Blake Lively has filed a request for $8.04 million in legal fees and costs from Justin Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios, following the dismissal of Baldoni's $400 million defamation lawsuit against her.
In a court filing late June 30, Lively's legal team asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan to award $7,495,526.87 in attorneys' fees and $539,514.01 in litigation expenses, which include items such as legal research, travel, and meals, according to NBC News.
The filing describes Baldoni's lawsuit as a "gross abuse of the legal system" intended to retaliate against Lively for reporting alleged sexual harassment and retaliation to California's Civil Rights Department, rather than to pursue legitimate legal claims, according to Reuters. According to the filing, Baldoni's team ran a near-daily media push to advance what Lively's attorneys called a sham lawsuit, while simultaneously burying her side in broad discovery requests, blocking their own disclosures, and repeatedly forcing Lively to petition the court to curtail abusive filings.
Liman dismissed Baldoni's defamation and extortion lawsuit in June 2025. Earlier this year, the judge also dismissed most of Lively's claims against Baldoni, including harassment, defamation, and conspiracy, but ruled she could pursue a retaliation claim against Wayfarer Studios. The two parties reached a settlement in May 2026, with Lively receiving no money, according to The Guardian.
Following the settlement, Liman determined that California Civil Code Section 47.1 gave Lively grounds to recover her legal costs — a 2023 statute enacted to shield those who come forward with sexual misconduct allegations from being sued for defamation in retaliation. Both sides agreed not to appeal the judge's decision on legal fees, according to Reuters.
Court filings show that Gottlieb, who served as Lively's principal attorney, applied a discounted rate of $2,187 per hour throughout the litigation — roughly 7 percent less than his customary fee of $2,350 per hour, according to Reuters. "Those considering using a lawsuit as a weapon of intimidation have been put on notice that there are consequences for doing so," Gottlieb and co-counsel Esra Hudson said in a statement, according to NBC News.
Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman offered a contrasting view earlier this month, telling Reuters the award covered only a narrow slice of the litigation — "a single claim as part of a case that lasted only a matter of months," in his words. Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios have until July 13 to respond to the fee request.
