Baldoni Calls Blake's $8 Million Legal Bill a Bloated Cash Grab

The legal saga between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively just took another sharp turn—and the meter’s still running. After a judge dismissed Baldoni’s $400 Million defamation lawsuit and ruled that Lively was entitled to recover her legal fees from defending against his claim, she filed a request asking him to foot an $8 Million bill. Now Baldoni’s firing back, and he’s not holding back.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Baldoni and his Wayfarer team are calling Lively’s fee request wildly overinflated and lacking credible evidence to justify the amount. Their attorney, Bryan Freedman, argues the request is so bloated it sweeps in fees for legal work that goes far beyond defending the defamation suit—including research on Lively’s own liability and a Rule 11 motion the court had already denied fees for. In other words: Baldoni’s side says Blake is trying to make him pay for her entire legal kitchen sink.

The motion makes a clear case that the fees should be slashed dramatically. If the judge awards anything at all, Baldoni’s team argues it should be reduced from over $8 Million to a six-figure sum. That’s not exactly a symbolic gesture—but it’s a fraction of what Lively is asking for.

Blake’s camp, however, isn’t backing down. A source close to her tells TMZ that Baldoni’s argument limiting fee recovery to just the“defamation claim”contradicts statutory language, which says“successful defense of the litigation,”not a single claim. The source also notes that the judge consolidated the cases anyway, which Baldoni’s team doesn’t dispute. Translation: If the cases were merged by the court, the legal fees arguably should be too.

This fee dispute is the final piece of a years-long war that the two largely settled back in May, avoiding trial on her remaining breach of contract and retaliation claims. Now it’s down to the judge to decide whether Lively’s legal tab is legitimate or just another Hollywood excess story waiting to be told. Either way, someone’s walking away with a very expensive lesson in courtroom economics.