Judge awards Blake Lively legal fees but no more damages in dispute over 'It Ends With Us' film

This combination of images shows Blake Lively at the London screening of the film "It 'Ends With Us" on Aug. 8, 2024, left, and Justin Baldoni at the world premiere of the film in New York on Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo, File)

NEW YORK — Blake Lively can recover some legal costs from fellow actor and director Justin Baldoni but not punitive damages and other relief she sought after settling her legal claims over their 2024 film “It Ends With Us,” a judge ruled Friday.

Judge Lewis J. Liman said in a written ruling that Lively can recover legal fees and costs related to her defence against a countersuit Baldoni brought against her after she sued him in December 2024.

In his written ruling Friday, Liman cited a California law designed to protect survivors of sexual harassment and discrimination from retaliatory lawsuits meant to intimidate and silence victims.

The judge said the law requires that the plaintiff must pay the defendant’s legal fees and costs if a defamation claim made in response to a lawsuit is dismissed, even if the facts of the case have not been developed through the gathering of evidence.

Liman said the only exception would be if Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios LLC, could prove that Lively acted with malice when she sued him. He said that Baldoni and Wayfarer had provided little evidence to support such a claim and none establishing that she had acted with malice.

The judge rejected her claims to triple any damages and pursue punitive damages as well under the California law, saying that they did not fall within “carefully crafted federal procedural rules designed to protect the rights of the parties.”

Lively and Baldoni settled the bulk of their dispute last month just as a trial was about to start on Lively’s retaliation claims. She received no money from the deal but was permitted to pursue legal fees.

In a statement, Lively lawyers Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson cast the judge’s decision as a victory, saying the award of legal fees “makes it clear that Ms. Lively brought her claims in good faith, that there was no evidence she acted with malice, and that she is the prevailing defendant.”

Baldoni’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, along with his production company, in late 2024. She said the actor engineered an effort to damage her public reputation and credibility.

Baldoni, who directed the dark romantic drama and starred in it with Lively, denied harassing her or orchestrating a smear campaign. He claimed the complaints about his behavior were made up by Lively as part of an effort to seize creative control of the movie. He countersued, accusing Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.

Liman threw out Baldoni’s countersuit last year and then dismissed Lively’s sexual harassment claims weeks ago, saying she could not bring them because she was an independent contractor rather than an employee on the movie set.

“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel about a relationship devolving into domestic violence, was released in August 2024 and exceeded box office expectations.

Lively appeared in the 2005 film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and the TV series “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including “The Town” and “The Shallows.”

Baldoni starred in the TV comedy “Jane the Virgin,” directed the 2019 film “Five Feet Apart” and wrote “Man Enough,” a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity.

Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press