Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...Just over a month after settling, the seemingly endless “It Ends With Us” legal saga might finally be over as a federal New York judge has ordered Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties to pay Blake Lively’s legal fees.
While Judge Lewis J. Liman on Friday signed off the “Gossip Girl” star’s request for the Wayfarer Parties to cover her legal fees, he denied her attempt at procuring punitive or treble damages from Baldoni and co., according to legal documents obtained by the Daily News. Lively, 38, accused 42-year-old Baldoni in December 2024 of having sexually harassed her on the set of the blockbuster domestic violence drama, “It Ends With Us,” and launched a smear campaign. Baldoni, who denied the allegations, filed a gargantuan defamation suit for $400 million against Lively and her camp, as well as a $250 million libel suit against The New York Times’ coverage of the claims.
Judge Lewis J. Liman tossed both filings and, earlier this year, also dismissed 10 of Lively’s 13 claims against her former director and co-star, including those related to sexual harassment and defamation.
A settlement, in which no money was awarded, was reached in early May, days before a trial was set to start. Liman on Friday reasoned that Lively sought attorneys’ fees “as a result of the Wayfarer Parties’ own defamation claim,” and denied the latter’s argument that having to pay the fees would violate the First Amendment.
Lively sought damages under a provision related to “Costs; Attorney’s Fees” that does not mention any damages, which Liman identified as her “circumvent[ing] this web of procedures and processes designed for the orderly, just, and fair determination of civil claims in federal court.”
Shortly after the settlement, news broke that — under California legislation — Lively was seeking damages and attorney’s fees related to Baldoni’s defamation filing, which the actress said was retaliatory.