The fight goes on!
Angelina Jolie‘s legal team fired back at that of ex-husband Brad Pitt this week in a series of new court docs all centering on the possible biases of presiding Judge John W. Ouderkirk. At issue here is an accusation from Pitt’s legal team that Jolie engaged in “gamesmanship” by inquiring about the judge’s ability to be objective in presiding over the pair’s contentious upcoming child custody case after Ouderkirk initially failed to disclose he had a previous professional relationship with one of Pitt’s attorneys.
Related: Angelina Has Been Enjoying The ‘Chaos’ Of Family Time During Quarantine!
In a Monday disclosure filed by the 45-year-old actress’ attorney Samantha Bley DeJean, the lawyer insisted her client “has engaged in no gamesmanship” in the process of questioning the judge’s potential conflicts, while adding (below):
“Until three weeks ago, she had no idea what had been going on behind her back. By contrast‚ [Pitt’s] counsel was fully aware of what was happening and presumably knew the rules requiring disclosure but remained silent and did not suggest to Judge Ouderkirk that he should be disclosing.”
Wow!
This strong statement follows quite the accusation from the Ocean’s Eleven star’s team just recently. Beyond his team saying she’s “gone too far,” they then accused Jolie of “bad faith and desperation” in an earlier doc filing. Additionally, his team slammed the influential star for leaving the estranged couple’s children “deprived” of a viable solution in the custody battle. You’ll recall the court docs from that accusation:
“Jolie’s abrupt cry of judicial bias reeks of bad faith and desperation, not to mention careless disregard for the procedural rules intended to root out legitimately conflicted judicial officers. Unfortunately, the individuals hurt most by Jolie’s transparently tactical gambit are the parties’ own children, who continue to be deprived of a final resolution to these custody issues. Jolie’s motion should therefore be denied.”
Talk about going for the jugular!
As you’ll recall, the now-former couple, who share Maddox, 19, Pax, 16, Zahara, 15, Shiloh, 14, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 12., is currently fighting over the final custody arrangement for their kids.
Barring further delays due to Ouderkirk’s disclosures or any other issue, the trial is still scheduled to begin in October. Interestingly, Ouderkirk is the same judge who presided over the pair’s wedding back in 2014… so it would seem he knows both parties a little bit better than your average over-seer!
As you no doubt remember, Jolie first officially filed for divorce from Pitt back in September 2016. They became legally single after hammering out terms and finalizing their split in April of 2019. All that remains now is figuring out the child custody agreement which, if stories like this are any indication, may turn into its own drawn-out process…
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Dust off all those legal textbooks and sound OFF in the comments (below)!!!
[Image via WENN/Avalon/Instar]
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