Judge orders Justin Baldoni’s studio to pay Blake Lively $400,000 in legal costs

The award of legal costs and attorneys fees ordered by a New York judge Wednesday is just one-twentieth of the $8 million judgment sought by Lively’s attorneys in the privately settled civil case.MANHATTAN (CN) — A federal judge awarded “Gossip Girl” actress Blake Lively, who had sought some $8 million in legal fees and costs on Wednesday in the final leg of her dispute with “It Ends With Us” director Justin Baldoni, a judgment of approximately $400,000 from Baldoni’s production company, concluding a civil lawsuit that fizzled on the eve of going to trial.While Baldoni and Lively privately settled a drastically trimmed-down iteration of Lively’s employment suit shortly before the case was scheduled to stand trial last May, she still sought punitive damages afterward — comprised of legal fees and costs, compensatory damages and punitive damages ­— from Baldoni under California Civil Code Section 47.1.Prompted by litigation in the wake of the #MeToo movement in the late 2010s, the California fee-shifting legislation protects sexual misconduct accusers from retaliatory defamation lawsuits by imposing mandatory penalties — automatically tripled by statute — against any party who files unsuccessful retaliatory defamation actions against sexual harassment and retaliation complainants.Lively had accused Baldoni of sexual harassment during the production of the 2024 film, based on the 2016 novel by the same name about a young woman navigating an abusive relationship, but much of Lively’s complaint was gutted ahead of trial in April after a New York federal judge tossed 10 of 13 causes of action she levied against Baldoni, including sexual harassment, defamation and civil conspiracy.U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman entered a judgment on Wednesday awarding Lively $363,245.40 in attorneys’ fees and $44,206.35 in costs, just 5% of the $8 million her attorneys sought in court filings after the case was privately settled.The Donald Trump appointee in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York had already ruled in favor of Lively receiving an award of costs in June but found she was not entitled to compensatory or punitive damages.He did not specify the amount of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to be awarded at the time of that ruling.In the Wednesday judgment, Liman awarded Lively’s legal costs on a much narrower scope than the $8 million sum her attorneys requested.“There is nothing in the law or in the legislative history that indicates that the California Legislature intended to award a defendant accused of a range of tortious conduct other than a SLAPP lawsuit all of her fees and costs in defending against that conduct simply because the person who is the target of that conduct has included in his or her lawsuit a claim for defamation,” he wrote.Liman also denied Lively’s request for fee reimbursement for time billed toward media relations, including strategizing media communications and client media appearances.“Media relations were not integral to defending the defamation claim brought against Lively,” he wrote. “Accordingly, time spent on media relations and press coverage is not compensable."Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman applauded the ruling, which, he said, “speaks for itself.”“The ruling is a significant victory for my clients and sends a clear message that, no matter how powerful you may be, the courtroom is not a place to take advantage of the law for your own personal gain,” Freedman told Courthouse News.Baldoni filed a $400 million defamation counterclaim against Lively in response to her underlying 2024 lawsuit, in which she accused him of sexual harassment on the set of the “It Ends With Us.” He claimed Lively and her husband, fellow Hollywood A-lister Ryan Reynolds, conspired to “destroy” him and “hijack” the film’s premiere with the accusations. But Liman fully dismissed the suit that summer.The searing legal battle between the two Hollywood A-listers was set to stand trial in Manhattan federal court this summer, with Lively seeking more than $100 million in damages.The trial was expected to be a summer bombshell, with testimony from Lively, Baldoni and Reynolds.Lively had accused Baldoni of improvising several kisses on set and making unwelcome comments about her appearance. She also said Baldoni called her “sexy” and commented on her cleavage.In another instance, she claimed Baldoni announced to other individuals on the film set that she had never seen pornography — an admission she made to him after he opened up about having a porn addiction.Baldoni vehemently denied the claims and attributed them to Lively looking to hijack the premiere of the film, which he directed and produced.Lively went public with her claims against Baldoni via a 2024 interview with The New York Times. Following the story, she says Baldoni engaged in a relentless publicity smear campaign to discredit those accusations by defaming her, pointing specifically to several statements from Freedman, who rejected her claims in several interviews with the media.Baldoni’s side countered that Lively’s claims were an attempt to hijack the premiere of the movie and destroy his reputation. He filed the $400 million extortion countersuit against Lively and Reynolds, but that was dismissed last summer.The details of Lively’s settlement with Baldoni’s camp were not publicly disclosed, but she reportedly did not receive any compensation under the private agreement.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads