Brad Pitt has scored a major breakthrough in his ongoing Château Miraval battle against ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
A judge has ordered an alcohol executive to sit for a new deposition and answer 33 blocked questions about the sale of the couple’s French winery.
According to court documents obtained by Page Six, a Michigan judge ruled that lawyers for the Stoli side improperly blocked testimony during a key deposition tied to the Château Miraval case.
The court found former Stoli general counsel Todd Culyba was improperly instructed not to answer 33 questions during a December deposition concerning Jolie’s 2021 sale of her stake in the French winery business.
The blocked questions included inquiries about the involvement of Yuri Shelfer, Stoli’s ultimate beneficial owner, in Jolie’s sale of her indirect interest in Miraval to the company.
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Angelina Jolie and actor Brad Pitt. Picture: Barry King/Getty Images
The pair have been entangled in a dispute over the French winery since 2022. Picture: Getty Images
The judge determined that lawyer-client privilege did not extend to the business aspects of the deal, which the court said were fair game for questioning.
As a result, Mr Culyba was ordered to sit for another deposition and answer the previously blocked questions, along with related follow-up queries, despite objections from the Stoli side.
The latest ruling marks another turn in the bitter legal battle between Pitt, 62, and Jolie, 50, over Château Miraval.
Pitt first filed a 2022 lawsuit claiming his ex-wife had sold her share of Miraval to Tenute del Mondo, the wine division of the Stoli Group, despite a prior agreement that neither would do so unless the other approved.
Jolie denied that agreement and responded by filing a countersuit, claiming Pitt has been waging a vindictive war against her through litigation.
Pitt’s side has argued the withheld communications are central to understanding the sale.
A judge ruled that lawyers for the Stoli side improperly blocked testimony during a key deposition tied to the case. Picture: Getty Images
The latest ruling marks another turn in the legal battle between Pitt and Jolie over Château Miraval. (Seen above in June 2014). Picture: Getty Images
The decision comes weeks after Jolie scored a legal victory of her own.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied Pitt’s effort to force her to turn over private emails tied to the winery dispute.
The court ruled he had not met the burden to overcome lawyer-client privilege claims.
The motion was denied without prejudice, meaning the F1 star could raise the issue again later.
At the time, a source told Page Six it was notable how Jolie had withheld so many documents as privileged and that those emails were just some of the evidence in the case.
Pitt previously secured a separate discovery win in December 2025 when a judge ordered Jolie to turn over certain unredacted non-lawyer communications related to the winery fight.
The Moneyball star finalised his long-running divorce from the Maleficent actress in December 2024, bringing an end to more than eight years of legal proceedings.
The former couple share six children: Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 19, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17.
Parts of this story first appeared in Page Six and was republished with permission.
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