Justin Baldoni’s lawyers seek to block Blake Lively’s damages push

Justin Baldoni’s attorneys asked a judge on Friday to reject any future proceedings related to Blake Lively’s request to recover legal fees and compensatory damages that were incurred during the “It Ends With Us” legal dispute. Though the former co-stars announced a surprise settlement earlier this week, Lively’s legal team said it is seeking legal fees from Baldoni and his partners related to a countersuit Baldoni filed in January 2025 (which was later tossed out). The terms of the stars’ settlement were not disclosed. A source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News that no money changed hands. Ellyn Garofalo, an attorney for Baldoni, urged U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman to reject Lively’s request, arguing that she has already settled her remaining claims without Baldoni or his studio, Wayfarer, “paying a cent of the $300 million in damages she was demanding.” Baldoni’s team said the “It Ends With Us” legal fight, which lasted a year-and-a-half, should end with the court’s existing rulings, rather than another sequel of filings and arguments. His attorneys argue that Lively failed to explain why further arguments were necessary after previously insisting the court already had enough information to rule on her request for attorney’s fees, punitive damages and other relief under California Civil Code Section 47.1. The statute is designed to protect people who publicly report allegations of sexual misconduct from retaliatory defamation claims. NBC News has reached out to Lively’s attorneys for comment. In Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit, which he filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the actor-director claimed that Lively and her “Deadpool” actor husband Ryan Reynolds tried to wreck his reputation and accused her of using her grievances as a way to “seize control” of the movie. Liman dismissed the case. In April, Liman also dismissed most of Lively’s claims against Baldoni, including harassment, defamation and conspiracy. He allowed three of her claims to proceed to trial: breach of contract, retaliation and aiding and abetting in retaliation. While Liman formally signed off on the settlement, Lively’s lawyers on Thursday requested to file a supplemental brief “to address any impact of the Court’s intervening rulings” on their request for compensatory damages and legal fees, and to propose procedures for “adjudicating” the damages. Baldoni’s attorneys previously dismissed the remaining fight over the defamation case legal fees as “a very narrow issue.”