Washington: Justin Baldoni has asked a federal judge to deny or “substantially reduce” Blake Lively’s request for more than USD 8 million in attorneys’ fees and litigation costs, according to a court filing submitted on July 13.
Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios argued that Lively’s application is “anything but a typical fee motion”, alleging her legal team billed excessive hours and charged unreasonable rates. The filing compared Lively’s request with The New York Times’ application for USD 181,622.70 after successfully dismissing what Baldoni’s lawyers described as “precisely the same defamation claim.”
The filing also claims Lively’s legal team overstaffed the case, citing 7,070.20 billable hours logged by 82 timekeepers. It states, “The most cursory review of Lively’s submission shows multiple lawyers at the same hearings, numerous charges for lawyers conferencing, conferring, or strategising with one another, and, to put it mildly, extremely excessive research and online investigation.”
Lively is also seeking USD 539,514.01 in litigation costs, which Baldoni’s filing describes as “a whopping” sum. It argues, “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.”
The legal dispute began after the production and promotion of It Ends With Us. Lively sued Baldoni in December 2024, and Baldoni later filed a USD 400 million countersuit, which was dismissed in June 2025.
Separately, Baldoni said in an Instagram video, “We don’t even know if this is the right thing to say,” adding, “We just know we need to share something.”
