Blake Lively wins $400,000 in legal fees over Justin Baldoni’s dismissed lawsuit

A court has ruled that Blake Lively will be able to recover approximately $400,000 in legal fees over Justin Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against her.

In the ruling, a federal judge said that the money would be from Baldoni's production company.

It comes after District Judge Lewis J. Liman previously dismissed a defamation case brought against Lively by Baldoni last year. Following the case being dismissed Lively was permitted to then proceed with a request for financial damage, something which she could do under a 'Me Too' law in California.

Lively was seeking $8 million during this, but was awarded around $400,000, with Liman writing in his ruling that 'counsel’s rates were not unreasonable', but 'the number of hours for which Lively seeks reimbursement is unreasonable', and also did allow her to claim fees for some travel, as well as others which were for media relations, NBC reports.

Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb were attorneys representing Lively, and said: “Blake Lively’s case was never about money — it was about accountability. She lifted the curtain for other victims, and set the precedent for others to come forward and expose similar conduct.

Lively was awarded around $400,000 (Aeon/GC Images)

"This result demonstrates that the legal system is not as easily manipulated as social media, and still functions as a force for accountability.”

In total, Lively was seeking $8,035,040.88, of which $7,495,526.87 was in legal fees, while $539,514.01 was for costs, and she was awarded $363,245.40 for legal fees and $44,206.35 for costs.

Lively and Baldoni had a dispute going on for years, which they settled back in May, with the precise terms of the settlement not made public.

Had the parties not reached a settlement then it could have resulted in a very high profile trial in New York.

Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment, alleging that this had happened in the production of the movie It Ends With Us, as well as claiming that Wayfarer Studios had made retaliations towards her when she made a complaint about the matter. Baldoni denied all the claims.

A previous case by Baldoni was dismissed (XNY/Star Max/GC Images)

Following the initial suit Baldoni then brought a countersuit of his own against both Lively as well as her husband Ryan Reynolds. In this he alleged both defamation as well as extortion, accusing Lively and Reynolds of trying to damage his reputation.

He also claimed that Lively had tried to 'seize control' of the film by using the grievances. Not only that, but he also filed a defamation suit against the New York Times, though both suits would be dismissed by Judge Liman.

Baldoni and his wife Emily had previously spoken after the settlement, sharing a video on social media.

“We have not done this in a while, so we have not spoken publicly for the better part of the last two years and it’s not because we haven’t had anything to say,” said Baldoni.

“Lord knows we have, but it just felt like every time we went to make a video like this where we wanted to speak, something was telling us not to.

"It just doesn’t feel like the right time. We were talking about it and feeling into it and praying about it.”

UNILAD has approached representatives of Justin Baldoni for comment.