Months after the stars' lawsuits were largely resolved, a fresh court fight erupted over whether QBE Insurance must fund Justin Baldoni's defense against Blake Lively's claims. Baldoni's lawyers argue a federal judge's finding that Lively was an independent contractor sinks QBE's exclusion defense; a hearing is set for November 10.
Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, are asking Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James I. Montgomery to rule that QBE Insurance Corp. was required to cover their legal defense in the litigation that grew out of "It Ends With Us." Attorneys for Baldoni are seeking summary adjudication — a ruling without a full trial — and the judge is scheduled to hear the motion on November 10.
The dispute turns on a single question: was Blake Lively an employee or an independent contractor? QBE's defense rests on an employment-related exclusion in its policy. The insurer argues that Lively's allegations — including sexual harassment, retaliation, defamation and false light claims — all grew directly out of her work as the lead actress on the 2024 film and therefore fall outside coverage.
Baldoni's lawyers say that position was already destroyed by the federal court that handled Lively's underlying case. U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman concluded earlier this year, in a 152-page opinion from the Southern District of New York, that Lively was an independent contractor rather than an employee — a finding that sank her federal harassment claims when he threw out 10 of her 13 claims in April. "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" and arguing QBE is bound by it.
His legal team describes Lively as an actor, executive producer and entrepreneur with independent creative and commercial interests in the film, and argues that some of her allegations extended beyond anything tied directly to the production. QBE sees it very differently, contending the case is fundamentally rooted in an employment setting and that Wayfarer has stressed the retaliation and defamation claims to steer the court away from the workplace where the dispute began.
The insurance fight is the expensive coda to an 18-month legal war. Lively sued Baldoni in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign; he countersued. A federal judge dismissed Baldoni's claims in June 2025, and the parties settled in May 2026, weeks before trial. Lively later sought more than $8 million in legal costs and was awarded roughly $407,000. Reporting has placed the combined legal bills for both sides near $60 million — which explains why Baldoni is now fighting so hard to make his insurers foot the bill.