Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are set for a blockbuster court trial next year over the fate of their vineyard, after a judge rejected the Hollywood actress’ bid to prematurely end the dispute.
The former power couple have been at war since the acrimonious breakdown of their marriage, and are at loggerheads over the French vineyard Chateau Miraval they bought together during their relationship.
Pitt, 60, filed a $67 million lawsuit against his ex-wife after she sold her 50 per cent stake in the vineyard to Russian businessman Yuri Shefler and his Stoli Group.
The Fight Club actor says the couple had a binding verbal agreement over the fate of the estate, which produces award-winning rose wine, that he would have the first option to buy Jolie, 49, out.
But Jolie, an Oscar winner turned acclaimed producer and director, insists she was entitled to dispose of her stake in the business.
Last week, a judge dismissed motions from Jolie which sought to throw out Pitt’s claims about the alleged verbal agreement.
The decision sets the stage for a full trial of the dispute at the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2025.
Court papers show the judge found a possible basis for Pitt's claims that their verbal agreement was binding, and ruled that the issue should be finally decided at trial.
The couple, who had six children together, wed at Chateau Miraval in 2014, but two years later their relationship broke down.
The following years has been punctuated by claim and counter claim from the warring actors, as well as a bitter custody battle.
Jolie is now saying in the vineyard dispute that Pitt asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of their business deal.
She claims it was an attempt to control her, but Pitt has counter claimed that the NDA line is a cover for her attempts to rationalise the secret sale of her shares.
Jolie could now find herself being quizzed about her use of other NDAs between 2014 and 2022.
In a previous judgment in Luxembourg, Pitt seized back control of the vineyard and in March a court in Law rejected the idea his claim against Jolie was “frivolous, malicious, and part of a problematic pattern”.
But he has had to face scrutiny of spending at the vineyard, including millions of dollars on alleged “vanity projects”.
A date for the trial has not yet been set, but it is expected to take place in 2025.
