New twist in Lively and Baldoni’s $16 million legal battle as they are ordered back to court
Updated . First published at
The saga isn’t over for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni in their seemingly endless legal battle.
The It Ends With Us co-stars have been ordered back to court by judge Lewis Liman to address the fees and damages related to Baldoni’s multi-million defamation suit against the 38-year-old actress.
Blake Lively has dragged Justin Baldoni back to court Getty/Jeff Spicer
The order is a major step in Lively’s ongoing effort to recoup the legal fees and costs connected with Baldoni’s dismissed lawsuit.
According to court documents, obtained by Page Six, Lively is requesting Baldoni, 42, cover those fees. Although it’s unclear how much money Lively is seeking.
The decision comes just weeks after a judge denied Lively’s request to file additional briefs and offer additional information in her recovery attempt.
It was believed the judge did not need any additional information before making his decision.
Baldoni and Lively reached a settlement in her December 2024 lawsuit against him in early May.
But Lively is still seeking attorney’s fees and damages from Baldoni’s failed counter lawsuit from January 2025.
“The parties have fully and finally resolved all claims in the consolidated action, except one,” Lively’s lead attorney Michael Gottlieb wrote in a letter filed in a Manhattan court last month, per NBC News.
An exemption in a notice of settlement, which was filed by both parties, states that Lively is seeking legal fees from Baldoni and his partners over a separate legal matter.
Justin Baldoni's team opposed Lively's motion at the end of last year. AP
However, Baldoni’s attorneys argued in a legal filing that those penalties, if granted, could be “draconian”.
Lively previously argued that she is owed the fees and damages under a California law created in 2023 to protect sexual abuse accusers from retaliatory claims.
Baldoni’s team opposed Lively’s motion in October 2025.
His team argued that the actress’s filing violated his constitutional right to petition the courts.
His team further argued that the California law shouldn’t apply because the alleged sexual harassment incidents would have occurred in New Jersey, where the bulk of the 2024 film was shot.
The pair co-starred in the adaptation of Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us, released in 2024. Sony Pictures
Lively and Baldoni have been locked in a legal back and forth since December 2024, when the actress accused him of sexually harassing her while they were co-starring in the hit film It Ends with Us, which he also directed.
She also alleged Baldoni and others, including his production company, Wayfarer Studios, retaliated by orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni, who directed the film and starred in it with Lively, had denied harassing her or orchestrating a smear campaign.
He’d claimed the complaints about his behaviour were made up by Lively as part of an effort to seize creative control of the movie.
The settlement reached between the pair on Monday May 4 came just days before the case was set to go to trial on May 18, and weeks after a judge threw out 10 of Lively’s 13 claims.
It has been reported that despite Lively and Baldoni spending a combined $60 million during their 18-month legal war, neither saw a penny in the agreed-upon settlement.
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