Angelina Jolie Secures Significant Victory in Winery Dispute with Ex Brad Pitt

On Monday, Angelina Jolie achieved what is being hailed as a significant triumph in her extended legal confrontation with ex-husband Brad Pitt over their shared French estate, Château Miraval.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, Cindy Pánuco, ruled in favor of the 50-year-old actress, stating she is not obligated to hand over 22 emails related to the case to Pitt and his legal team. This decision reverses a previous order from December 17, 2025, that required Jolie to share the communications.

The appellate court’s decision highlighted that the emails contained strategic legal discussions, making them off-limits to Pitt’s side, as revealed in legal documents reviewed by the Daily Mail.

Paul Murphy, Jolie’s attorney, expressed satisfaction with the outcome, emphasizing its significance as a victory for the Oscar-winning actress. In a statement to the Daily Mail on Tuesday, Murphy noted, “The decision demonstrates that Mr. Pitt’s attempt to access obviously privileged documents was entirely inappropriate.”

He further explained, “Initially, Mr. Pitt sought 126 privileged documents, but then narrowed it down to 22. Now, Mr. Pitt will receive none of them—absolutely zero.”

Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Jolie and Pitt for further comment on the story. 

Angelina Jolie, 50, on Monday racked up what her lawyer described as ‘an important victory’ in her yearslong legal battle with ex-husband Brad Pitt, 62, over their French winery Château Miraval. Pictured in Rome last year 

Murphy said the legal requests were indicative of ‘Pitt’s pattern of demanding control over anything Angelina including control over 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 Pitt source told TMZ Tuesday that all Jolie’s team garnered was ‘a potential temporary decision that allows them to keep information about her real intentions out of court.’ 

The Fight Club star, 62, did garner a favorable outcome in the latest ruling from the court, as the judge denied Jolie’s request to the court to sanction $34,000 to Pitt’s lawyers for using a motion to try and obtain the emails, saying ‘sanctions are not warranted.’

The latest in the case comes weeks after Jolie filed court docs indicating she felt a trial start date in September 2027 works well, despite Pitt’s push to have it five months earlier in April of 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 told the Daily Mail of Jolie’s latest tack in the legal proceedings. 

The Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood star 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, as key witnesses in the case are aging, with one having passed away.

The A-list exes have been embroiled in a battle over the French winery for four years 

Pitt, in court filings reviewed by TMZ, also pointed to the ages of Jolie’s attorneys, saying that one had passed the bar more than 50 years ago, in 1972.

Jolie told the court that the five-month delay will have a negligible impact on the case.

Pitt has not brought any evidence before the court to show how the case has impacted him enjoying his visits to the estate, Jolie said in court docs.

Jolie in her filing responded to Pitt’s concerns that a fall trial would be interrupted by the Jewish High Holidays.

The Lara Croft: Tomb Raider star said that Pitt did not provide names of members of his legal team that would be sidelined by the religious observances.

In previous filings, the A-listers, who initially linked up filming 2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, had wanted different dates for the trial to commence.

A February 1, 2027 had been set by the court, according to legal docs TMZ reviewed, leading Pitt to concede two months. Pitt said in the filing that he was hoping to begin sooner so all involved can ‘move on with their lives.’

Jolie had requested the case be brought before the court in November of 2027, according to filings reviewed by the outlet.

The ex-couple, formerly nicknamed ‘Brangelina,’ pictured at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival 

The former pair pictured in LA in November of 2015, less than a year before their shock split 

Pitt initially filed the lawsuit against Jolie in early 2022, telling the court she had sold her share of the estate to Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler.

Jolie told the court that she did not require permission from Pitt to complete her sale of the Correns, France winery to Shefler.

Jolie and the Moneyball actor are parents to six children: Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 19, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 17. 

They split up in 2016 following a 12-year relationship and two-year marriage, with their divorce finalized eight years later in December 2024 amid a number of legal battles.