6/15/26 Lively v. Wayfarer - Full Settlement Agreement is now public

[00:00:00]Well, well, well. Look what we have here. The full settlement agreement between Lively and the Wayfair parties is online for us all to see. Now, I have to take a second to note how unusual this is. And the only reason that we're able to see this is because there is no confidentiality provision in this agreement. There's no non-disclosure.

[00:00:24]There's no confidentiality. And so hypothetically, we should have been able to see this when the parties entered it way back when they did. So it is unusual for a settlement agreement to be disseminated into the public. But the terms of this agreement warrant it, particularly when they are being misrepresented by the lawyers in the public. Not only does it confirm what we already knew that no money was exchanged between the parties, but it also elucidates the agreement that they had to carve out 47.1 from the agreement and the statement that her lawyers made alluding to or suggesting that they might seek more relief under 47.1 in another jurisdiction, say California, is completely demolished by a clean and black and white reading of what this agreement states. So, let's take a look at it together, shall we? So, it says in plain English that Lively was retaining her rights on her pending 47.1 motion.

[00:01:36]And it states clearly, the parties agree that any and all proceedings related to the pending 47.1 motion will be heard before Judge Lewis Lyman, which means they don't agree for this to go before any other judge. That all of her rights are going to be adjudicated on this particular matter before Judge Lewis Lyman. And he did. And now it's over because both sides relinquished their right to appeal that decision. This paragraph down here starts to outline all of the claims that Lively agreed to release as a result of this settlement agreement. These paragraphs are designed to cover any potential claims that parties might have lying in weight. And so it is very very expansive and includes everything. and includes any rights that you might try to assign to someone else. Here she has released all of her claims. So there will be no suing in another jurisdiction and there certainly will not be any more tried adjudication of 47.1 or the like involving the Wayfair parties anywhere else. That brings us to the order that was issued by Judge Lyman today telling Lively that she has by the 22nd to file papers regarding the appropriate measure of her fees and allowing Wayfair parties to respond by June 29th. This means that Lively Council is going to need to provide invoices, calculations to show just how many lawyers it took, how many hours it took those lawyers to draft their motion to dismiss and to pursue the 47.1 motion. That's it. They don't get to charge the Wayfair parties for all of the work that they did on all of the other claims.

[00:03:42]they only are allowed to seek fees with respect to the defense of the defamation claim. So, their ledger, their invoice is going to need to be very, very specific. And guess what? We will all get to see it. The Wayfair parties will then have the opportunity to be like, "This is not a reasonable amount." For example, if they say that it took 10 attorneys 50 hours each to prepare their defense in a motion to dismiss of a defamation claim and that each of them costs $1,500 an hour, that that is not a reasonable amount of time for that type of work. and they can point to other cases that show what a reasonable amount of work is for that type of motion.

[00:04:35]Also, Judge Lyman is not new to this. He has granted fee applications in the past. He has a sense of what he's ruled on. And I'm sure the parties will point out, hey, in this case, this other case, you awarded this as reasonable. You didn't award that as reasonable. And so there will be some guard rails within the judge's own experience that he can apply given his own record. But there are also second circuit and California cases, plenty of cases that can point to just how much time and how many attorneys it takes to file the thing that they are now being awarded fees for.

[00:05:12]And by the way, this is not I have seen so many comments in my videos and others saying, "Oh, Belon is writing a check to Lively." That that's not actually how it works. A check goes into a trust account that the lawyers for Lively hold for Lively and then likely what will happen is that the lawyers will discount the amount that they receive to charge Lively for their fees. So, hypothetically, something like this soaking wet might be $100,000. I mean, truly, I would be shocked if they got more than that. But let's say $100,000 in fees they're awarded here. That money goes into the trust account of Lively's attorneys. And then Lively's attorneys will discount the $50 million bill or whatever it is that they charged Lively for her prosecution of her claims in defense of her claims will be discounted by that $100,000 that they receive as a result of this. So in practice, Lively will have either paid that upfront or will not have to pay as much. But make no mistake, Lively has spent way, way, way, way, way more money than she will get with this fee award in everything that she's brought only to settle this case for zero.

[00:06:44]So, you can twist yourself into the most intricate pretzel I have ever seen.

[00:06:48]There is no universe that that is a