Designer wins court case against Brad and Angelina

A FRENCH interior designer has won a court case against Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie after the former Hollywood couple failed to pay for her lighting work on their French castle, according to reports.

The Paris court of appeal ordered a company belonging to Mr Pitt and Ms Jolie to pay Odile Soudant €565,000 (£515,308), reported the Libération newspaper on Wednesday.

Although the ruling was back in April, the information has only been made public this week, it said. Ms Soudant is now suing to be legally recognised as the creator of the project.

According to the paper, Mr Pitt and Ms Jolie never paid up for a project to transform the Chateau Miraval, near Aix-en-provence in southern France, where the stars got married in 2014.

The A-listers, who divorced last year, had hired Ms Soudant and her 17 workers to carry out a €25 million (£22.8 million) project to use natural light to brighten the 40-bedroom chateau.

Ms Soudant worked in a studio in Paris to design the adjustments, only to partially complete the redesigns in full scale at the actual property.

However, Ms Soudant said that Mr Pitt suddenly stopped paying the bills, even though he continued to ask her to keep working. She had not signed a contract prior to the work beginning.

“Odile, I need you. Come here please. I need you to finish,” Mr Pitt wrote in an email, according to court documents seen by Libération.

Mr Pitt continued to plead with the French designer when things turned sour over the lack of payment.

“I don’t know how things happen in France but in the US, friends don’t attack friends. Let’s finish the project and be proud of it. The work is too good to end on a bad note,” he wrote.

The payout to Ms Soudant included €60,000 in damages for her reputation, which she claims is in pieces after the failed chateau project.

The Daily Telegraph has contacted Ms Soudant for comment.