Justin Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios has been ordered to pay The New York Times’ legal fees after its lawsuit against the publication was dismissed.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Wayfarer Studios LLC has been ordered to pay $171,616 to the news outlet.
Us has reached out to Baldoni’s team for comment.
In December 2024, The New York Times initially reported on Blake Lively’s complaint against Baldoni, her It Ends With Us costar and director.
Lively, 38, accused Baldoni of sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment and orchestrating an alleged smear campaign against her.
Baldoni, 42, denied all allegations and subsequently filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively and a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times.
Baldoni and his associates alleged that The New York Times “cherry-picked” information to mislead readers about his dispute with Lively in its December 2024 article titled “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”
In June 2025, however, Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni’s lawsuit against The New York Times and Lively.
“We are grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting,” a spokesperson for The New York Times said in a statement to Us at the time. “Our journalists went out and covered carefully and fairly a story of public importance, and the court recognized that the law is designed to protect just that sort of journalism.”
The statement continued: “We will continue to stand up in court for our journalism and for our journalists when their work comes under attack.”
In May, Baldoni and Lively reached a settlement in their own It Ends With Us legal battle, just weeks before they were set to go to trial. A source told Us at the time that money was not exchanged between Lively and Baldoni.
“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. Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors — and all survivors — is a goal that we stand behind,” Lively and Baldoni said in a statement to Us via their attorneys on May 4. “We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard.”
The statement continued, “We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.”
Settlement aside, the It Ends With Us drama doesn’t appear to be officially over. In June, Lively requested that Baldoni pay approximately $8 million in legal fees.
Baldoni’s lawyers, however, slammed the request, claiming via court documents, “Lively fails to meet her burden to present credible evidence showing that the fees and costs she seeks to recover are reasonable and, accordingly, her fee motion should be denied in its entirety.”
