Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s legal fight over It Ends With Us has moved into a new phase, with Lively asking a federal judge in New York to make Baldoni pay her legal fees and face further penalties after his defamation countersuit was dismissed.
Neither actor attended Monday’s hearing before U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman. Lively’s lawyers argued that Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit against her, Ryan Reynolds and others violated a California law designed to shield people who report alleged sexual harassment from retaliatory defamation claims. They said Lively qualifies as the prevailing defendant after the court threw out Baldoni’s claims last year.
Lively’s attorney Michael Gottlieb told the court the statute works like an anti-SLAPP protection, meant to deter lawsuits that punish people for speaking about alleged misconduct. In a filing, her team argued she can seek attorneys’ fees, costs, tripled compensatory damages and punitive damages. Liman pressed the team on proof of harm, asking how Lively had been damaged. Gottlieb said that amount still must be determined.
Baldoni’s side pushed back sharply. His attorney Ellyn Garofalo called the request an attempt to revive a trial that ended when the parties settled their remaining claims in May. She told the court that reopening the matter would require new discovery, expert work and fresh litigation. Baldoni and Wayfarer have denied retaliating against Lively, and his lawyers have argued that the settlement brought no payment to her from their side.
The dispute began in December 2024, when Lively accused Baldoni, her co-star and director, of sexual harassment and retaliation during and after production of the Colleen Hoover adaptation. Baldoni denied wrongdoing and accused Lively of using the allegations to gain control over the film and damage his reputation.
Liman’s April order dismissed most of Lively’s claims, including harassment claims against Baldoni, while allowing retaliation and contract-related claims against Wayfarer-linked defendants to move forward. Those claims later settled before trial. The judge has now reserved decision on Lively’s post-settlement bid, leaving the financial stakes unresolved in a case that has already reshaped the public narrative around one of 2024’s biggest box-office hits.
