A Los Angeles court has handed Angelina Jolie a key victory in her ongoing legal battle with ex-husband Brad Pitt over the French winery Château Miraval, ruling that she will not be required to disclose a set of private emails tied to the sale of her stake.
According to Page Six, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Monday ruled that Brad, 62, cannot compel Angelina, 50, to hand over a series of private emails related to the transaction, siding with her claim that the communications are legally protected, court documents show.
The judge denied Brad’s motion, ruling that he “has not met his burden” to override her claim that they are protected. The motion was “denied without prejudice,” allowing Brad the option to raise the issue again at a later stage.
The decision reverses an earlier ruling from December 2025, when a judge had ordered Angelina to produce the emails. That order was later deemed flawed, with a higher court sending the matter back for reconsideration.
Reacting to the latest ruling, Paul Murphy, counsel for Angelina, said in a statement, “This is an important victory for Ms Jolie. The decision shows that Mr Pitt was completely out of bounds when he sought access to obviously privileged documents.”
“Remember, he initially demanded 126 privileged documents, but then backtracked to 22, and now Mr Pitt is getting nothing, zero. This is part of Mr Pitt’s pattern of demanding control over anything Angelina, including control over her communications with her own attorneys. We are extremely gratified that both the Court of Appeal and the trial court ultimately put a stop to it,” the statement added.
The ruling marks the latest development in Brad’s effort to obtain communications linked to Angelina’s 2021 sale of her share in the winery, including exchanges with her business associates that he has argued fall outside attorney-client privilege protections.
On October 29, 2025, Brad’s legal team submitted into evidence communications involving Angelina’s team regarding the sale. Among the exhibits was a November 2023 email in which her lawyers responded to Brad’s lawsuit, which reportedly seeks millions in damages. Angelina has maintained that the correspondence formed part of her legal strategy and is therefore privileged.
Angelina and Brad first met on the set of their 2005 film Mr. & Mrs. Smith and married in 2014 at Château Miraval. Their marriage ended after Angelina filed for divorce in 2016. The divorce was finalised in December 2024.
Despite settling their marital status, the dispute over Château Miraval remains unresolved. Brad filed suit in 2022, alleging that Angelina sold her stake in the winery in violation of a prior agreement requiring mutual consent. The case continues to wind its way through the courts.