Justin Baldoni’s lawyer hopes that the lawsuit between his client and Blake Lively is “finally over” and that the “It Ends With Us” co-stars are able to move on with their lives.
On Monday’s episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” the host spoke with Bryan Freedman – Baldoni’s lawyer through the nearly two-year long dispute – about everything finally coming to a conclusion. He also explained why he was publishing the full settlement with Lively in hopes things would not be able to be resurrected in the future.
“The other parties in the case won’t be able to resurrect the ruling that she’s entitled to her attorney’s fees, the parties wanted finality, and there’s no form in which she can then take this based on the settlement agreement and say I want to redo any of these provisions like punitive damages, like treble damages, like compensatory damages,” Freedman said. “The only issue left is for Judge Liman to rule on what’s the amount of the attorney’s fees under 47.1 pursuant to the limited cause of action of the defamation claim.”
Judge Lewis J. Liman ruled last week that Lively was entitled to compensation for her defense costs thanks to the Protecting Survivors From Weaponized Defamation Lawsuits Act (referred to throughout the ruling as Section 47.1), a 2023 California law designed to protect sexual harassment, abuse and discrimination victims from retaliatory defamation lawsuits.
Freedman added: “I think it’s finally over. I’m hoping it’s finally over with respect to allowing Blake to move on, allowing Justin and the other parties to move on. There are still some collateral matters involved in this that have to be resolved, but the crux of the case and the crux of the issues, I think people are going to be able to move on, and hopefully people will wish the best for each other and come to that place that says, you know what, enough is enough, we can agree to disagree.”
The ruling that Baldoni had to cover Lively’s legal fees came one month after the two reached a settlement in court, a resolution that was itself found just two weeks before the legal battle was set to reach the federal trial stage. As part of the settlement, Baldoni waived his right to appeal the court’s decision on his own $400 million lawsuit against Lively, which was formally dismissed last year.
