Wayfarer Studios Ordered to Pay NYT $171K After Losing Anti-SLAPP Fight Over Baldoni-Lively Report

A New York judge has ordered Justin Baldoni's production company, Wayfarer Studios, to pay The New York Times more than $171,000 in damages, closing out a legal fight that began after the newspaper published a bombshell investigation into sexual harassment allegations tied to the film "It Ends With Us."

The ruling comes after a separate defamation lawsuit Wayfarer filed against the Times was dismissed earlier this year, clearing the way for the paper to pursue its own claim for legal costs.

New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits granted summary judgment in the Times' favor, awarding the publication $171,616.20, according to court documents reviewed by Entertainment Weekly. The figure represents a portion of the legal fees the newspaper incurred defending itself against Wayfarer's original lawsuit, which sought a staggering $250 million in damages before being thrown out.

The dispute traces back to a December 2024 investigative story published by the Times, which first reported on a sexual harassment complaint Blake Lively had filed against Baldoni through California's Civil Rights Department.

That filing came before Lively pursued formal legal action and detailed allegations tied to her experience working with Baldoni on "It Ends With Us," which he directed and starred in alongside her. The Times built its reporting around that pre-lawsuit filing, breaking the story to the public for the first time.

Baldoni and nine co-plaintiffs, including publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, filed suit against the Times, accusing the paper of libel and false light invasion of privacy, among other claims. The group sought $250 million in damages, a striking figure that underscored how aggressively Baldoni's camp intended to fight back against the reporting. That lawsuit didn't survive, and courts ultimately dismissed the defamation claims against the newspaper.

Once it had defeated Baldoni's suit, the Times filed a separate action in New York to recover more than $150,000 in legal fees it incurred defending itself. That effort relied on New York's anti-SLAPP law, which is designed to let defendants recoup costs when they successfully beat back lawsuits found to be aimed at suppressing speech on matters of public concern rather than genuinely seeking legal redress. Monday's ruling effectively validates that argument, with the court agreeing the newspaper was entitled to compensation for fighting off what it characterized as a meritless case.

This latest ruling arrives months after the broader legal saga between Lively and Baldoni reached its own resolution. The two settled their legal battle in May, just weeks before the case had been scheduled to go to trial.

Notably, Lively received no financial compensation as part of that settlement. Baldoni, however, was separately ordered by a judge to cover Lively's legal fees, which added up to $8 million, a significant financial blow layered on top of the fees he's now also on the hook for in the Times case.

Between the settlement with Lively and now this judgment favoring the Times, Baldoni's legal entanglements tied to "It Ends With Us" have proven costly on multiple fronts, even as the underlying dispute over what happened on set remains a matter of public record through the reporting and filings that sparked the litigation in the first place.

A spokesperson for the Times welcomed the outcome, saying the state's anti-SLAPP statute exists precisely to shut down lawsuits like this one, filed with the effect, if not necessarily the stated intent, of pressuring news organizations into silence.