Legal Expert on What’s Happening in the Blake Lively Sexual Harassment Case (Exclusive)

Blake Lively could be sued over the allegations in her sexual harassment complaint against Justin Baldoni, a legal expert tells PEOPLE.

According to Gregory Doll, a partner at Doll Amir & Eley in Los Angeles, Lively, 37, could go to court if a “mediated settlement” is not worked out between her and her It Ends With Us costar Baldoni, 40, over his alleged harassment of her on the set of the film, which was detailed in the complaint she filed this week. (Doll is not involved in the case and does not represent either party.)

Lively is suing Baldoni, who also directed the adaptation of the Colleen Hoover novel, for sexual harassment, followed by a retaliatory campaign to “destroy” her reputation. Other members of the production team and the people said to be involved in the alleged smear campaign against her are also part of the complaint. Lively is seeking unspecified damages.

Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s attorney, told PEOPLE in a Dec. 21 statement that Lively’s complaint was to “fix her negative reputation.” He added that her allegations are “false, scandalous and deliberately malicious with intent to injure the public.”

Freedman also claimed that Lively caused problems during the filming of the film, including “threatening not to show up to the scene, threatening not to promote the film, which ultimately led to its demise during release.”

Lively, meanwhile, issued a statement to New York Timesand said: “I hope my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak out about wrongdoing and helps protect others who may be targeted.”

The California Civil Rights Department, where Lively filed the complaint, has 60 days to decide whether to investigate the case. Doll tells PEOPLE they may “try to broker a settlement with the employer (Baldoni)” and Wayfarer Studios, who Lively is also suing, before agreeing to the lawsuit.

If no settlement can be reached, “they will dismiss and give (Lively) what’s called a right to sue letter,” Doll further explains. “(This) means she can go to court now and file her claim there.”

Doll says that while it is common in Hollywood to settle legal cases, Lively’s complaint has the potential to be litigated over the specific allegations made.

“The most likely cases that don’t (settle) are the ones like these where it gets intensely personal between two people,” he tells PEOPLE. “The reason is … when you get into what we call discovery, when you exchange documents, and you find out some of the things that are going on behind the scenes that you didn’t know about, the plaintiff gets outraged.”

“She’s going to see more texts and more emails and more damage … and it might be like, ‘I’m going to take this to trial where I’m going to expose it all,'” Doll adds.

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However, the lawyer says that he believes there is a greater likelihood that mediation will take place in this case.

“If (Lively’s) primary goal was just to get this narrative out there and expose what he was doing, she’s already doing that,” Doll says. “She may not want to follow up with years of a lawsuit … She may not want to follow up with many lawsuits, she’s already getting her story out in the press.”

Doll also tells PEOPLE that he thinks Baldoni will “one hundred percent” go against Lively.

“I could see some small exceptions where they wouldn’t, but based on what I’ve observed, it’s almost guaranteed that he will file a counterclaim,” he says.

Following Lively’s complaint, Baldoni was dropped by her talent agency WME on December 21.