Blake Lively’s Next Steps Include Calculating Damages

In the days following Blake Lively’s lawsuit against It Ends With Us costar and director Justin Baldoni, many have been wondering what the next steps are for the actress.

Ron Zambrano, the Employment Litigation Chair at West Coast Trial Lawyers who is not affiliated with the case, exclusively told Us Weekly that the Civil Rights Department will start its investigation and request a formal response with any evidence any of the defendants want to provide. (In the docs obtained by Us and filed on Friday, December 20, Lively, 37, accused Baldoni, 40, of launching a “social manipulation” campaign against her to “destroy” her reputation. Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, called Lively’s accusations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious” in a statement to Us, claiming that Lively filed the lawsuit to “fix her negative reputation” and “rehash a narrative” about the film’s production.)

“Then the CDR evaluates whether to do follow up fact gathering, require a mediation, or escalate matters to file on Lively’s behalf,” Zambrano said. “The latter likely won’t happen as she’s represented by two national firms known mostly for defending these types of claims.”

Zambrano pointed out that at any point in the process, Lively’s team can request “an immediate Right to Sue letter, which ends the CDR’s jurisdiction.”

Lively would have a year from the letter to file a civil complaint. “When that happens depends on the CDR, unless Lively requests one immediately,” Zambrano — who also weighed in on Baldoni’s possible next steps with Us —  said.

Zambrano explained that there are both economic and noneconomic damages Lively’s team could potentially be able to calculate. (Lively is currently seeking unspecified damages.)

“The [economic damages] is calculable,” he said. (The docs filed by Lively address how her businesses were allegedly affected by the online backlash she believes was encouraged and spearheaded by Baldoni. “For example, Ms. Lively canceled a critical Target corporate event for her hair care company [Blake Brown Beauty], and she backed out of her scheduled role to host the premier episode of the 50th anniversary season of Saturday Night Live in September 2024,” the suit reads, adding that “the sudden and unexpected negative media campaign launched against Ms. Lively depressed retail sales of Blake Brown products by 56 percent [to] 78 percent” while her other businesses were negatively affected because she felt forced to go dark on social media.)

As for the noneconomic damages, Zambrano told Us: “The latter is a number that is ‘told’ to us by Lively’s team is the value of her emotional distress or other human harm. It’s an art, not a science. What’s asked for in a complaint is not necessarily what is asked of a jury to award. Monetary demands in civil cases (unless it’s a business dispute) isn’t very consequential in my view.”

Zambrano noted that the Civil Rights Department may order that the parties mediate. “Whether they actually settle is up to the parties,” he said. “The requirement is only to participate in mediation. It’s always in the benefit of the defendant to resolve the case.”

Us reached out to Lively’s rep for comment but did not immediately hear back. In a statement to The New York Times regarding her lawsuit, Lively said, “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”