Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni avoided a courtroom battle that could have cost each side “multiple millions” of dollars.
“This [would have been] a tremendously expensive trial,” New York litigation attorney Richard C. Schoenstein exclusively told Page Six Monday, shortly after the “It Ends With Us” co-stars settled their contentious legal disputestemming from the 2024 film.
“To have a monthlong jury trial with legal teams of that size would have cost each side probably multiple millions of dollars. If you just look at the docket in this case, the number of individual lawyers that are listed and the number of filings, there have been thousands of filings in this case.”
As for how much it possibly could have cost to settle Lively and Baldoni’s high-profile case, Schoenstein explained, “It’s really impossible to tell because it could be a multimillion dollar settlement, but it could also be a walk away that everybody is just going to go home.”
“It also could be nonmonetary terms because at its heart, this was a fight about who gets credit for this movie. I assume they’re agreeing not to disparage each other going forward,” he added. “I assume they’re agreeing to confidentiality. I assume they’re releasing each other from claims. So there’ll be a host of non-monetary parts of the settlement.”
Lively’s legal battle against Baldoni, 42, took a major turn after a federal judge dismissed 10 of the 13 claims against her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director on April 2.
The ruling left the case focused on a handful of claims tied to alleged retaliation, after the court found the 38-year-old actress’ sexual harassment claims could not move forward under federal or California law, according to court documents. The dismissed claims included sexual harassment, defamation and conspiracy, leaving claims such as breach of contract and retaliation to proceed.
California trial attorney Neama Rahmani told Page Six, “It’s not worth going to trial and spending weeks and hundreds of thousands of dollars to litigate the breach of contract and smear campaign claims alone.”
“There wasn’t enough meat on the bone to make it worth weeks of lawyer time going to trial, spending all this money with what was left,” he continued. “So I think after all the dismissals, despite the parties hating each other, the settlement is not unexpected, because, again, there’s no reason to go to trial on those small sets of claims alone.”
Rahmani also shared, “I don’t think this was a big settlement. I don’t think it was a seven-figure settlement, for instance. I don’t think it was more than a million bucks. I think it’s probably somewhere in the six figures, if I had to guess, but that’s just a guess.
“And the only reason I’m saying six figures is that it would take weeks and hundreds of thousands of dollars, probably just to try the case and litigate it, even though we’re talking about just the breach of contract and smear campaign claims alone.”
Both attorneys have no connection to the case.
The pair settled Lively’s suit against Baldoni on Monday — two weeks before the case was scheduled to go to trial on May 18.
“The end product — the movie ‘It Ends With Us’ — is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life,” both sides said in a joint statement to Page Six. “Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors — and all survivors — is a goal that we stand behind.
They continued, “We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard.”
Both parties added that they “remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments” and it is their “sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.”
The post Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni avoided ‘tremendously expensive trial’ by reaching settlement in ‘It Ends With Us’ battle appeared first on Page Six.
