Blake Lively appears to be moving on from her lengthy legal battle with “It Ends With Us” co-star Justin Baldoni.
The actress was recently spotted in high spirits enjoying some quality family time with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, just days after a judge ruled on her multimillion-dollar request for legal fees.
Lively had asked for more than $8 million in attorneys’ fees and costs from Baldoni. However, she ultimately received just over $400,000, with Baldoni’s lawyer celebrating the significantly reduced amount as a victory for his client.
Lively and Reynolds were spotted out in Manhattan on Friday night alongside members of their family, including the “Gossip Girl” alum’s sister, Robyn Lively.
According to TMZ, the outing marked the first time the couple had been spotted since a judge ordered Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios to pay a fraction of the legal fees Lively requested.
Despite receiving substantially less than she wanted, the actress appeared to be in good spirits during the outing in the company of family. Photos obtained by the publication showed Lively smiling as she spent time with her family.
The sighting comes months after Lively and Baldoni reached a settlement that brought an end to the majority of their highly publicized legal battle.
However, the question of who would pay the actress’s legal fees remained unresolved until last week.
Blake Lively Initially Asked For More Than $8 Million In Legal Fees
On August 26, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman partially granted Lively’s request for attorneys’ fees and litigation costs stemming from Baldoni’s previously dismissed defamation claims. According to People Magazine, Lively requested a total of $8,035,040.88.
The amount included approximately $7.5 million in attorneys’ fees and another $539,514 in litigation costs.
However, Judge Liman reduced the cost significantly. He ultimately awarded her $363,245.40 in attorneys’ fees and $44,206.35 in litigation costs, bringing her total award to $407,451.75.
While the judge did not find the hourly rates charged by Lively’s attorneys unreasonable, noting the complexity and unusually high stakes surrounding the case, he took issue with the amount of time for which the actress sought reimbursement.
“The number of hours for which Lively seeks reimbursement is unreasonable,” Liman wrote in his ruling.
The judge also determined that Lively could recover reasonable expenses related specifically to defending herself against the defamation claim rather than expenses from the entire legal dispute.
Justin Baldoni’s Lawyer Celebrated The Reduced Fee
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, quickly weighed in after the ruling and portrayed the dramatically reduced award as a victory for his client. Lively received approximately five percent of the amount she initially requested, which is a huge win in his book.
“The ruling is a significant victory for my client,” Freedman told TMZ. He added that the decision sent a message that “the courtroom is not a place to take advantage of the law for your own personal gain.”
Freedman also described Lively’s request for more than $8 million as “outrageous and unreasonable.”
The actress’ attorneys, Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb, unsurprisingly had a very different interpretation of the ruling.
They emphasized that Baldoni and Wayfarer were still required to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars and described the award as historic under the California law Lively used to pursue reimbursement.
“As we have said from day one, Blake Lively’s case was never about money, it was about accountability,” her attorneys reiterated.
They further argued that the decision demonstrated that there can be financial consequences for bringing retaliatory lawsuits.
The Judge Questioned Some Of Lively’s Legal Expenses
The size of the reduction came after Baldoni’s attorneys challenged the amount of money Lively wanted returned to her. According to Variety, Lively’s legal team billed thousands of hours while defending her during the high-profile dispute.
Baldoni’s attorneys argued that the request included excessive hours and work that extended beyond the defamation claim for which Lively was eligible to recover fees.
On that note, Judge Liman agreed with them.
Although he acknowledged that the overall case involved “substantial financial and reputational risks for all parties involved,” he concluded that not everything billed by Lively’s attorneys could reasonably be passed along to Baldoni and Wayfarer.
The judge specifically rejected reimbursement for some public relations-related work.
“Media relations were not integral to defending the defamation claim brought against Lively,” Liman wrote, adding that time spent dealing with press coverage was therefore not compensable.
Lively’s attorneys had argued that the enormous amount of work reflected the unusual scope of the litigation, which involved extensive discovery, thousands of documents and numerous lawyers.
Still, the court ultimately sided with Baldoni’s lawyer’s argument regarding how the recoverable fees should be calculated.
Blake Lively And Justin Baldoni Settled Their Legal War In May
The attorneys’ and litigation fee ruling was one of the final unresolved issues remaining from the bitter legal fight between Lively and Baldoni. The former “It Ends With Us” co-stars initially reached a settlement in May, shortly before their dispute was scheduled to head to trial.
Lively had accused Baldoni and others associated with Wayfarer Studios of harassment and retaliation. In turn, Baldoni denied her allegations and responded with a $400 million defamation lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and others.
The defamation action was dismissed, while most of Lively’s claims were also dismissed before the remaining dispute was eventually settled.
No money changed hands as part of that settlement, according to Variety.
In a joint statement announcing the resolution, the parties acknowledged that the legal process had “presented challenges” and expressed hope that everyone involved could move forward.
The August 26 attorneys’ fee ruling appears to have resolved one of the last financial questions left hanging over the case.
And days after receiving a little over $407,000 of the more than $8 million she requested, Lively appeared to be doing exactly what the settlement statement suggested: moving forward, with Reynolds and her family by her side.
