Blake Lively seeks over $8M in legal fees from Justin Baldoni, his studio

Blake Lively is pursuing over US$8 million in legal costs from actor Justin Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, despite their agreement to settle their differences in May. The filing details $7,495,526.87 in lawyer fees from two firms and $539,514.01 in other expenses.

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comprehensive and necessary to achieve the complete win that was secured.

Lively's legal team asserts that their work was "comprehensive and necessary to achieve the complete win that was secured." They highlighted that all claims brought by the Wayfarer Parties were dismissed with prejudice, describing the lawsuit as a strategy to "sue her into oblivion."

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In the Wayfarer Action, Lively succeeded in every conceivable measure. All of the Wayfarer Parties’ claims, which were brought as a strategy to sue her ‘into oblivion’, were dismissed with prejudice and abandoned without amendment or appeal.

According to Lively's lawyers, she is entitled to recover full fees and costs for her successful defense and for the expenses incurred in seeking this recovery. They contend that Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios used "scorched-earth litigation tactics designed to drain Lively’s resources." The filing argues that the parties could have settled earlier, and by refusing, they should reimburse Lively for the costs they improperly forced her to incur.

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entitled to the recovery of full fees and costs associated with her prevailing defense of the Wayfarer Action, as well as for fees and costs incurred in furtherance of that recovery, including in connection with this motion.

The requested fees include approximately $4.5 million for Willkie Farr & Gallagher and about $3 million for Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. Michael Gottlieb, Lively's lawyer, stated his standard hourly rate is $2,795 but was discounted to $2,187 during the litigation. He detailed his own billed hours and fees, along with those of other partners and associates at his firm involved in Lively's defense.

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employed scorched-earth litigation tactics designed to drain Lively’s resources.