NEW YORK — The “It Ends with Us” legal battle actually hasn’t quite ended, even after both camps settled, as Blake Lively may still seek money from Justin Baldoni over the since-dismissed $400 million defamation suit he filed against her.

Lawyers for the “Gossip Girl” attorney, 38, said the settlement — which was reached Monday, averting the New York trial scheduled for later this month — enables Lively to pursue this remaining claim under California law, which entitles her to attorneys’ fees, as well as compensatory and punitive damages, according to documents obtained by TMZ.

In December 2024, Lively filed a civil rights complaint in the Golden State against her “It Ends with Us” director and co-star Baldoni, now 42, alleging sexual harassment on the set of their film “It Ends With Us,” and a retaliatory smear campaign. She reiterated the allegations in a subsequent lawsuit.

Baldoni then sought $250 million from The New York Times, which he sued for libel over their exposé about Lively’s claims was published in concert with the CRD. He also sued Lively for $400 million, also naming her husband Ryan Reynolds and publicist Leslie Sloane.

Federal New York Judge Lewis J. Liman tossed both of Baldoni’s filings and last month, dismissed 10 of Lively’s 13 claims that were headed for trial later this month, including those linked to sexual harassment, defamation, and conspiracy. A retaliation claim was allowed to pursue. Under a recently ratified California law, Lively could be entitled to damages regarding the dismissed defamation lawsuit should a court agree with her claim that the suit was baseless and retaliatory.

No money was awarded in the settlement reached Monday, by which point, Baldoni was “out of the case” and therefore “not a party,” as his lawyer Bryan Freedman told Extra.

In a statement to TMZ, Lively’s lawyers called the settlement “a resounding victory” for their client.

“By agreeing to this settlement, and waiving their right to appeal, Justin Baldoni and every individual defendant now face personal liability for abusing the legal system to silence and intimidate Ms. Lively,” they said, then referring to both legal teams’ joint statement from Monday, “And by admitting that Ms. Lively’s concerns ‘deserved to be heard,’ the defendants have ended once and for all the fiction that Ms. Lively ‘fabricated’ claims of sexual harassment and retaliation.”

They said Lively continues to aim to “expose and hold accountable those who weaponize smear campaigns and retaliatory lawsuits to intimidate and silence survivors.”

An insider close to the actress told the outlet the latest move “is breathing life into a groundbreaking statute designed to protect survivors from retaliatory lawsuits.”

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