Lively-Baldoni Lawyers Debate Damages Expert Testimony

Lawyers for actress Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni debated the admissibility of expert testimony on damages during a three-hour pretrial hearing Tuesday in New York City, as their civil dispute over the 2024 film It Ends With Us heads toward a May 18 trial.

The hearing before U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman centered on an expert report commissioned by Lively's team, which estimates her losses at up to $230 million in foregone earnings and profits, plus at least $40 million in reputational harm. The projections include $35 million from a potential sequel to the film, in which Baldoni once suggested Lively could direct and act, as well as impacts on her hair care line Blake Brown and beverage brands Betty Buzz and Betty Booze. Lively's lawyer Naeun Rim told the court that the alleged retaliation by Baldoni's production company, Wayfarer Studios, erased years of investment built on her reputation.

Wayfarer lawyers countered that the figures were speculative and inflated. Amir Kaltgrad, representing Baldoni, noted Lively earned about $21 million from four films over the eight years before It Ends With Us and argued her expert assumed an unrealistic sixfold increase to $142...