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Pitt lawyers want more time to serve Russian defendants winery lawsuit
Entertainment Jul 02, 2022
Brad Pitt in July 2019 at the premiere of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." | Photo courtesy of © Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Brad Pitt’s attorneys are resorting to the Hague Convention in order to serve a revised complaint on two Russian businessman recently added as parties to his Chateau Miraval winery lawsuit against the primary defendant, ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
In court papers filed Friday, Pitt’s lawyers say attorneys for Nouvel LLC have refused to accept service or provide addresses for Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler and his longtime associate, Alexey Oliynik, who were added as defendants when Pitt’s amended complaint was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 3.
The Pitt attorneys say they believe the Nouvel lawyers also are representing Shefler and Oliynik, who live in Great Britain and Switzerland, respectively.
Judge Lia Martin is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday on a request by the 58-year-old Pitt’s attorneys for more time to serve the amended complaint.
The U.S. is a party to two international treaties regarding service of process abroad, one of them being the Hague Service Convention. Pitt’s lawyers state in their court papers that proceeding through the Hague Convention could take months
Jolie, 47, formed Nouvel as a vehicle for holding shares in Chateau Miraval. Before her alleged sale of Nouvel to the Stoli Group in 2021, Jolie was the sole member of the company and held 100% of its membership interest.
Pitt first sued Jolie on Feb. 17, alleging she wrongfully sold her shares in the winery and estate to Shefler.
According to the lawsuit, the then-couple purchased a controlling interest in the southern France winery in 2008, envisioning the chateau “as a home to share with their children and the vineyard as a family business.” The couple were married at the estate in 2014.
“The vineyard became Pitt’s passion — and a profitable one, as Miraval, under Pitt’s stewardship, has grown into a multimillion-dollar international success story,” the suit states.
Jolie sold her shares without telling Pitt, denying him the consent right she owed him, according to the complaint.
“She sold her interest with the knowledge and intention that Shefler and his affiliates would seek to control the business to which Pitt had devoted himself and to undermine Pitt’s investment in Miraval,” the suit states.
