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Angelina Jolie 'fighting a losing battle' against Brad Pitt amid their heated remote appellate court hearing?
During a remote appellate court hearing on July 9, Angelina Jolie's lawyer Robert Olson argued to remove Judge John W. Ouderkirk from the custody case claiming that he was allegedly working on legal matters involving Brad Pitt's lawyer.
Friday, i.e. July 9, saw another chapter in Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's heated custody battle for their five children (excluding eldest son Maddox Jolie Pitt, 19) as their attorneys presented their arguments in a remote appellate court hearing. According to Entertainment Tonight, reiterating Angelina's request, which was denied last November, was her lawyer Robert Olson, who argued for Judge John W. Ouderkirk's removal from Brangelina's custody case.
Robert claimed that the private judge was not impartial during the custody battle case because he was allegedly working on legal matters which involved Brad's lawyer. "Until Ms. Jolie asked, what was going on was only known to the judge, the ARC and the opposing counsel... she was shocked that this was going on. Ms. Jolie did not know anything that happened between counsel for Pitt and the judge," Olson stated. Firing back was Pitt's lawyer Theodore Boutrous, who claimed that Angelina was well aware of the potential conflict all along.
"Here in a child custody case that's been going on for so long, the children are getting older and to allow a delaying tactic like this would be extremely unjust," Theodore argued before adding, "There were no surprises. Ms. Jolie and her counsel knew about the relationship and the grounds."
In an interview with ET, family law attorney Kelly Chang Rickert, who watched the remote hearing believes that Jolie may be "fighting a losing battle." According to Kelly, if Ouderkirk had sided with Jolie and granted her sole custody, then Angelina would never have filed this appeal nor challenge his ruling as biased. Rickert thinks the only reason Jolie is "challenging it is because she lost. I mean, she's struggling, she's reaching here."
Kelly noted that it's not unusual for parties to keep fighting untill their kids are grown in "bitter custody cases like this one... Because when the kids are grown, they're outside the jurisdiction of the courts. Right now, they're fighting because the courts can still rule on the kids. Once they're 18, they're on their own. They're adults."
While Angelina and Brad's eldest son Maddox is considered a legal adult and hence, not subjected to the custody decision, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 14, Vivienne, 12, and Knox, 12, are whom Jolie and Pitt are currently consumed in a legal battle for, since September 2016, when they first filed for divorce. Moreover, it was towards the end of May when Brad was granted joint custody of his and Angelina's kids in a tentative ruling while Jolie continues to fight for sole custody.
Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for all the updates on Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's intense divorce proceedings.
