Blake Lively is calling on a New York court to have Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties fork over just north of US$8mil to cover her legal fees, following their settlement in the It Ends With Us legal saga.
The 38-year-old Gossip Girl alum is seeking US$7,495,526.87 million in attorneys’ fees, as well as US$539,514.01 in costs and expenses related to “the successful defense of the Wayfarer Action,” according to court filings obtained Tuesday by The Daily News.
Lively alleged in a December 2024 civil rights complaint and lawsuit that director and co-star Baldoni, 42, sexually harassed her on the set of It Ends With Us, after which she claims he and the Wayfarer parties waged a smear campaign against the actress. Baldoni co-owns the production company Wayfarer Studios.
Despite Baldoni’s tossed megawatt lawsuits — US$400mil for defamation against Lively and co., US$250mil for libel against The New York Times for their coverage of her claims — the case settled last month, by which point Baldoni was no longer part of the case.
The settlement, in which no money was exchanged, averted the long-awaited trial for Lively and the Wayfarer parties.
Judge Lewis J. Liman earlier this month approved Lively’s bid for the Wayfarer parties to foot the bill for her legal fees, but not her attempt to have them pay punitive or treble damages. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
