[imagesource: Best Image / BACKGRID

It seems to be increasingly trendy for celebs to take to the courtrooms to create (sometimes televised, sometimes social media content-farmed) spectacles of their legal dramas.

Either the American law system has cracked, celebrity is going haywire or moneymaking/keeping schemes have found a new niche.

Then again, all three aspects are probably true of the new connection between reality TV/social media and trial by jury.

We saw this dynamic painstakingly play out in the Johnny Depp/ Amber Heard trial, which is taking its sweet time to wrap up.

The Wagatha Christie libel case featuring Rebekah Vardy (the wife of former England and current Leicester City footballer Jamie Vardy) and Coleen Rooney (the wife of Wayne) is an even more shameful exhibit.

They’ve found an opportune way around forking out legal fees by selling the rights to Netflix to cover the costs.

Next up in this new reality TV court drama phase could feature the legal hodgepodge between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie over their once-shared French vineyard estate, Château Miraval:

Image: INF Photo

Zoomed in:

Image: Best Image / BACKGRID

Here’s New York Post with the latest:

America might be in for another over-the-top courtroom spectacle after Brad Pitt requested a trial by jury against ex-wife Angelina Jolie, alleging she sold her half of Château Miraval — a 1,000-acre vineyard in the South of France —  without his knowledge.

Court documents obtained by The Post reveal an amended complaint filed by Pitt on Friday, June 3, in the Superior Court of California.

Brad filed a lawsuit in September last year, accusing Angelina and her business partners of trying to cut him out of the potentially lucrative sale.

Brad alleges that he lost what he says he poured his heart and soul (read: money) into after Angelina “went behind his back” and sold her shares to Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary owned by Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler, reported The Guardian.

Brad described Shefler as a “hostile third-party competitor bent on taking control of Miraval.”

Sure, Shefler’s part in things is a worrying sign for the estate considering his country’s invasion of Ukraine. In fact, Shefler’s flagship Russian vodka, Stolichnaya, is facing calls for boycotts at the moment.

Anyway, it was a part of Brad and Jolie’s divorce agreement that they would ask each other for permission if they ever wanted to sell their shares, which Angelina is accused of outright ignoring:

“The vineyard became Pitt’s passion — and a profitable one, as Miraval, under Pitt’s stewardship, has grown into a multimillion-dollar global business and one of the world’s most highly regarded producers of rosé wine,” the filing continued.

“Jolie, meanwhile, contributed nothing to Miraval’s success. Instead, she allowed Pitt to pour money and sweat equity into the business in reliance on the consent right she owed him and a right of first refusal her business entity owed his.”

It goes on, of course, with Pitt saying that Jolie knew that Shefler would try to take control of the business and was all for it:

In the court filing, Pitt is accusing Jolie of “purposely keeping Pitt in the dark, and knowingly violating Pitt’s contractual rights,” with the intent of hurting his growing business.

“Just as Jolie envisioned, that is exactly what Shefler has done,” the complaint stated. “Since claiming to acquire Jolie’s interest in Miraval, Shefler has launched a hostile takeover of the wine business, destabilizing Miraval’s operations and seeking access to Miraval’s confidential and proprietary information for the benefit of his competing enterprise.”

The couple is dealing with a child custody case on the side, too, by the way, so things are really toxic in their neck of the woods.

We’ll have to see if Brad’s demand for a trial by jury will be granted and if it will then be able to settle the matter.

I’m not sure I am keen to tune in, but that won’t stop this train from going full steam ahead.

[source:guardian&nypost]