, defamation, and conspiracy-allowing only breach of contract, retaliation, and aiding and abetting in retaliation claims to proceed to trial.
Although the judge signed off on the settlement, Lively’s attorneys recently requested permission to file a supplemental brief addressing how the court’s latest rulings might affect their demand for damages and legal fees, and to propose procedures for determining those damages.
Baldoni’s lawyers have characterized the ongoing dispute over defamation-related legal fees as a “very narrow issue,” seeking to bring finality to the drawn-out litigation.