Blake Lively awarded $400,000 of $8m she claimed for legal fees in Baldoni battle

Actress Blake Lively has been awarded $400,000 (£340,000) towards the legal fees and expenses she incurred while defending herself against a defamation lawsuit filed by her former co-star Justin Baldoni.

Lively had sought about $8 million (£6.9 million) in total, including $7.5 million (£6.4 million) for her legal team and roughly $540,000 (£460,000) in additional expenses.

The dispute began when Lively sued Baldoni, who starred alongside and directed her in the 2024 film It Ends With Us, accusing him of sexual harassment and retaliation. Baldoni denied the allegations and later filed a defamation countersuit against her.

A judge dismissed Baldoni’s defamation claims in 2025. Lively subsequently argued that she should be reimbursed for the costs of defending the case.

However, US District Judge Lewis Liman ruled that she was entitled to significantly less, awarding a total of $407,451. He said her lawyers had sought reimbursement for work involving more people and hours than were reasonably necessary to defend against Baldoni’s defamation claims.

The judge also criticised what he described as a “blunderbuss approach” to calculating legal hours, saying Lively should not have included other costs connected to the broader legal dispute.

Baldoni’s attorney described the ruling as a “significant victory.”

Earlier this year, the judge dismissed parts of Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni, including the sexual harassment claim. The two sides later reached a settlement to bring the legal battle to an end.

Lively was allowed to recover some of her expenses under a 2023 California law intended to protect people who accuse others of sexual harassment from retaliatory defamation lawsuits.

Both camps welcomed the latest ruling as a victory.

Lively’s legal team described the award as the first of its kind under the California law and said it showed that there could be consequences for retaliatory lawsuits. They maintained that her case had never been about financial gain but about accountability.

Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, meanwhile, said the decision demonstrated that even powerful individuals cannot misuse the legal system for personal benefit.