Blake Lively Awarded Around $400,000 in Legal Fees From Justin Baldoni After Asking for Over $8 Million: Her Lawyers React | Just Jared - Celebrity News and Gossip

There is an update in the It Ends with Us legal saga between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.

If you don’t know any of the backstory, we’ll break down what happened.

Here’s the backstory on the It Ends with Us legal issues

The public legal drama began back in December 2024 when Blake accused Justin of sexual harassment and retaliation stemming from production of the movie.

Justin denied the allegations and later filed a $400 million lawsuit. In June 2025, the suit was dismissed in it’s entirety. In May 2026, it was revealed that a settlement had been reached between Blake and Justin. Just hours after the settlement deal, Blake was able to attend the 2026 Met Gala.

However, just because a settlement was reached between them does not mean things just ended there.

A federal judge ruled that Blake was entitled to attorneys’ fees and litigation costs in her battle against Justin. She was originally seeking over $8 million from him in legal fees.

A judge just ruled that Blake Lively will only get around $400,000 of the $8 million she requested

U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman decided that Blake would get $363,245.40 in attorney’s fees and another $44,206.35 in costs from Justin and Wayfarer Studios, TMZ is reporting. In total, she is getting $407,451.

She was originally asking for $7,495,526.87 in her lawyer fees and another $539,514.01 in various legal expenses.

The judge apparently said that Blake’s lawyers hourly rates “were not unreasonable” but said, “The number of hours for which Lively seeks reimbursement is unreasonable….Media relations were not integral to defending the defamation claim brought against Lively. Accordingly, time spent on media relations and press coverage is not compensable.”

“The case as a whole presented substantial financial and reputational risks for all parties involved,” he continued.

Blake Lively’s lawyers release statement in response

Attorneys Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb released a statement to Just Jared on this decision.

“Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties lost their meritless retaliatory $400 million lawsuit, which two different courts held was designed to stifle public criticism and silence Blake Lively and others. This first-ever award of fees and costs under this California law is historic, and demonstrates that there are real consequences of bringing retaliatory lawsuits. As we have said from day one, Blake Lively’s case was never about money – it was about accountability. As the recent news in the Rebel Wilson/Amanda Ghost case demonstrated, Blake Lively’s lawsuit exposed an industry of secret online smear campaigns that largely target women, and unsurprisingly involve the same players. She lifted the curtain for other victims, and set the precedent for others to come forward and expose similar conduct. This result demonstrates that the legal system is not as easily manipulated as social media, and still functions as a force for accountability.”

Posted To:Blake Lively Justin Baldoni