Lively/Baldoni Lawsuit Part 2

[Anonymous]

She gets legal fees reimbursed for the defamation suit but wasn't Baldoni's failed $400 million defamation lawsuit against her short-lived? Overall a small % of this entire ordeal, right?

[Anonymous]

Conscious uncoupling in 3, 2, 1...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She gets legal fees reimbursed for the defamation suit but wasn't Baldoni's failed $400 million defamation lawsuit against her short-lived? Overall a small % of this entire ordeal, right?

Yes. She can only seek fees and costs related to defending this specific suit. For context she’s suing Jed Wallace in TX for the same issue and claiming $800k in fees and costs.

She was initially seeking hundreds of millions and whatever she gets will be paid to her attorneys. So she gets $0 still, love this for her!

[Anonymous]

Baldoni filed the $400M countersuit in January 2025 and it was tossed in November 2025. 11 months of white shoe attorneys is certainly not a small sum, it's likely several million dollars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Baldoni filed the $400M countersuit in January 2025 and it was tossed in November 2025. 11 months of white shoe attorneys is certainly not a small sum, it's likely several million dollars.

But it wasn’t 11 months of work. Maybe a few weeks to draft and file the motion to dismiss and a few more weeks on preparing for the 47.1 fee hearing. Not millions of dollars and it has to be reasonable fees.

[Anonymous]

People are overlooking the actual meaning of the decision.

47.1 is designed to protect people who bring good faith allegations of harassment or abuse from defamation claims designed to bully them into silence. This is the express purpose of the law is nicknamed (by it's designers and proponents) the Speak Your Truth Act.

Baldoni was found to have violated the law by filing a defamation action against Blake, who had made good faith claims of harassment against him. She was speaking the truth, he was trying to silence her.

This was the legal finding by a federal judge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baldoni filed the $400M countersuit in January 2025 and it was tossed in November 2025. 11 months of white shoe attorneys is certainly not a small sum, it's likely several million dollars.

But it wasn’t 11 months of work. Maybe a few weeks to draft and file the motion to dismiss and a few more weeks on preparing for the 47.1 fee hearing. Not millions of dollars and it has to be reasonable fees.

Her lawyers fees will be deemed reasonable even if their rates are high, as long as they are still in line with rates of similar lawyers. She's a celebrity and this was an extremely high profile case, she is entitled to a highly qualified firm. The size of the defamation action will also influence that decision -- if someone filed a $400m defamation claims against you, would you go bargain hunting for lawyers?

It will definitely be more than a few weeks to draft the motion to dismiss. Also we're talking dozens of lawyers here.

They will almost certainly ask for more fees than Limam will grant, but it's not going to be a low number. It won't be 30 million but it's not going to 10k either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baldoni filed the $400M countersuit in January 2025 and it was tossed in November 2025. 11 months of white shoe attorneys is certainly not a small sum, it's likely several million dollars.

But it wasn’t 11 months of work. Maybe a few weeks to draft and file the motion to dismiss and a few more weeks on preparing for the 47.1 fee hearing. Not millions of dollars and it has to be reasonable fees.

Her lawyers fees will be deemed reasonable even if their rates are high, as long as they are still in line with rates of similar lawyers. She's a celebrity and this was an extremely high profile case, she is entitled to a highly qualified firm. The size of the defamation action will also influence that decision -- if someone filed a $400m defamation claims against you, would you go bargain hunting for lawyers?

It will definitely be more than a few weeks to draft the motion to dismiss. Also we're talking dozens of lawyers here.

They will almost certainly ask for more fees than Limam will grant, but it's not going to be a low number. It won't be 30 million but it's not going to 10k either.

All of her fees will be reviewed for reasonableness and regardless of hourly rate, her team can’t claim it took them 3x the hours to do something like write a motion. Just because she has dozens of lawyers it doesn’t mean she can claim millions in fees and costs.

Again, none of this is money going to her. So she may save some $$$ but she still has to pay the rest of what is surely a large legal bill.

So again, explain how this is a victory?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how much is the actual amount she is likely to get ?

Probably somewhere between $100,000 to $200,000, maybe less. It's limited specifically to the defamation claim and the only legal fees incurred would be with respect to that portion of the motion to dismiss. That's exactly what Fritz predicted would be the upper range of damages when he was interviewed right after the settlement.

Ironically, Blake likely spent several times that on all her motions asking for 47.1 fees and damages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baldoni filed the $400M countersuit in January 2025 and it was tossed in November 2025. 11 months of white shoe attorneys is certainly not a small sum, it's likely several million dollars.

But it wasn’t 11 months of work. Maybe a few weeks to draft and file the motion to dismiss and a few more weeks on preparing for the 47.1 fee hearing. Not millions of dollars and it has to be reasonable fees.

Her lawyers fees will be deemed reasonable even if their rates are high, as long as they are still in line with rates of similar lawyers. She's a celebrity and this was an extremely high profile case, she is entitled to a highly qualified firm. The size of the defamation action will also influence that decision -- if someone filed a $400m defamation claims against you, would you go bargain hunting for lawyers?

It will definitely be more than a few weeks to draft the motion to dismiss. Also we're talking dozens of lawyers here.

They will almost certainly ask for more fees than Limam will grant, but it's not going to be a low number. It won't be 30 million but it's not going to 10k either.

All of her fees will be reviewed for reasonableness and regardless of hourly rate, her team can’t claim it took them 3x the hours to do something like write a motion. Just because she has dozens of lawyers it doesn’t mean she can claim millions in fees and costs.

Again, none of this is money going to her. So she may save some $$$ but she still has to pay the rest of what is surely a large legal bill.

So again, explain how this is a victory?

It's a victory for 47.1. It validates the law. And importantly, it INvalidates Baldoni's sham defamation lawsuit by ensuring he and his friends are on the hook for every penny it cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baldoni filed the $400M countersuit in January 2025 and it was tossed in November 2025. 11 months of white shoe attorneys is certainly not a small sum, it's likely several million dollars.

But it wasn’t 11 months of work. Maybe a few weeks to draft and file the motion to dismiss and a few more weeks on preparing for the 47.1 fee hearing. Not millions of dollars and it has to be reasonable fees.

Her lawyers fees will be deemed reasonable even if their rates are high, as long as they are still in line with rates of similar lawyers. She's a celebrity and this was an extremely high profile case, she is entitled to a highly qualified firm. The size of the defamation action will also influence that decision -- if someone filed a $400m defamation claims against you, would you go bargain hunting for lawyers?

It will definitely be more than a few weeks to draft the motion to dismiss. Also we're talking dozens of lawyers here.

They will almost certainly ask for more fees than Limam will grant, but it's not going to be a low number. It won't be 30 million but it's not going to 10k either.

The NY Times is seeking less than $200,000 in fees for their motion to dismiss in this case.

Saying it again, Blake spent far more on briefing 47.1 than she is going to recover for the defamation portion of her motion to dismiss given that she submitted multiple briefs and there was oral argument on 47.1. The amount awarded will probably be less than 1 percent of the $36 million plus she is rumored to have spent.

Futher, I worked in big law and worked on far more complicated cases. There shouldn't be more than three or four attorneys working on a motion to dismiss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are overlooking the actual meaning of the decision.

47.1 is designed to protect people who bring good faith allegations of harassment or abuse from defamation claims designed to bully them into silence. This is the express purpose of the law is nicknamed (by it's designers and proponents) the Speak Your Truth Act.

Baldoni was found to have violated the law by filing a defamation action against Blake, who had made good faith claims of harassment against him. She was speaking the truth, he was trying to silence her.

This was the legal finding by a federal judge.

That was not even remotely the finding. The finding was that his defamation claim was defeated by the litigation privilege. The judge never found she made "good faith claims of harassment" and that isn't required by 47.1. Nor was there a finding as to her being truthful. Only a jury could determine that, and Blake was clearly afraid of bringing her claims to a jury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baldoni filed the $400M countersuit in January 2025 and it was tossed in November 2025. 11 months of white shoe attorneys is certainly not a small sum, it's likely several million dollars.

But it wasn’t 11 months of work. Maybe a few weeks to draft and file the motion to dismiss and a few more weeks on preparing for the 47.1 fee hearing. Not millions of dollars and it has to be reasonable fees.

Her lawyers fees will be deemed reasonable even if their rates are high, as long as they are still in line with rates of similar lawyers. She's a celebrity and this was an extremely high profile case, she is entitled to a highly qualified firm. The size of the defamation action will also influence that decision -- if someone filed a $400m defamation claims against you, would you go bargain hunting for lawyers?

It will definitely be more than a few weeks to draft the motion to dismiss. Also we're talking dozens of lawyers here.

They will almost certainly ask for more fees than Limam will grant, but it's not going to be a low number. It won't be 30 million but it's not going to 10k either.

The NY Times is seeking less than $200,000 in fees for their motion to dismiss in this case.

Saying it again, Blake spent far more on briefing 47.1 than she is going to recover for the defamation portion of her motion to dismiss given that she submitted multiple briefs and there was oral argument on 47.1. The amount awarded will probably be less than 1 percent of the $36 million plus she is rumored to have spent.

Futher, I worked in big law and worked on far more complicated cases. There shouldn't be more than three or four attorneys working on a motion to dismiss.

Exactly. This is a small win at best - she still owes her attorneys millions and gets $0 in damages

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baldoni filed the $400M countersuit in January 2025 and it was tossed in November 2025. 11 months of white shoe attorneys is certainly not a small sum, it's likely several million dollars.

But it wasn’t 11 months of work. Maybe a few weeks to draft and file the motion to dismiss and a few more weeks on preparing for the 47.1 fee hearing. Not millions of dollars and it has to be reasonable fees.

Her lawyers fees will be deemed reasonable even if their rates are high, as long as they are still in line with rates of similar lawyers. She's a celebrity and this was an extremely high profile case, she is entitled to a highly qualified firm. The size of the defamation action will also influence that decision -- if someone filed a $400m defamation claims against you, would you go bargain hunting for lawyers?

It will definitely be more than a few weeks to draft the motion to dismiss. Also we're talking dozens of lawyers here.

They will almost certainly ask for more fees than Limam will grant, but it's not going to be a low number. It won't be 30 million but it's not going to 10k either.

All of her fees will be reviewed for reasonableness and regardless of hourly rate, her team can’t claim it took them 3x the hours to do something like write a motion. Just because she has dozens of lawyers it doesn’t mean she can claim millions in fees and costs.

Again, none of this is money going to her. So she may save some $$$ but she still has to pay the rest of what is surely a large legal bill.

So again, explain how this is a victory?

It's a victory for 47.1. It validates the law. And importantly, it INvalidates Baldoni's sham defamation lawsuit by ensuring he and his friends are on the hook for every penny it cost.

Far from it, Liman clearly felt there was serious Constitutional issues with 47.1. He sidestepped them by not awarding punitive and treble damages on alternative grounds. The fee shifting aspect of 47.1 was never the issue with it. Even so, I don't think Liman's finding regarding lack of malice would have withstood appeal, and I think he knows that. But he really didn't want to be the judge to find 47.1 unconstitutional so he sidestepped it.

[Anonymous]

It's significant that Liman placed the burden for proving Lively's allegations were made "with malice" on Baldoni. That was the whole point of that hearing last week. His reasoning could also be influential in the application of 47.1 in federal court, as well as the application if similar laws in other states.

That's good for victims of abuse and harassment and will hopefully help more of them come forward without fear of being bullied into silence by defamation claims. The attorneys fees are important because this also helps lawyers to know that if they represent victims in cases like this, and the victim is acting in good faith, they have a reasonable chance of being awarded fees by the court. That benefits victims who aren't wealthy, like Blake, and might need lawyers willing to take their cases on contingency.