The authorized battle between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt rages on, with a brand new movement filed Thursday that alleges Pitt had a “historical past of bodily abuse” towards Jolie earlier than the 2016 aircraft incident that precipitated their divorce.
The movement was filed by Jolie’s authorized staff to the Los Angeles Superior Court docket as a part of an ongoing dispute between the ex-spouses over the Miraval vineyard they used to personal collectively within the south of France. Pitt lobbed the primary grenade in February 2022 when he sued Jolie for promoting her share of the vineyard to a Russian oligarch as an alternative of to him.
He claimed that the pair agreed they’d promote their stakes in Château Miraval individually “solely with the opposite’s consent,” a declare that Jolie has denied.
Jolie filed a countersuit, claiming she bought her portion of the vineyard after negotiations to promote to Pitt broke down. He allegedly insisted that Jolie signal a “nondisclosure settlement that might have contractually prohibited her from talking outdoors of courtroom about Pitt’s bodily and emotional abuse of her and their kids.”
These allegations stemmed from a now-infamous 2016 flight on a non-public jet that the household took collectively. Days after the flight, Jolie filed for divorce.
Pitt allegedly “choked one of many kids and struck one other within the face” and “grabbed Jolie by the pinnacle and shook her,” in keeping with the submitting.
The FBI investigated the alleged aircraft incident in 2016 however didn’t convey ahead any fees towards Pitt. Jolie by no means filed fees towards Pitt for the alleged abuse.
In Thursday’s submitting, Jolie’s staff alleges that Pitt’s abusive behaviour began “nicely earlier than” the 2016 flight.
“Whereas Pitt’s historical past of bodily abuse of Jolie began nicely earlier than the household’s September 2016 aircraft journey from France to Los Angeles, this flight marked the primary time he turned his bodily abuse on the kids as nicely,” the brand new movement states. “Jolie then instantly left him.”
The movement requests entry to communications between Pitt and the FBI, the U.S. lawyer’s workplace, the Los Angeles Police Division and the L.A. County Division of Youngsters and Household Companies concerning the 2016 aircraft incident. Specifically, Jolie’s staff is in search of details about the investigation of the incident, drug and alcohol testing and a security plan that little one and household companies allegedly required Pitt to observe.
Jolie’s staff can also be submitting to accumulate Pitt’s communications associated to the “all-encompassing” nondisclosure settlement that tanked the Miraval sale. Her attorneys argued that Jolie and Pitt have been near reaching an settlement for Pitt to purchase out Jolie’s portion of the property earlier than he allegedly acquired chilly ft.
“If that sale had been accomplished, this lawsuit by no means would have occurred. However on the final minute, Pitt ‘stepped again’ from his settlement to purchase Jolie’s curiosity in Miraval, and the deal collapsed,” the movement reads, in keeping with the Los Angeles Occasions.
Jolie’s authorized staff believes the explanation Pitt backed out is due to a separate, however simultaneous, authorized dispute over the custody of their kids. As a part of the custody battle, Jolie submitted sealed paperwork to the courtroom titled “Testimony Concerning Home Violence” and “Testimony of Minor Youngsters.”
These testimonies “apparently enraged Pitt.”
“When Jolie filed the proof within the custody swimsuit, she was cautious to file it underneath seal in order that no member of the general public might see it. However Jolie’s sealed submitting, which included emails, summaries of the household’s anticipated testimony, and different proof, precipitated Pitt to concern that the knowledge might finally develop into public,” the movement reads.
That’s when Pitt determined to hinge the acquisition of Jolie’s share of the Miraval vineyard on her signing an expanded NDA to “contractually bind herself to that silence,” her attorneys argue.
“Mr. Pitt refused to buy Ms. Jolie’s curiosity when she wouldn’t be silenced by his NDA. By refusing to purchase her curiosity however then suing her, Mr. Pitt put instantly at situation why that NDA was so vital to him and what he hoped it could bury: his abuse of Ms. Jolie and their household,” Paul Murphy, Jolie’s lawyer, informed CNN. “After eight months of delays, this movement asks the Court docket to power Mr. Pitt to lastly produce that proof.”
Pitt, nevertheless, claims that Jolie was the one who steered an expanded “non-disparagement clause” as a part of the sale, and that Pitt’s authorized staff have been in search of a “narrower” clause “meant to guard the enterprise,” in a 2023 submitting.
Pitt was sued by the brand new co-owners of the Miraval vineyard in July 2023, who accused him of “looting” the property and losing firm cash on frivolous renovations.
© 2024 International Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
