Justin Baldoni is challenging Blake Lively’s request that he pay her legal fees and litigation costs, which multiple reports describe as about $8 million (and approximately £6 million in the UK accounts). The dispute follows a longer legal process related to their “It Ends With Us” defamation case, which sources say has been settled, with remaining issues centered on attorney fees rather than the underlying claims. According to court-related reporting, Baldoni’s legal team argues that Lively’s fee demand is inflated and not supported by credible evidence. Baldoni is asking the judge to either deny the request entirely or substantially reduce it to a much smaller amount.
Reporting also says Baldoni’s attorneys contend the billing is excessive, including claims of over-inclusion such as multiple lawyers attending the same hearings, numerous internal conferences or strategy meetings, and large numbers of billable hours recorded by many timekeepers. One outlet states the hours and timekeepers are far higher than amounts approved in comparable high-profile defamation matters. The filings described in the reports therefore focus on audit-like scrutiny of timekeeping, staffing, and the reasonableness of claimed costs.
