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Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni continue to battle in New York court despite settling case weeks ago. Here's why
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni were back in court on Monday, a month after seemingly settling their case to avoid trial.
They may have settled their case, but the legal battle between actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni isn't quite over yet. In 2024, the actors began a legal battle with one side claiming sexual harassment and the other calling it a smear campaign. Last month, they reached a settlement, but now their lawyers are at it in court again.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni in court again
On Monday, Blake Lively's lawyers were back in court, seeking a judge's order requiring Baldoni to pay her legal bills and other penalties. Their case is that she is entitled to the money under California law because Baldoni's countersuit, which claimed she had defamed and extorted him, was dismissed last year. The law is intended to protect survivors of sexual harassment from protracted and damaging legal fights.
Baldoni's legal team countered Blake Lively's claim of trying to do “an end run" around a trial that was cancelled when the two agreed to settle. “Reopening this for basically what is an alternative trial would involve reopening discovery, new experts, new expert depositions,” Baldoni's lawyer, Ellyn Garofalo, said.
Neither actor was present for the hearing before U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman in New York. The judge did not rule after hearing arguments for more than an hour.
The It Ends With Us legal battle
In 2024, before the release of their film, It Ends With Us, the two actors began a very public legal battle. Blake Lively had claimed that during filming, Baldoni made inappropriate comments about her appearance, violated physical boundaries while filming a love scene, and pushed for nudity against her wishes. Baldoni was the lead star and director of the film.
Baldoni denied all of Blake Lively's claims and said the complaints were made up by Blake as part of an effort to seize creative control of the movie. He countersued, accusing Lively and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.
The judge eventually dismissed the sexual harassment claims. Baldoni's extortion claims were set to go to trial when the two parties settled their case last month. In a joint statement after the deal was reached, the two sides said they agreed Lively’s concerns “deserved to be heard” and that they ”remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments.” The financial terms of the settlement weren't announced publicly.
It Ends With Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel about a relationship devolving into domestic violence, was released in August 2024 and exceeded box office expectations. Trade experts said it was aided by the controversy surrounding its lead stars.
(With AP inputs)
