Brad Pitt scored a win in his ongoing lawsuit against Angelina Jolie over the exes’ ongoing winery drama.
In accordance with court documents obtained by Us Weekly, the California Court of Appeal sided with Pitt, 62, on Wednesday June 24, overruling a lower court’s decision that allowed Russian businessman Yuri Shefler to walk away from the lawsuit.
Within the docs, Pitt claimed that after Jolie, 51, sold her shares of the winery to Tenute del Mondo, which is a subsidiary of the Stoli Group, in 2021, he became an “unwilling partner” of Shefler.
Shefler previously argued in his motion to quash that he had “minimal involvement within the negotiations for Tenute to buy Miraval.” A lower court sided with Shefler, stating that Pitt “did not present evidence that Shefler purposefully availed himself of the advantages of doing business in California.”
Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal found that the agreement to buy Jolie’s shares “was governed by California law.” The California court ruled that Shelfer’s motion was reversed and that Pitt, plus his investment company, Mondo Bongo, are also allowed to get better costs from their appeal.
“It was these contacts by Shefler with California in purchasing a California company from a California resident that caused the injury to a different California resident and California company that’s the subject of the lawsuit,” the choice read. “On these facts, Shefler purposefully availed himself of the advantages of a California forum, and the controversy arose out of his contacts with the forum. We reverse.”
Jolie’s attorney Paul Murphy addressed the ruling in an announcement to Us on Thursday, June 25.
“The ruling has no impact on the merits of the case, and definitely has no impact on Ms. Jolie’s case,” the statement read. “At this point, Ms. Jolie is just looking forward to defeating the case at trial next 12 months in order that their family can finally focus their energies on healing and moving on.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Pitt’s spokesperson for comment.
Pitt and Jolie were together for 12 years and married from 2014 to 2016. They share six children: Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17.
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images; David M. Benett/WireImage A judge dismissed several of Brad Pitt’s complaints about ex Angelina Jolie regarding their dispute about their winery amid their ongoing divorce. “The judge dismissed most of Mr. Pitt’s claims because they don’t have a legal basis,” Jolie’s attorney, Paul Murphy, told Entertainment Tonight in a Wednesday, March […]
The exes’ legal forwards and backwards began in 2022 after Pitt sued Jolie for allegedly selling her share of the French winery without getting his approval as outlined in an alleged agreement between them. Jolie previously claimed in a countersuit that no two-party consent agreement existed and he or she tried to rearrange a buyout with Pitt, who allegedly refused unless the actress signed an NDA.
While Pitt and Jolie have been separated for a decade, their divorce was not finalized until December 2024. Since their split, Pitt and Jolie’s children have seemingly distanced themselves from their father. Shiloh, Maddox and Zahara have all taken legal motion to remove their father’s last name. Vivienne, for her part, was previously credited as Vivienne Jolie during her work on the Broadway show The Outsiders.
In a recent Us cover story, a source told Us that Pitt is “devastated” by his kids’ decisions to alter their names.