Blake Lively seeks over $8M in legal fees from Justin Baldoni, his studio

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's legal saga began in December 2024, when Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, first in a complaint.

Blake Lively is seeking over US$8 million in legal costs from Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios despite their agreement to resolve their legal differences in May, according to a legal filing submitted on Tuesday.

In the legal filing, obtained by Global News, Lively’s lawyers disclosed the amount of $7,495, 526.87 in lawyer fees from two law firms that represented her and $539,514.01 in other expenses.

Lively’s lawyers said their work on the case for the It Ends With Us star’s lawsuit was “comprehensive and necessary to achieve the complete win that was secured.”

“In the Wayfarer Action, Lively succeeded in every conceivable measure. All of the Wayfarer Parties’ claims—which were brought as a strategy to sue her ‘into oblivion’—were dismissed with prejudice and abandoned without amendment or appeal,” the filing read.

Lively’s lawyers claim that she is “entitled to the recovery of full fees and costs associated with her prevailing defense of the Wayfarer Action, as well as for fees and costs incurred in furtherance of that recovery, including in connection with this motion.”

Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios LLC, “employed scorched-earth litigation tactics designed to drain Lively’s resources,” her lawyers wrote in their filing.

“They could have ended it (and offered to reimburse Lively) at any time. Having refused to do so, they should be ordered to reimburse Lively for all of the costs, attorney’s fees, and expenses they improperly forced her to incur,” they wrote.

In their court filing, Lively’s lawyers said $4.5 million should be paid to Gottlieb’s firm, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and about $3 million should go to the firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP.

The Gossip Girl star’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb submitted a declaration on Tuesday, stating that his standard hourly billing rate has been $2,795 but he discounted his fees from his standard rate to $2,187 over the course of the litigation between Lively and Baldoni.

“I billed a total of 224 hours, totaling $457,000 in fees, on work related to Ms. Lively’s defense against the Wayfarer Action,” Gottlieb wrote.

Gottlieb noted that Kristin Bender, a partner in Willkie’s Litigation Department, also worked on Lively’s case and “billed a total of 293 hours, totaling $454,808 in fees.”

Aaron Nathan, another partner in Wilkie’s Litigation Department, also “billed a total of 142 hours, totaling $224,672 in fees, on work related to Ms. Lively’s defense,” according to Gottlieb’s declaration.

Gottlieb said that Meryl Governski, a former partner at Willkie, billed a total of 249 hours, totalling $381,856 in fees and Michaela Connolly, an associate in the New York office of Willkie’s Litigation Department also billed a total of 620 hours, totalling $833,172 in fees.

Melissa Taustine, an associate in the New York office of Willkie’s Litigation Department, billed a total of 210 hours, totalling $270,198 in fees, on work related to Ms. Lively’s defense, according to Gottlieb.

Gottlieb’s filing also said that more than 7,000 documents were produced throughout the litigation.

Baldoni and Wayfarer have until July 13 to respond to Lively’s new motion.

Global News has reached out to Baldoni’s representative for comment, but has not received a response.

Lively and Baldoni settled last month just before a trial was to start in federal court in Manhattan following Lively’s claims that Wayfarer Studios retaliated against her for complaining about misconduct and organized what she refers to as a “smear campaign” aimed at destroying her reputation and career prospects through negative social media posts.

Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios denied Lively’s allegations and Baldoni was dismissed as a defendant in U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman’s April 2 ruling, when he threw out Lively’s sexual harassment claims.

Lively received no money in the settlement, but a judge subsequently ruled that she is entitled to recover some legal costs she incurred after Baldoni filed a countersuit against her. The judge must still approve the amount she is seeking.

Earlier this month, lawyers for Lively were back in court, trying to get a judge to make Baldoni pay her legal bills plus other penalties, according to The Associated Press.

Lively’s lawyers said the 38-year-old actor is entitled to the money under a California law because Baldoni’s countersuit was thrown out last year by a judge.

Last June, a judge dismissed Baldoni’s $400-million defamation claim against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds after finding that her accusations of sexual harassment were legally protected, making them exempt from libel claims.

Baldoni and his lawyer, Ellyn Garofalo, accused Lively of trying to do “an end run” around a trial that was cancelled when the two agreed to settle, The Associated Press reports.

While the financial terms of the settlement weren’t announced publicly, Garofalo told the court it was resolved without Baldoni and his production company “paying a cent of the $300 million in damages she was demanding.”

“Reopening this for basically what is an alternative trial would involve reopening discovery, new experts, new expert depositions,” she reportedly said.

In May, Baldoni’s lawyers asked a judge to deny any future proceedings related to Lively’s request to recover legal fees and damages that resulted from the legal dispute against Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer Studios.

The request for denial came after a year and a half of legal battles between Baldoni and Lively.

In a joint statement released last month, lawyers for Lively and Baldoni shared their feelings about moving on from the legal battle.

“The end product — the movie It Ends With Us — is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life. Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors — and all survivors — is a goal that we stand behind,” both parties’ lawyers said in a statement to Variety.

“We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard. We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online,” Bryan Freedman, Garofalo, Gottlieb and Esra Hudson said.

Lively and Baldoni’s legal saga began in December 2024, when Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, first in a complaint. Then, in a lawsuit about a week later, Baldoni claimed in a January court filing that he felt pressured by Lively and Reynolds’ “megacelebrity friend” to approve scene revisions after a meeting at Lively and Reynolds’ home.

Baldoni sued Lively and Reynolds for defamation in January 2025. That lawsuit came the same day that Baldoni sued the New York Times for libel, alleging the paper worked with Lively to smear him.

In late March, Lively asked a judge to dismiss Baldoni’s countersuit, calling his claims “vengeful and rambling,” after she filed the lawsuit against him for sexual harassment and retaliation.