Just when it looked like the legal war between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively was winding down, another courtroom battle has taken center stage–this time over who should foot the bill.
In a new filing submitted on July 13, Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios urged a federal judge to reject–or at least dramatically reduce– Lively’s request for more than $8 million in attorney’s fees and litigation costs.
Calling the request “anything but a typical fee motion,” Baldoni’s legal team argued that the charge reflect “excessive” billing, pointing to more than 7,070 billable hours logged by 82 timekeepers.
“The most cursory review of Lively’s submission shows multiple lawyers at the same hearings, numerous charges for lawyers conferencing, conferring, or strategizing with one another, and to put it mildly, extremely excessive research and online investigation,” the filing alleged.
The Jane the Virginstar’s attorneys also compared Lively’s request with The New York Time’slegal fees in a related defamation matter, noting the newspaper sought only $181,622.70 after winning dismissal of a similar claim.
“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 argued.
The Gossip Girlalum is seeking $7,495,526.87 in attorneys’ fees plus $539,514.01 in litigation costs after the court dismissed Baldoni’s defamation-related counterclaims.
The broader lawsuit has already been settled, but one major question remains unanswered: how much, if anything, Baldoni will ultimately be ordered to pay. The final decision now rests with the judge.
2026-07-14 10:53:00
