LOS ANGELES – Angelina Jolie asked Monday that the private judge overseeing Brad Pitt’s divorce be disqualified for insufficient disclosure of his business relationship with one of Pitt’s attorneys.
In a submission to the Superior Court in Los Angeles, Jolie states that Judge John W. Ouderkirk should be removed from the divorce case she filed in 2016 because he was late and did not get enough about other cases that he was hired for involved Pitt lawyer Anne C Kiley.
It says that during the Jolie-Pitt trial, Ouderkirk “failed to disclose the cases that indicate the current, ongoing, repeated client relationship between the judge and the respondent’s attorney.”
It goes on to say that Pitt’s lawyer “actively advocated for Judge Ouderkirk’s financial interests in moving – over the opposition party’s opposition – to extend his appointment (and his ability to continue to pay fees) in a high profile business. “
An email to Kiley and Pitt’s attorney general Lance Spiegel seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Pitt and Jolie, like other high-profile couples, pay for a private judge in their divorce case to keep many of their applications and personal and financial details sealed within them, although some legal moves must be made within the ordinary court proceedings.
Jolie’s submission emphasizes that a private judge must follow the same rules of disclosure and conflict of interest as other judges.
The custody says “it does not matter if Judge Ouderkirk is in fact biased. Under California law, disqualification is required as long as a person is aware of the facts’ may reasonably maintain a doubt ‘about Judge Ouderkirk’s ability to remain impartial.’
Jolie’s lawyers have sought in private proceedings to disqualify Ouderkirk himself, but the prosecution says Pitt’s side has insisted on keeping him.
Pitt and Jolie were divorced, and Pitt was removed from her name, in April 2019, after her lawyers asked for a bifurcated verdict, meaning two married people could be declared separate, while other issues, including finances and childcare, remain. .
Because most of the documents are closed, it is not clear what issues remain unresolved, but Jolie submitted papers in 2018 that said Pitt did not pay enough child support, which his attorneys disputed, calling the filing a attempt to manipulate media coverage of the split.
Jolie, 44, and Pitt, 56, were a couple for 12 years and married for two when Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. They have six children.
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