Angelina Jolie has overcome another hurdle in her ongoing custody case.
According to Entertainment Tonight, a California judge has ruled in the actress’s favor to disqualify Judge John W. Ouderkirk, a private judge, from overseeing her divorce case with her ex-husband Brad Pitt. Jolie previously requested that Ouderkirk be removed from the case due to him having a previous relationship with Pitt’s attorney Anne C. Kiley and not disclosing the number of cases they had previously worked on together, per The Associated Press. The latest court ruling comes after Jolie’s original request to remove Ouderkirk was denied last fall and Pitt won “significantly more time” with his kids earlier this summer.
Documents obtained by ET read that “the information disclosed concerning his recent professional relationships with Pitt’s counsel, might cause an objective person, aware of all the facts, reasonably to entertain a doubt as to the judge’s ability to be impartial. Disqualification is required.” Pitt and Ouderkirk are both allowed to appeal the decision.
A spokesperson for Brad Pitt also released a statement regarding the latest case update, per ET. “The appeals court ruling was based on a technical procedural issue, but the facts haven’t changed. There is an extraordinary amount of factual evidence which led the judge—and the many experts who testified—to reach their clear conclusion about what is in the children’s best interests,” the statement read. “We will continue to do what’s necessary legally based on those detailed findings of what’s best for the children.”
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