Judge Seemingly Sides With Justin Baldoni by Denying Blake Lively’s Motion Over ‘Millions’ in Damages

The judge who has overseen Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni‘s legal battle has apparently seen all the evidence he needs to make a final judgment on the case, according to court documents obtained by Star.

Though the Gossip Girl alum, 38, settled the three remaining claims in her lawsuit against Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, on May 4, she is still seeking legal fees and damages from her It Ends With Us costar and director, 42, for the defamation suit he filed against her that was dismissed last October.

“The parties have fully and finally resolved all claims in the consolidated action, except one,” Lively’s lawyers wrote in a letter sent to Judge Lewis J. Liman on Thursday, May 7, citing a California law that “imposes severe and mandatory penalties against any party who files unsuccessful retaliatory defamation actions against sexual harassment and retaliation complainants.”

To that end, her lawyers wrote, the actress “respectfully requests” to file another short brief to “address any impact of the Court’s intervening rulings.”

In their response the next day, also obtained by Star, lawyers for the Wayfarer defendants argued that Lively “does not explain why” she believes an additional brief is necessary.

The judge seemingly agreed with Wayfarer when he issued his decision on Monday, May 11, writing, “The court does not require additional briefing at this time.”

The A Simple Favor star is seeking attorney’s fees and punitive damages plus three times the amount of compensatory damages, meaning she could still be awarded “millions of dollars,” according to the New York Times. (The newspaper is also seeking $150,000 in legal fees to defend a related defamation suit filed against them by Wayfarer that was dismissed last June, per documents obtained by Star.)

“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,” the lawyers, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, said in a statement, per the outlet.

“In our view, they settled because they knew they were going to lose in court,” Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman said in his statement to the New York Times. “All that remains is a pending request for fees based on a very narrow issue that has been with the court since September 2025.”