Aeon/GC Images | Getty Images
Blake Lively isn’t out of the legal woods yet. Despite suffering a de-facto defeat in her settlement with It Ends with Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, the pair will be headed back to court this week.
While the two sides reached a settlement earlier this month that resolved the main claims in the case, federal Judge Lewis J. Liman has scheduled arguments for June 1 in Manhattan to address attorneys’ fees, costs, and potential damages under California Civil Code Section 47.1.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni will be back in court this week to argue for the recouping of attorneys’ fees, costs, and potential damages
🩷Judge Liman gives Lively & Wayfarer homework that is due Sunday night – letter briefs on the remaining 47.1 issue.
🩷Court will hear argument Monday June 1st at 2pm,
each side gets half an hour.🩷Brief limit is 2 pages NO FOOTNOTES. 😂 pic.twitter.com/aqP94UcFSE
— dontfckwjustice (@dontfckwjustice) May 28, 2026
The law, put into effect in 2023, was designed to protect individuals who make public statements about alleged sexual misconduct from retaliatory litigation.
The judge has told both sides to submit briefs by Sunday, May 31 addressing the burden of proof for whether communications qualify as privileged under the statute, including the possibility of treble or punitive damages.
Lively’s team filed the motion as a prevailing defendant seeking fee recovery tied to her public allegations during the It Ends With Us production, with reports indicating she spent tens of millions of dollars on lawyers.
“’The parties may also address how that burden may be discharged,’ the judge wrote, while instructing both sides to submit tightly limited legal briefing letters by May 31 at 5 p.m. ahead of the hearing.”
“The court also imposed strict rules on the filings: he is limiting each side to a two-page, single-spaced submission with no footnotes and requiring only citations to cases the parties want the judge to review. Arguments are expected to last one hour total, with each side receiving 30 minutes before Judge Liman.” [via LA Mag]
The former Gossip Girl star filed suit against Baldoni in December 2024 alleging sexual harassment on set and a coordinated smear campaign, spurring a $400 million defamation countersuit from Baldoni.
In March, Judge Liman dismissed 10 of her 13 claims — leaving only breach of contract, retaliation, and aiding and abetting retaliation on the docket — and the two sides settled on May 4. Lively received no money and no apology in the settlement, which Baldoni’s attorney called a “total victory” for his client.
In the wake of her settlement, major retailers such as Target and Whole Foods have seemingly been pulling Lively’s products — her haircare line Blake Brown and canned cocktail line Betty Booze — from their shelves.