Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni legal battle heads back to court despite settlement deal — here's why

The legal battle between actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni took center stage again Monday in a New York federal courtroom despite a recent agreement to end Lively’s claim that she suffered retaliation after she made allegations of sexual harassment on the set of their 2024 movie “It Ends With Us.”

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni back in court to seek attorney fees

Attorney Ellyn Garofalo, representing Baldoni, told U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman that Lively sought to make a “final run around the trial” by filing for legal representation, which was dropped when a plea deal was reached before the May trial.

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In a hearing without the cast, Garofalo told Liman that it was wrong for Lively to seek damages and legal fees after agreeing to a settlement in which she dismissed her claims without Baldoni and his production company “paying a cent of the $300 million in damages she was seeking.”

“Reopening this essentially for what is an alternative trial would mean reopening discovery, new experts, new expert testimony,” she said. Garofalo called it “really the ultimate run around the trial”.

California law allows for “significant” penalties to be imposed against any party that files unsuccessful retaliatory defamation claims against sexual harassment and retaliation claims. Baldoni’s counterclaim alleging defamation and extortion was dismissed by a judge last year.

After hearing more than an hour of argument, Liman did not immediately make a decision.

Attorney Michael Gottlieb, representing Lively, says the lawsuit Baldoni filed against Lively was exactly the kind of lawsuit California law was meant to stop, allowing victims of sexual harassment to be protected from a lengthy and damaging legal battle.

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In early May, Lively and Baldoni agreed to settle the lawsuit, which has seen both sides make public claims since the lawsuit began in December 2024, when Lively, 38, sued Baldoni, 42, and his production company, Wayfarer Studios.

Weeks after Lively filed suit, Baldoni sued Lively, accusing her, her husband — “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds — and their publicist of defamation and extortion.

Baldoni, who directed and starred in the dark romantic drama with Lively, denied harassing her or orchestrating a smear campaign. He claimed that complaints about his behavior were made up by Lively as part of an effort to gain creative control over the film.

The settlement was reached days after Liman dismissed Lively’s sexual harassment claims, ruling that she could not pursue them under federal law because she was an independent contractor, not an employee on the set of the film.

Lively claimed that during filming, Baldoni made inappropriate comments about her appearance, violated physical boundaries during the filming of a love scene, and enforced nudity – against Lively’s wishes – during a scene in which her character gave birth.

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Baldoni denied doing anything outside of what happens during the normal creative process of making a film.

In a joint statement after reaching the agreement, the parties said they recognized that Lively’s concerns “deserve to be heard” and that they “remain firmly committed to workplaces free of inappropriateness and unproductive environments.”

“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2016 bestseller about a relationship that turns into domestic violence, was released in August 2024 and exceeded box office expectations, despite criticism that it glorifies abuse.

She made live appearances in the 2005 film ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’ and the TV series ‘Gossip Girl’ from 2007 to 2012, before starring in films such as ‘The Town’ and ‘The Shallows’.

Baldoni starred in the TV comedy “Jane the Virgin,” directed the 2019 film “Five Feet Apart,” and wrote the book “Man Enough,” a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity.