Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie set to face off in court as long-running battle over their Miraval winery heads to trial

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Published on Thursday, 14 November 2024 16:51

Written by Daily mail

          Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are set to face-off in court next year as their long-running legal battle or so-called 'War of the Rosé' heads to trial, DailyMail.com can reveal. The feuding exes are now due to come face to face after a judge recently threw out the Oscar-winning actress's motion to dismiss her ex-husband's lawsuit over their French vineyard. The Chateau Miraval estate, which produces an award-winning sparkling rosé, is at the center of a long-running court battle between the pair.She argues that the agreement had been nullified after Pitt requested she sign an NDA regarding their marriage – with both sides seemingly determined to throw everything at the case.'It's already been ugly but it's going to get even uglier as Angie is bent on retaliating against Brad and will try to continue to settle more old personal scores,' an insider close to the case told DailyMail.com.And it's going to get costlier too – with their legal wrangling already costing both sides millions.The latest twist in the acrimonious lawsuit has seen LA Superior Court Judge Lia Martin throw out the motions.Court filings submitted last week suggest that the judge has found a basis in Pitt's claims that their original verbal agreement was binding, and Jolie may have violated them when she sold her shares to Russian businessman Yuri Shefler and his Stoli Group in 2021.Pitt's lawyers say that Jolie violated the couple's deal to not sell their respective stakes in Miraval without both parties' permission.With the dismissal of the three filings, the former power couple - who wed at the Provence, Southern France estate in 2014 and split in 2016 – are set to face off in court at the trial next year.A source close to the actor told DailyMail.com: 'This is a straightforward business dispute, but unfortunately, the other side has consistently introduced personal elements which have exposed the weaknesses in their case and complicated and lengthened the proceedings.'The Maleficent star will have 30 days to appeal the judge's decision in filings at Los Angeles Superior Court last week.Pitt filed the $67million lawsuit against Jolie in 2022, less than a year after the shares were sold, setting off a protracted court battle between the exes.  But Judge Martin's decision to dismiss Jolie's final three claims against Pitt has put him firmly back in the driving seat ahead of a trial next year.This latest court ruling represents another pre-trial victory for Pitt, adding to his momentum in the ongoing legal battle.Jolie faces potential damages claims if she does not undo the deal she made with Yuri Shefler regarding the sale of her Miraval stake.With her frustration over Pitt being awarded joint custody of their children in 2021, the dispute appears to have turned highly personal for the pair, going beyond the original business matter.
         Jolie has also been accused of trying to drive a wedge between her estranged husband and their six kids in the aftermath of their split.Pitt's team claims she believes her deal with Shefler was 'justified' due to the NDA her ex-husband asked her to sign.She was dealt another blow earlier this year after the court ruled she must produce every NDA that she signed with a third-party over an eight-year period from 2014 - the year they married - to 2022.NDAs have become a key battleground in the dispute over Chateau Miraval after Jolie claims she backed out of their agreement because Pitt asked her to sign one as part of their business deal.She claims that it was an 'unconscionable' attempt by her ex-partner to 'control her' after their split in April 2019, with his lawyers asking LA Superior Court to unwind the sale because of their agreement to not sell to a third party.But Pitts attorneys have argued that Jolie's NDA objection was really just a cover story which she cooked-up to 'rationalize' her betrayal of Pitt by deciding to sell her stake behind his back.The Fight Club star's attorneys also claim that Jolie herself 'weaponized' NDAs, and asked for Pitt to sign a broader NDA just six months later as part of their divorce settlement talks.Pitt's legal team asked in previous filings that she come clean about NDAs she entered into with third parties including staff.At the time Paul Murphy, one of Jolie's attorneys, told DailyMail.com that the judge's order also opens the window for the actress to demand documents related to Pitt's alleged abuses.'We are more than happy to turn them over and we are gratified that the Court acknowledged that the only potential relevance is to the unconscionability of Mr. Pitt's conduct, a now confirmed key issue in this case,' he said. He continued: 'The judge's ruling completely opens the door to discovery on all issues related to Pitt's abuse. We welcome that transparency in all parties' discovery responses, including Mr. Pitt's.A source close to Brad, however, said Jolie's decision to use the NDA as a strategy 'has backfired spectacularly.''Her defense has been exposed as a house of cards, and she will now have to provide details of all the NDAs she demanded of third parties.'There is no question that this is a huge setback for her. There's a long way to go, but in the context of the case so far, this is a hugely important and far-reaching ruling which will be problematic for her defense,' the source added.Pitt has landed several legal victories in the battle for the winery including a key judgement in Luxembourg which handed him back control of the award-winning vineyard pending further hearings.In March, LA Superior Court rejected the allegations that his suit was 'frivolous, malicious, and part of a problematic pattern.'

source : Daily mail