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Justin Baldoni asks judge to reject Blake Lively's $8 million legal fees request
Actor argues Lively's legal team billed excessive hours and unreasonable rates after winning dismissal of his countersuit
- PUBLISHED: Tue 14 Jul 2026, 1:05 PM
- By:
- ANI
Justin Baldoni has asked a federal judge to deny, or substantially reduce, Blake Lively's request for more than $8 million in attorneys' fees and litigation costs, marking the latest development in the actors' long-running legal dispute.
According to a court filing submitted on Monday, July 13, Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios argued that Lively's application is "anything but a typical fee motion", alleging that her legal team billed excessive hours and charged unreasonable rates, People magazine reported.
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The filing compares Lively's request with an attorney fee application previously submitted by The New York Times, arguing that the newspaper sought only $181,622.70 in legal fees after successfully moving to dismiss what Baldoni's lawyers described as "precisely the same defamation claim."
In 2024, Baldoni sued The New York Times for $250 million, alleging the publication defamed him by reporting that he and his public relations team had engaged in a "smear campaign" against Lively. The claim was later dismissed.
Baldoni's latest filing also contends that Lively's legal team overstaffed the case. It claims multiple lawyers attended the same hearings, billed excessive time for internal conferences and strategy meetings, and logged 7,070.20 billable hours across 82 timekeepers, about 20 times higher than amounts approved in comparable high-profile defamation cases.
"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," the filing states, according to People magazine.
Alongside attorneys' fees, Lively is seeking $539,514.01 in litigation costs and expenses. Baldoni's filing describes that amount as "a whopping" sum.
The filing asks Judge Lewis Liman to reject the request entirely or significantly reduce any award.
"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 filing argues.
It adds:
"At minimum, the Court should substantially reduce the request, using as a benchmark the $181,622.70 the Times sought after securing dismissal of Count II on its separate motion to dismiss, the same outcome Lively achieved."
The legal dispute began following the production and promotion of It Ends With Us. Lively sued Baldoni in December 2024. Baldoni later filed a $400 million countersuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, which Judge Liman dismissed in June 2025.
Following that ruling, Lively sought $7,495,526.87 in attorneys' fees and $539,514.01 in litigation costs and expenses under California Civil Code Section 47.1, arguing the fees stemmed from the "successful defense of the Wayfarer Action."
According to People magazine, the request covers legal work carried out between January 2025, when Baldoni filed his countersuit, and June 2025, when the deadline to amend the dismissed complaint expired.
Lively's attorneys argued that the work performed was "comprehensive and necessary to achieve the complete win that was secured," adding that Lively "has paid, and continues to pay" her legal bills. They also said she intends to seek additional attorneys' fees incurred while litigating the fee application.
After filing the motion, Lively's attorneys, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, said the application carried broader significance.
"Thanks to this landmark decision, those considering using a lawsuit as a weapon of intimidation have been put on notice that there are consequences for doing so," they said in a statement.
They added:
"The value of this ruling is in the precedent it creates, the accountability it imposes, and the protection it provides to those who may one day find themselves facing similar retaliation for speaking the truth."
Lively's filing also argues that the case's unusually high public profile drove up litigation costs because of extensive media attention, significant discovery and motion practice, including the production of more than 7,000 documents by Lively and tens of thousands more from Wayfarer parties and third parties.
The broader litigation between the parties was settled in May. Judge Lewis Liman must now decide whether Baldoni is required to pay Lively's attorneys' fees and litigation costs related to his dismissed counterclaim, and if so, determine the amount.
Separately, Baldoni addressed the legal battle publicly for the first time in an Instagram video posted on July 8 alongside his wife, Emily Baldoni.
"We don't even know if this is the right thing to say," Justin Baldoni said. "We just know we need to share something. What I will say is that there have been so many painful things that have been spoken into existence over the last couple of years. That created so much noise, and we didn't want to add to the noise. So we just wanted to let the justice system run its course."
Emily Baldoni said that while they have "immense gratitude" for their supporters, it "doesn't negate the injustice and the pain that we have also felt in the last few years," adding that the couple experienced "a lot of trauma" that made it difficult to speak publicly.