Jolie's lawyer called Pitt's vineyard lawsuit an attempt to "cover up serious abuse" in a statement to ET.
The intense battle over Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's French vineyard is once again in the spotlight. The former couple has been locked in an extended legal battle over the Château Miraval property and winemaking ventures they purchased in 2008 and were 50-50 partners until 2021, when Jolie made the decision to sell her share.
On Oct. 5, 2021, the actress sold Nouvel -- the holding company in control of her Miraval shares -- to Tenute del Mondo, the wine division of the Stoli group controlled by Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler, for $67 million. In February 2022, Pitt sued Jolie for selling the winery, stating that he was seeking monetary damages, legal fees and for Jolie's sale of Miraval to Shefler to be voided.
In June 2023, Pitt filed additional court documents accusing his ex-wife of intentionally trying to "inflict harm" on him and his interests in their winery. Pitt's lawyers claimed Jolie sold her stake in their winery to Shefler in an effort to damage Pitt's involvement in the company.
After Pitt scored a victory on March 13 in his lawsuit against Jolie, a source knowledgeable about the case tells ET that a court in Los Angeles, California, actually ruled against Pitt on Jolie's demurrer to his original complaint and dismissed five of the seven claims Pitt asserted against her.
Jolie's attorney, Paul Murphy, gave a statement to ET regarding the judge's ruling on Jolie's demurrer: "The judge dismissed most of Mr. Pitt's claims because they don't have a legal basis. Mr. Pitt's lawsuit has never been about a business dispute; instead, it is about his attempts to cover up serious abuse, and we are gratified the judge has thrown out so much of Mr. Pitt's complaint."
"Angelina truly harbors no ill-will toward Mr. Pitt, and hopes he will now release her from his frivolous lawsuit, stop his relentless attacks, and join her in helping their family heal in private," Murphy adds.
The case is still moving forward.
ET has reached out to Pitt's lawyer for comment.
In documents obtained by ET, one of the dismissed claims was brought under Luxembourg law, which the Court dismissed with prejudice, declining to recognize Luxembourg law in this case. According to the source, this ruling is important because Pitt was trying to find a way to seek to recover his attorneys' fees incurred in this case and this was the only claim that gave him the potential to recover his fees. The court sustained this demurrer without leave to amend, which means Pitt can't recover his attorneys' fees either.
The source says that another claim was for a constructive trust -- a request that the court give Pitt the shares in Miraval that Nouvel currently holds. The court dismissed this claim with prejudice as well.
The court also dismissed three additional tort claims as well, meaning Jolie will not be exposed to punitive damages.
The source explains that one of Pitt's claims was based on the theory that Jolie and Nouvel were alter egos of each other and argued that the actress was liable for Nouvel's alleged misconduct. The Court rejected this argument and the claims that Jolie interfered with Pitt's business relationships with Miraval and the Perrin family.
The court has given Pitt time to amend and try to make the three claims legally tenable, which the source tells ET they don't think the actor will be able to do.
The remaining two claims that haven't been dismissed are Pitt's claim that he had a secret, unwritten, unspoken implied contract with Jolie whereby she could not sell her interest in Miraval without his consent and a claim for quantum meruit based on the notion that Pitt did more work for Miraval.
Although the source tells ET that "there is no agreement" between Jolie and Pitt, the court found that the existence of this implied contract and the right to quantum meruit are factual matters that Jolie could not resolve.
Still, the source says that they are "confident" the court will throw out the final two claims on summary judgment.
Last July, Nouvel (now controlled by Stoli) filed docs claiming that Pitt "stripped" and "looted" Château Miraval in an effort to regain control of the business. In court docs previously obtained by ET, Nouvel claimed that Pitt attempted to "seize de facto control" of the winery by wasting millions of the company's money on a series of "vanity projects."
The docs additionally claim that Pitt has attempted "to turn over half of the value of Château Miraval's most valuable assets" to his friend and business partner for free. Nouvel also alleged that Pitt has wasted "the company's assets for the benefit of his other businesses."
Pitt responded by trying to dismiss at the pleadings stage nearly all of Nouvel's claims. Other than dismissing two foreign claims under Luxembourg law and dismissing one other claim on a technical ground, the Court refused to dismiss any of the other causes of action, which means Nouvel can now proceed with its $250 million claim against Pitt.
The source reveals that on March 13, the court tentatively ruled against Pitt, refusing to dismiss Nouvel's $250 million case against Pitt.
In similar rulings, on March 13 and March 15, the source says the Court ruled that Pitt cannot sue Shefler or Shefler's company, SPI Group Holding Limited after he tried to add numerous parties to his second amended complaint.
The source adds that the Court ruled that Pitt failed to establish that Shefler or SPI directed any conduct toward California and, because of this lack of evidence, the Court has no jurisdiction over Shefler or SPI, effectively ending Pitt's ability to hold Shefler or SPI liable for anything in the case.
For more on Jolie and Pitt's years-long divorce and as-yet-unsettled custody battle, see the video below.
RELATED CONTENT:
