Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have reached another legal milestone in their dispute over It Ends With Us.
A federal judge has ordered Baldoni to pay Lively's legal fees following the dismissal of his $400 million defamation countersuit against his former co-star, according to Rolling Stone. Lively did not, however, win the triple damages and punitive damages she sought.
The two settled their legal battle in early May, days before trial was scheduled to begin. No money changed hands in that agreement. Lively's legal team then filed a motion under California's Weaponized Defamation Lawsuits Act, a law designed to protect accusers by penalizing plaintiffs who file unsuccessful defamation suits in response to misconduct complaints.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman ruled that the Act "does not create an end run around the entire set of carefully crafted federal procedural rules" and instead "establishes a narrow exception." The judge awarded Lively legal fee reimbursement but found no evidence that Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer acted with malice.
Lively originally accused Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of creating a toxic, sexually charged work environment on the film's set. Baldoni denied the allegations and filed the $400 million countersuit, which was dismissed in June 2025. Many of Lively's harassment allegations were already dismissed by the judge in April.
Neither Baldoni nor Lively has commented publicly on the ruling.
