The courtroom battle between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively appeared to be over after the two reached a settlement earlier this year. But one major issue is still keeping both sides tied up in court.
A fresh filing has brought the legal fight back into the spotlight, this time over millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees. Baldoni is now asking a federal judge to reject or sharply reduce Lively’s request for more than $8 million in legal fees and related costs.
Justin Baldoni Wants Blake Lively’s Multi-Million Dollar Fee Request Cut Down
Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, filed new court papers on Monday asking Judge Lewis Liman to deny Blake Lively’s request for attorneys’ fees or, at the very least, “substantially reduce” the amount she is seeking.
According to the filing, obtained by TheWrap, Baldoni argued that Lively’s request is “anything but a typical fee motion.” His legal team claimed the actress’s lawyers billed at “excessive” hourly rates and submitted a fee request that was far larger than it should have been.
To make that point, Baldoni’s lawyers compared Lively’s request with one made by The New York Times. They noted that the newspaper sought just $181,622.70 in attorneys’ fees after winning dismissal of the same defamation claim, arguing that Lively achieved the same legal result while requesting millions more.
Baldoni’s Filing Questions How Lively’s Legal Team Handled The Case
The filing also claimed the case involved far more legal work than necessary. Baldoni’s attorneys argued that too many lawyers worked on the matter, resulting in unnecessary billing for conferences, strategy sessions and legal research. They also pointed to more than 7,000 billable hours recorded during the litigation.
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“The most cursory review of Lively’s submission shows multiple lawyers at the same hearings, numerous charges for lawyers conferencing, conferring, or strategizing with one another, and to put it mildly, extremely excessive research and online investigation,” the filing stated.
Baldoni also challenged Lively’s request for $539,514.01 in costs and expenses, calling the figure a “whopping” amount.” His legal team argued that Lively had not shown enough evidence to justify the amount she wants to recover. The filing stated:
“Lively fails to meet her burden to present credible evidence showing that the fees and costs she seeks to recover are reasonable and, accordingly, her fee motion should be denied in its entirety.“
It continued: “At minimum, the Court should substantially reduce the request, using as a benchmark the $181,622.70 the Times sought after securing dismissal of Count II on its separate motion to dismiss – the same outcome Lively achieved.”
Although Baldoni and Lively settled their lawsuit in May, one issue remained unresolved. The agreement came only weeks before the case was due to go to trial and followed Judge Lewis Liman’s decision to dismiss 10 of the 13 claims included in Lively’s December 2024 lawsuit.
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