Blake Lively has filed a request for $8m (£6.3m) in legal fees and costs incurred during her legal battle against Justin Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios. The actor submitted the claim to a federal judge on 30 June, detailing the expenses she says resulted from fighting Baldoni's multi-million-dollar countersuit.
Baldoni, who directed and co-starred with Lively in the 2024 film It Ends With Us, filed a $400m countersuit against her and her husband Ryan Reynolds in January 2025 for civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy. The suit came after Lively made an initial complaint of sexual harassment the previous month. Baldoni's defamation claim was dismissed in June 2025.
In early May 2026, Lively and Baldoni settled their lawsuit, leading a federal judge to rule in June that Lively was entitled to recover fees and costs from fighting the countersuit. Her legal team now seeks $7,495,526.87 in reasonable attorneys' fees and $539,514.01 in costs, totalling $8,035,040.
In a 15-page memorandum, Lively's lawyers, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, accused Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of engaging in 'scorched-earth litigation tactics designed to drain Lively's resources'. They described a 'near-daily press campaign promoting their sham lawsuit' and 'expansive and irrelevant discovery demands' that forced Lively to seek court intervention.
The memorandum argued that Baldoni's countersuit was not intended to win in court but to retaliate against Lively and discourage others from speaking out. 'This gross abuse of the legal system was not meant to win in court,' it stated. 'Its aim was to retaliate against Lively by falsely branding her a liar, intimidating witnesses and the media, and discouraging others from speaking out.'
Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios have until 13 July to either agree to pay the $8m or challenge the claim. The Guardian has approached Baldoni's lawyers for comment. Lively's attorneys said the ruling sends a message that using lawsuits as a weapon of intimidation has consequences.
