Justin Baldoni Asks Judge to Make QBE Cover Legal Bills From Blake Lively Case

Justin Baldoni is asking a Los Angeles judge to rule that QBE Insurance was required to cover his legal defense in the Blake Lively litigation that grew out of It Ends With Us, potentially shifting a substantial portion of his legal costs to the insurer.

Attorneys for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios are seeking summary adjudication against QBE, one of the insurers they accuse of refusing to pay defense costs tied to Lively’s lawsuit and Baldoni’s own claims against her. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James I. Montgomery is scheduled to hear the motion Nov. 10.

The dispute turns largely on an employment-related exclusion in QBE’s policy. The insurer argues that Lively’s allegations arose from her work as the lead actress in the 2024 film and fall outside the coverage Baldoni and Wayfarer are seeking.

Baldoni’s attorneys say that position has already been undermined by the federal court that handled Lively’s underlying case. U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman concluded earlier this year that Lively was an independent contractor rather than an employee when analyzing some of her employment claims.

“The Lively court held that Ms. Lively was never an employee of the insureds,” Baldoni’s lawyers wrote, calling that finding “fatal to QBE’s sole defense to coverage.”

His legal team describes Lively as an actor, executive producer and entrepreneur with independent creative and commercial interests in It Ends With Us. The filing also argues that some of the allegations in her lawsuit extended beyond conduct tied directly to the production.

QBE takes the opposite view. Its attorneys contend that Lively’s claims, including allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation, defamation and false light, all grew out of her work on the film and remain subject to the policy’s employment-related exclusion.

The insurer has accused Baldoni and Wayfarer of emphasizing the retaliation and defamation portions of Lively’s case to distance the dispute from its workplace origins. QBE maintains that the substance of the lawsuit, rather than the labels attached to individual claims, controls whether the exclusion applies.

Baldoni and Wayfarer filed their California coverage lawsuit in July 2025 after multiple insurers declined to defend them in Lively’s case. QBE denied coverage in May 2025, while New York Marine and General Insurance Co. separately rejected coverage under policies connected to the production.

The current motion asks Montgomery to decide whether QBE had a duty to defend Baldoni and the other insured parties. A ruling in their favor would establish that QBE was required to provide a defense under the policy, while disputes over the amount owed or other coverage issues could continue separately.

Lively sued Baldoni, Wayfarer, and others in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation connected to the production and promotion of It Ends With Us. Baldoni denied the allegations and later filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and others.

A federal judge dismissed Baldoni’s lawsuit in June 2025, and the dismissal became final that fall after he did not file an amended complaint. Lively’s case continued until the two sides reached a settlement in May 2026, avoiding a scheduled trial.

The settlement resolved the core claims between Lively and the Wayfarer parties, but the legal costs generated by the litigation remain the subject of separate insurance disputes.

QBE’s fight with Baldoni now turns on whether its employment-related exclusion allowed the insurer to refuse a defense from the outset. Montgomery’s Nov. 10 hearing could determine whether QBE must bear at least part of the legal costs generated by the Lively case.