Actress aims to recoup costs following the settlement in the ‘It Ends With Us’ legal battle
Blake Lively is seeking US$8 million in legal costs from actor and director Justin Baldoni after resolving their dispute over the acrimonious production of their 2024 film It Ends With Us .
Lively’s lawyers disclosed the amount, covering nearly US$7.5 million in lawyers’ fees from two law firms that represented her and about US$500,000 in other expenses, in a court filing on Tuesday.
Lively received no money in the settlement but a judge subsequently ruled that she is entitled to recover some legal costs she incurred after Baldoni filed a countersuit against her. The judge must still approve the amount she is seeking.
One of Lively’s lawyers, Michael Gottlieb, wrote in a court declaration that he charged her an average hourly rate of US$2,187 – a discount from his usual US$2,795 per hour. He said he billed 224 hours for work on her defence to Baldoni’s countersuit, totalling US$457,000 in fees.