Angelina Jolie's lawyer hails latest development in her legal battle with Brad Pitt as an 'important victory'

Angelina Jolie's lawyer says she has scored "an important victory" in her legal battle with Brad Pitt over their French winery.

The former couple - who separated in 2016 after 12 years together - have been locked in a legal battle over the winery since the 50-year-old actress sold her stake in Miraval in 2021, and the F1 actor previously filed documents asking a judge to shut down her demand for $33,000 and to force his ex-wife to turn over a number of private emails she has previously refused to produce.

This week, according to legal documents seen by the Daily Mail newspaper, Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Cindy Pánuco ruled that Jolie shouldn't have to provide 22 emails discussing the case, despite a judge ordering her to do so in December last year.

In a statement to the outlet, Jolie's lawyer Paul Murphy hailed the ruling "an important victory".

He added: "The decision shows that Mr. Pitt was completely out of bounds when he sought access to obviously privileged documents.

"He initially demanded 126 privileged documents, but then backtracked to 22, and now Mr. Pitt is getting nothing, zero."

Murphy described the legal requests as indicative of Pitt's "pattern of demanding control over anything Angelina including control over her communications with her own attorneys".

He said: "We are extremely gratified that both the Court of Appeal and the trial court ultimately put a stop to it."

However, a source close to Pitt told TMZ that his ex-wife's team simply obtained "a potential temporary decision that allows them to keep information about her real intentions out of court".