Justin Baldoni Ordered to Pay Fees in It Ends With Us Lawsuit
Justin Baldoni was ordered to pay Blake Lively’s legal fees on Friday in the it ends with us lawsuit, but U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman rejected her request for damages. The ruling leaves fees as the only financial relief described in the case and ends Lively’s last chance at a payout.
Liman’s Federal Court Ruling
Liman wrote that the California law at issue “does not create an end run around the entire set of carefully crafted federal procedural rules designed to protect the rights of the parties.” He added that it “establishes a narrow exception to the usual litigation process for a specific and limited kind of relief,” and said, “Compensatory and punitive damages do not fall within that exception.”
That ruling matters because Lively’s team had bet she could recover both damages and legal costs under a California law meant to shield sexual harassment victims from retaliatory defamation claims. The judge drew a line between fees and money damages, and he drew it in federal court.
The 2024 Claim Against Wayfarer
The dispute began in 2024, when Lively accused Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer of planning to undermine her reputation after she spoke up about misconduct on the set of It Ends With Us. The source says the core sexual harassment allegation had already been dismissed earlier in the case, which left the retaliatory defamation theory and the fee dispute as the remaining financial fight.
Michael Gottlieb called the preservation of the claim a “core issue” after one settlement last month. His side had pushed to keep the California-law theory alive after the earlier dismissal, turning Friday’s order into the last real path to a payout.
Baldoni’s No-Money Fight
Bryan Freedman has argued that the case should have gone to trial if Lively believed it was strong. On The Megyn Kelly Show, he said, “All Blake Lively needed to do was to say, ‘No, I’m not settling. Let’s go to the trial and the jury of our peers, and let’s see what we can get,'” and added, “If it was so good, why do you settle a case exchanging no money? It doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Freedman also said, “It’s pretty standard,” before adding, “But when you want to parade around and call a loss a victory, this is your attempt to do so.” Lively’s spokesperson described Friday’s ruling as “procedural,” and that is the practical bottom line: the court gave her fees, not damages, and the money question now stops there.
