A federal decide awarded Blake Energetic $407,451.75 in attorneys’ charges and litigation prices on Wednesday, someday after her thirty ninth birthday. She had sought greater than $8 million from Justin Baldoni and his manufacturing firm, Wayfarer Studios.
U.S. District Choose Lewis J. Liman handed down the ruling after a separate price continuing, which adopted the settlement of the broader authorized dispute between Energetic and Baldoni in Might 2026.
The award coated $363,245.40 in attorneys’ charges and $44,206.35 in litigation prices and bills, and got here beneath California Civil Code Part 47.1, a 2023 legislation defending sexual harassment accusers from retaliatory defamation lawsuits.
Choose Liman described Energetic’s unique $8,035,040.88 request as an “outrageously unreasonable demand,” granting solely roughly 5 % of the whole quantity she sought.
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Blake Energetic’s Underlying Lawsuit Towards Justin Baldoni
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Energetic filed her sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit towards Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios on December 31, 2024, alleging misconduct on the set of the 2024 movie It Ends With Us.
The lawsuit alleged that Baldoni and his associates launched a coordinated smear marketing campaign towards Energetic after she raised issues about his habits on the manufacturing. Baldoni denied each allegation and maintained from the beginning that Energetic’s claims have been false.
In April 2026, Choose Liman dismissed ten of her 13 claims, which included the sexual harassment allegations themselves, and left solely breach of contract, retaliation, and aiding and abetting retaliation to proceed towards trial.
Baldoni’s Countersuit
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Baldoni filed a $400 million defamation and extortion countersuit towards Energetic in January 2025, naming her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist, Leslie Sloane, as co-defendants.
The countersuit alleged that Energetic fabricated sexual harassment claims and arranged a media marketing campaign to strip Baldoni of artistic management over the movie and to wreck his public standing.
Choose Liman dismissed all the countersuit in June 2025, discovering that the claims towards Energetic, Reynolds, and Sloane lacked enough evidentiary assist. The dismissal eliminated Reynolds and Sloane from the litigation fully and shaped the authorized basis for Energetic’s subsequent movement for attorneys’ charges beneath Part 47.1.
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The California Legislation That Protected Blake Energetic
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California Civil Code Part 47.1 was enacted in 2023 to defend individuals who make good-faith sexual harassment allegations from retaliatory defamation lawsuits, which critics name strategic lawsuits towards public participation.
The legislation permits defendants who efficiently defeat such fits to recuperate attorneys’ charges and litigation prices from the plaintiffs who filed these defamation claims.
Choose Liman discovered that Energetic had filed her sexual misconduct complaints with out malice, which certified her for price restoration beneath the statute.
The court docket denied her request for treble damages and punitive damages, ruling these cures weren’t obtainable beneath federal procedural legislation.
Energetic’s Authorized Charge Request
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Energetic’s authorized group submitted billing information searching for $8,035,040.88 in complete reimbursement, divided into $7,495,526.87 in attorneys’ charges and $539,514.01 in litigation prices and bills, all stemming from defending towards Baldoni’s dismissed defamation and extortion countersuit.
Baldoni’s authorized group challenged that request in court docket filings, characterizing it as “beautiful” and insisting that Energetic’s attorneys had inflated their billed hours and included work unrelated to the defensive scope coated by Part 47.1.
Wayfarer Studios’ attorneys argued that lots of the hours have been duplicative, extreme, or tied to offensive litigation technique. The request additionally included media relations bills, which the court docket finally rejected as non-recoverable beneath the fee-shifting statute.
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Choose Liman’s Ruling Defined
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Choose Liman discovered that the billing charges charged by Energetic’s attorneys weren’t unreasonable, however concluded that the amount of hours for which she sought reimbursement was unreasonable given the precise scope of defensive work carried out.
The court docket awarded charges just for work executed straight in protection towards Baldoni’s defamation and extortion claims. It excluded public relations expenditures and what it seen as pointless offensive authorized work.
The discount from $8,035,040.88 to $407,451.75 is among the most substantial share cuts in a high-profile leisure business price continuing.
As a part of their Might 2026 settlement settlement, each events agreed to let the court docket resolve the attorneys’ price movement with no proper of enchantment hooked up to the result, making Choose Liman’s ruling last and binding on each side.
Statements From Each Authorized Groups
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After the ruling, Energetic’s attorneys, Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb, put out a press release to Web page Six, saying, “Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Events misplaced their meritless retaliatory $400 million lawsuit, which two completely different courts held was designed to stifle public criticism and silence Blake Energetic and others.”
“This primary-ever award of charges and prices beneath this California legislation is historic, and demonstrates that there are actual penalties of bringing retaliatory lawsuits. As we’ve mentioned from day one, Blake Energetic’s case was by no means about cash — it was about accountability.”
“Because the current information within the Insurgent Wilson/Amanda Ghost case demonstrated, Blake Energetic’s lawsuit uncovered an business of secret on-line smear campaigns that largely goal girls, and unsurprisingly contain the identical gamers.”
“She lifted the curtain for different victims, and set the precedent for others to come back ahead and expose related conduct. This consequence demonstrates that the authorized system isn’t as simply manipulated as social media, and nonetheless features as a drive for accountability.”
In the meantime, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, acknowledged, “Part 47.1 isn’t an ideal legislation, but it surely is a vital one designed to guard actual survivors, who need to see this legislation examined and perfected within the court docket of legislation.”
“However the truth that the legislation was utilized in methods it was by no means meant for, my shoppers deliberately left Part 47.1 to be dominated on with none appellate rights to enchantment as a part of the settlement settlement, to forestall both celebration from overturning the legislation.”
“At the moment’s ruling speaks for itself. Choose Liman clearly thought of the ‘outrageous and unreasonable’ $8 million plus demand and, in rejecting it, awarded solely 5 % of the quantity sought in authorized charges and prices.”
“The ruling is a big victory for my shoppers and sends a transparent message that, regardless of how highly effective you could be, the courtroom isn’t a spot to reap the benefits of the legislation in your personal private achieve.”
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The Settlement Between Energetic And Baldoni
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Energetic and Baldoni settled their eighteen-month authorized dispute in Might 2026, days earlier than a scheduled federal trial was set to start, with no cash exchanged between the events, a supply accustomed to the matter advised NBC Information. Web page Six reported that each authorized groups spent a mixed $60 million on the litigation total.
On the time of the settlement, each events put out a joint assertion: “The tip product — the film ‘It Ends With Us’ — is a supply of delight to all of us who labored to convey it to life. Elevating consciousness and making a significant affect within the lives of home violence survivors — and all survivors — is a aim that we stand behind. We acknowledge the method introduced challenges and acknowledge issues raised by Ms. Energetic deserved to be heard.”
On August 26, 2026, someday after Energetic turned 39, Reynolds posted an Instagram carousel tribute to his spouse. Reynolds, who had been named a co-defendant in Baldoni’s now-dismissed countersuit, wrote: “August twenty fifth is that this household’s Tremendous Bowl. Completely satisfied Birthday to the easiest human I do know. You’re not simply one other brave and deeply variety genius. You’re additionally unreasonably cute. I understand how fortunate I’m that you simply have been born. Each time I’ve ever hit my head, it’s YOUR life that flashes earlier than my eyes.”
Baldoni additionally broke his public silence after the settlement, stating, “There have been so many painful issues spoken into existence during the last couple of years. And that created a lot noise, and we did not need to add to the noise. So we simply needed to let the justice system run its course.”
With the case resolved, experiences advised Energetic was eyeing a return to Hollywood.
