Brad Pitt calls for rejection of request for aircraft incident reports

Brad Pitt is fighting in court in his ongoing legal battle with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie.

Pitt, who is challenging the financial handling of the former couple’s Château Miraval winery, filed a motion in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday to dismiss Jolie’s request to release his private communications. The communications include messages about a 2016 family flight during which Pitt allegedly assaulted Jolie and her children.

“These private third-party communications have nothing to do with the issues and allegations in this case and, in many cases, have only a very loose connection to ‘what happened on that plane,'” the court documents, obtained by USA TODAY on Tuesday, say.

“However, Jolie still wants them as part of her efforts to turn this business dispute into a renegotiation of the former couple’s divorce proceedings.”

Jolie’s April filing refers to a non-disclosure agreement that her team said Pitt wanted to sign as a condition of purchasing her Miraval shares. The “Maleficent” star’s lawyer also accused Pitt of “relentless attempts to control and financially exploit her” and “attempting to cover up his history of abuse, control and cover-up.”

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However, Pitt has strongly rejected Jolie’s request. His lawyers called the request a “sensational fishing expedition” that consists of “54 motions demanding sweeping and intrusive disclosure of some of the most personal aspects of her ex-husband’s life.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Jolie’s representative for comment.

Brad Pitt says he agreed to “show everything” that happened on the 2016 flight

The dispute between Pitt and Jolie over the winery escalated in 2022 when Jolie spoke about the abuse she said she and her children suffered at the hands of her ex-husband on a flight.

In an October 2022 filing, Jolie’s lawyers alleged that Pitt “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her, then grabbed her shoulders and shook her again before shoving her against the bathroom wall” during a flight from the Chateau Miraval winery in France to California. Pitt was also accused of becoming violent toward some of his children during the altercation.

Pitt and Jolie have six children together – Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and twins Vivienne and Knox – who were between the ages of 8 and 15 at the time of the alleged incident.

In Thursday’s lawsuit, Pitt’s lawyers claim that Pitt “voluntarily offered to provide sufficient documentation to substantiate all of the events on the flight that led to the ex-couple’s divorce.”

Angelina Jolie takes legal action:Actress claims her ex Brad Pitt had a “history of physical abuse”

But the actor’s legal team said Jolie’s request went beyond the details of her family trip.

“If Jolie’s demands were truly about ‘what happened on that plane,’ as she claims, Pitt’s offer would have been sufficient,” the filing states.

“Jolie, however, rejected Pitt’s compromise and required him to communicate with third parties – including his most trusted advisers – about such sensitive issues as the therapy he voluntarily began after the flight incident to improve his symptoms, ‘drug and alcohol tests’ he allegedly underwent, his alleged ‘excessive alcohol consumption or abuse’ and other actions he took after the flight.”

In September 2016, reports emerged that Pitt was being investigated by the FBI and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services for the airplane altercation.

Two months later, the FBI confirmed to USA TODAY that the agency had reviewed the allegations and closed its investigation, and no charges had been filed against the actor (he was also acquitted of child abuse charges by the LA County Department of Children and Family Services).

Lawyers say Angelina Jolie’s request violates Brad Pitt’s privacy rights

Pitt’s lawyers claim the communications requested in Jolie’s motion would constitute a “serious invasion of Pitt’s privacy rights” under the California Constitution, which “protects non-conviction police records, medical records, drug testing and treatment for substance abuse, Pitt’s marriage and the termination thereof.”

The Oscar winner’s motion also addresses Jolie’s issue with the non-disclosure agreement that stalled the former couple’s Miraval negotiations. The agreement included a “commitment not to disparage Miraval Provence and its direct and indirect shareholders, including (Pitt).” However, both Jolie and Pitt would have been free to assert claims against each other in their legal proceedings, such as in their divorce and custody battles.

“Like a moody child”:Brad Pitt is accused in a legal dispute of having “looted” assets of a winery

Although Jolie later called the non-disclosure agreement a “heartless and malicious demand” during her divorce from Pitt, his team claims the actress’s requests for information “did not reveal any relevant evidence” to explain the non-disclosure proposal, but rather “embarrassed Pitt.”

“Jolie fails to meet her burden to demonstrate that the relevance of the documents she requested outweighs Pitt’s conflicting privacy interests – particularly given the publicity of the parties and this case,” the lawsuit states.

Contributor: KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY

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