Blake Lively awarded $400,000 in legal fees

Hollywood actress Blake Lively received roughly $400,000 in attorneys’ fees after a judge awarded the amount in her dispute with her ‘It Ends With Us’ co-star Justin Baldoni.

However, it is half of what she had sought during the filings. Lively and Baldoni settled their 18-month legal war in May, avoiding a federal trial that was scheduled for later that month, reports ‘Variety’.

At the time, the only loose end was Lively’s motion for attorneys’ fees for having to defend against Baldoni’s failed defamation suit.

As per ‘Variety’, Judge Lewis Liman awarded her $363,000 in attorneys’ fees and another $44,000 in court costs. In his ruling, the judge found that Lively was entitled only to the "reasonable” fees related to defending against the defamation suit.

Liman ruled that while the attorneys’ billing rates were "not unreasonable”, given the high stakes of the case and the complexity of the issues, "(t)he number of hours for which Lively seeks reimbursement is unreasonable”.

Justin Baldoni

The actress had asked for $7.5 million in attorneys’ fees and another $540,000 in court costs. Instead, the judge awarded her just double what the New York Times was awarded for defending itself from Baldoni’s defamation case.

Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, noted that Lively got only 5% of what she asked for. "The ruling is a significant victory for my clients and sends a clear message that, no matter how powerful you may be, the courtroom is not a place to take advantage of the law for your own personal gain”, Freedman said.

The actress’ attorneys, Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb, took a different view, arguing that the outcome shows "that there are real consequences of bringing retaliatory lawsuits”.

Agence France-Presse