Justin Baldoni requests judge to dismiss or ‘substantially reduce’ Blake Lively’s demand of $8M
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A new development has happened in what appears to be a never-ending saga between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively.
In June, the actress filed a petition seeking $8 million in attorneys' fees as well as litigation costs from the actor and Wayfarer after her legal battle, which began in December 2024, with the actor linked to the ‘It Ends With Us’ film concluded.
Justin Baldoni accuses Blake Lively of hiring 'multiple lawyers at the same hearings'
But now, on Monday, July 13, Baldoni has filed a counterclaim against her, requesting a federal judge to deny or “substantially reduce” her demand. He has alleged that the ‘Gossip Girl’ star’s demand was “anything but a typical fee motion”.
The director, 42, and his lawyers have also claimed that Lively hired “multiple lawyers at the same hearings, numerous charges for lawyers conferencing, conferring, or strategizing with one another, and to put it mildly, extremely excessive research and online investigation.”
Justin Baldoni says Lively's petition 'fails to meet her burden to present credible evidence'
In her request, Lively has also sought “$539,514.01 in costs and expenses,” which, as per Baldoni and team, is “a whopping” amount.
The Monday’s filing has said that “Lively fails to meet her burden to present credible evidence showing that the fees and costs she seeks to recover are reasonable and, accordingly, her fee motion should be denied in its entirety.”
“At minimum, the Court should substantially reduce the request, using as a benchmark the $181,622.70 the Times sought after securing dismissal of Count II on its separate motion to dismiss – the same outcome Lively achieved,” it added.
Justin and Emily Baldoni spoke for the first time
This new filing came after the ‘Jane the Virgin’ actor and his wife Emily broke their silence over the whole legal drama in a social media video shared on July 8.
“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,” Baldoni said.
Emily Baldoni mentioned 'the injustice and the pain' they faced
Emily then went on to express her “immense gratitude for ... so many people and so many things that have happened to us,” but she also noted that their gratitude “doesn’t negate the injustice and the pain that we have also felt in the last few years.”
“We’ve had to wrestle with so many things and try to understand so many things, like how could something like this even happen? Let alone disguised as a fight for women. So much to unpack,” the Swedish actress added.
Baldoni also shared his views on the challenges they faced lately.
He asserted, “What I will say is that there have been so many painful things that have been spoken into existence over the last couple of years. That created so much noise, and we didn’t want to add to the noise. So we just wanted to let the justice system run its course.”
