Angelina Jolie secures 'important' victory over Brad Pitt in $184M winery legal battle
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Actress Angelina Jolie secured an important victory in her years-long legal battle with ex-husband Brad Pitt over the Chateau Miraval winery. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Cindy Panuco ruled that she should not be required to surrender 22 emails linked to the case.
She filed for divorce from Pitt on September 19, 2016, after 2 years of marriage and 12 years together. The ruling overturned a prior order from last year after an appellate court found that the emails contained privileged legal strategy and were therefore off-limits to Pitt’s legal team.
Angelina Jolie’s legal team hails court ruling in winery dispute
Jolie’s lawyer, Paul Murphy, told The Daily Mail in a statement on Tuesday that the latest ruling marked “an important victory” for the Oscar-winning actress. He said, “The decision shows that Mr. Pitt was completely out of bounds when he sought access to obviously privileged documents."
He further said, “initially demanded 126 privileged documents, but then backtracked to 22, and now Pitt is getting nothing, zero.” Murphy also said the legal requests reflected “Pitt’s pattern of demanding control over anything related to Angelina, including her communications with her own attorneys.”
Jolie's attorney concluded, "We are extremely gratified that both the Court of Appeal and the trial court ultimately put a stop to it." A source close to Pitt said that all her team had achieved was “a potential temporary decision that allows them to keep information about her real intentions out of court.”
The 'Fight Club' star did secure a favorable outcome in the latest court ruling, as the judge denied Jolie’s request to impose $34,000 in sanctions against Pitt’s lawyers for filing a motion to obtain the emails, stating that “sanctions are not warranted.”
The latest development in the case comes weeks after she filed court documents indicating that she considers a trial start date in September 2027 to be suitable, despite Pitt’s push for it to begin five months earlier in April 2027.
“It’s sort of sad that the strategy is just a delay instead of addressing or resolving things but that’s par for the course,” a source close to Pitt said regarding Jolie’s latest approach in the legal proceedings.
Brad Pitt, Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, Jane Pitt, and William Pitt attend the premiere of 'Unbroken' at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on December 15, 2014, in Hollywood, California (Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie clash over trial timing and estate access
Pitt said in a recent filing that the legal back and forth has deprived him of years of “the quiet enjoyment of his home in France,” which is valued at $164 million. The Academy Award-winning actor said that time is of the essence, noting that key witnesses in the case are aging, with one having passed away.
In other court filings, he also referred to the ages of Jolie’s attorneys, stating that one had passed the bar more than 50 years ago, in 1972. She told the court that the five-month delay would have a negligible impact on the case.
Pitt has not brought any evidence before the court to show how the case has impacted his enjoyment of visits to the estate, Jolie said in court documents.
She also responded in her filing to his concerns that a fall trial would be disrupted by the Jewish High Holidays. 'The Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' star said that Pitt did not provide names of members of his legal team who would be affected by the religious observances.
In earlier filings, the A-listers, who first met while filming 2005’s 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith,' had sought different trial start dates. A February 1, 2027, date had been set by the court, according to legal documents, leading Pitt to concede two months.
He has also said in the filing that he was hoping to begin sooner, so all involved can “move on with their lives.”
