Blake Lively
One Last Lick to Get Money from Baldoni …
And They Both Agreed to It
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9:40 AM PT — Justin Baldoni‘s attorney Bryan Freedman tells TMZ … “Let’s be clear, this is a win and total victory for the Wayfarer parties. The court had already dismissed 10 of Ms. Lively’s 13 claims, including every sexual harassment claim, every defamation claim, and all claims against the individual defendants. Ms. Lively voluntarily dismissed the rest. In our view, they settled because they knew they were going to lose in court. All that remains is a pending request for fees based on a very narrow issue that has been with the court since September 2025.”
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s “It Ends With Us” legal war isn’t over yet, after all … she just filed docs seeking money from him under a California law, and Justin’s already agreed to abide by whatever the judge decides on the matter.
According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Blake’s attorneys say part of the settlement they hammered out this week, allows her to keep alive one remaining claim against Baldoni and co. for having filed a defamation suit against her.
Remember … Baldoni filed that suit after Blake filed her sexual harassment complaint against him. In the new docs, her lawyers say California law entitles her to attorneys’ fees, and compensatory and punitive damages.
Ultimately, the judge dismissed Justin’s defamation suit, which allowed her to use the Cali law to seek these damages. There won’t be a jury trial, though … the judge will decide whether, and how much, Justin’s side has to pay.
One more big twist, both sides agreed — as part of the overall settlement — there will be no appeals of the judge’s decision on this … meaning they’ll happily abide by the ruling. Well, maybe not happily.
The point of this law Blake’s invoking, BTW, is to protect people who file workplace harassment complaints from retaliation.
Her attorneys, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, echoed that … telling TMZ, “This settlement is a resounding victory for Blake Lively. By agreeing to this settlement, and waiving their right to appeal, Justin Baldoni and every individual defendant now face personal liability for abusing the legal system to silence and intimidate Ms. Lively. And by admitting that Ms. Lively’s concerns ‘deserved to be heard,’ the defendants have ended once and for all the fiction that Ms. Lively ‘fabricated’ claims of sexual harassment and retaliation.”
They added, “From day one Blake Lively’s mission was clear: expose and hold accountable those who weaponize smear campaigns and retaliatory lawsuits to intimidate and silence survivors. That mission continues.”
A source close to Lively also tells TMZ … “For Blake, this was never about money – it was about exposing bad actors who are also harming others. She didn’t settle her claims until the documents exposing the bad actors behind smear campaigns were made public – documents that have led to other lawsuits and investigations. With this motion, she is breathing life into a groundbreaking statute designed to protect survivors from retaliatory lawsuits.”
We’ve reached out to Baldoni’s team, but so far, no word back.
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