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Blake Lively Entitled to Attorney Fees (But Not Punitive Damages) in Justin Baldoni et al.'s Libel Lawsuit Against Her
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Blake Lively Entitled to Attorney Fees (But Not Punitive Damages) in Justin Baldoni et al.'s Libel Lawsuit Against Her
Eugene Volokh | 6.12.2026 2:38 PM
Some excerpts from Judge Lewis Liman (S.D.N.Y.) long opinion today in Wayfarer Studios LLC v. Lively:
[Blake] Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department ("CRD") against [Justin] Baldoni and his co-defendants, the Wayfarer Parties, alleging, among other things, that Baldoni and others sexually harassed her on the set of the Film {It Ends With Us} and that the Wayfarer Parties retaliated against her for raising complaints about that harassment by launching a smear campaign to tarnish her reputation….
Lively then sued over that alleged behavior, and the Wayfarer Parties "counter-sued, asserting claims, including defamation, against Lively and others for making statements that the Wayfarer Parties" engaged in or tolerated "sexually inappropriate conduct" or retaliation. The Court rejected that counterclaim, on the grounds that
"the fair report privilege … precluded the Wayfarer Parties from bringing a defamation claim against Lively for providing a copy of her CRD complaint to the New York Times," "the Wayfarer Parties had insufficiently alleged that text messages Lively may have provided to the Times were defamatory," and that they hadn't adequately alleged "that Lively was responsible for any statements made by her husband Ryan Reynolds" "or publicist Leslie Sloane."In May, the parties settled all their claims, but expressly left open whether Lively can recover attorney fees and damages under Cal. Civil Code § 47.1. (They also waived their right to appeal from any such determination.)
Section 47.1 … [seeks] to shield "survivors of sexual assault, harassment, and discrimination from defamation lawsuits"—and, in particular, the burdensome and invasive discovery process those lawsuits often entail—"by clarifying that claims made in good faith are a form of protected speech." [It also seeks] to compensate survivors for successfully defending themselves against meritless and retaliatory defamation suits by permitting them to recover attorneys' fees and damages incurred as a result of the suits.
To accomplish these goals, the law establishes that "[a] communication made by an individual, without malice, regarding an incident of sexual assault, harassment, or discrimination is privileged under Section 47." (Section 47 provides for a number of other defamation privileges, including the fair report privilege.)
Section 47.1 provides that prevailing defendants in such defamation cases (and recall that Lively was in effect a defendant as to the counterclaims) are entitled to........
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