Justin Baldoni is pushing back against Blake Lively's request for him to cover over $8 million in attorney fees stemming from their legal battle over the film "It Ends With Us." In newly filed court documents, Baldoni and his Wayfarer team argue that Lively's demand is excessively inflated and lacks credible evidence to justify the amount.
The motion, submitted by Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman, states that Lively's fee request is "so over-inclusive that it sweeps in fees for researching her own liability for perjury arising from her California CRD claim and her Rule 11 motion for which the Court has already denied fees."
Baldoni's legal team is asking the judge to deny Lively's request entirely. Alternatively, if fees are awarded, they argue the sum should be reduced from more than $8 million to a six-figure amount. The filing contends that Lively is attempting to make Baldoni pay for legal work that extends well beyond defending against his defamation lawsuit, calling the request bloated and unsupported.
A source close to Lively countered, telling TMZ that Baldoni's argument that fees are only recoverable on the defamation claim "is completely at odds with the statutory language." The source added that the statute says "successful defense of the litigation," not the claim, and that Baldoni's opposition does not address this. The source also noted that the cases were consolidated by the judge, a fact Baldoni does not dispute.
As previously reported, Lively is seeking over $8 million after a judge dismissed Baldoni's $400 million defamation lawsuit, ruling she was entitled to recover attorney fees tied to defeating that claim. The fee dispute comes after Lively and Baldoni settled the remainder of their years-long legal battle in May, avoiding trial on her remaining breach of contract and retaliation claims.