Blake Lively awarded $400,000 of $8m she claimed for legal fees in Baldoni battle
Actress Blake Lively has been awarded $400,000 in legal fees following a dismissed defamation lawsuit brought by her former co-star Justin Baldoni. The judge significantly reduced her initial $8 million request, citing excessive billing practices and unnecessary legal costs.
Why it matters
This ruling highlights the application of California laws designed to protect sexual harassment accusers from retaliatory defamation suits while setting a precedent for legal fee recovery.
Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Blake Lively's lawyers say the "case was never about money – it was about accountability"
Actress Blake Lively has been awarded $400,000 (£340,000) of the $8m (£6.9m) she tried to claim from her former co-star Justin Baldoni to cover her legal fees and costs to fight a defamation case he brought.
Lively initially sued Baldoni, her co-star and director of the 2004 film It Ends With Us for sexual harassment and retaliation, before he countersued for defamation.
A judge dismissed his defamation complaint in 2025, and she argued she was entitled to $7.5m (£6.4m) to cover her lawyers' fees and $540,000 (£460,000) for other costs.
But the judge said she should receive considerably less - a total of $407,451 - because she requested money for more people and time than were necessary to defend the defamation claim.
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