Angelina Jolie has triumphed in a major legal battle with ex-husband Brad Pitt. On Friday, July 23, a California court approved her petition to prohibit Judge John W. Ouderkirk from presiding over her and her ex-husbands’ conflict about their children.
Angelina Jolie has triumphed in a major legal battle with ex-husband Brad Pitt. On Friday, July 23, a California court approved her petition to prohibit Judge John W. Ouderkirk from presiding over her and her ex-husbands’ conflict about their children.
In August 2020, Jolie’s attorneys complained to have Judge John W. Ouderkirk removed from the case on the grounds of refusing to “disclose multiple professional, business and financial relationships, ongoing during the matter, with Pitt’s counsel and their law firms.”
In the appeals court’s new ruling, “Judge Ouderkirk’s ethical breach, considered together with the information disclosed concerning his recent professional relationships with Pitt’s counsel, might cause an objective person, aware of all the facts, reasonably to entertain a doubt as to the judge’s ability to be impartial. Disqualification is required.”
A spokesperson for Pitt told E! News, “The appeals court ruling was based on a technical procedural issue. The facts haven’t changed. There is an extraordinary amount of factual evidence which led the judge—and the many experts who testified—to reach their clear conclusion about what is best in the children’s best interests. We will continue to do what’s necessary legally based on the detailed findings of what’s best for the children.”
According to Page Six, Friday’s ruling makes the judge’s custody decision effectively null and void. As a result, Jolie still holds full-time custody with Brad Pit allowed visitation rights. This new development opens the legal battle that has been ongoing since 2016 wide open.
We are all looking forward to who gets sole custody of Pax, 17; Zahara, 16; and Shiloh, 15; Maddox, 19; and twins Knox and Vivienne, 12.
