EBN-In addition to the ongoing custody battle between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie regarding their pre-divorce employment and child custody, Brad Pitt’s name has entered the legal system once more. New Orleans Hurricane Katrina victims have sued the actor and his nonprofit organization, Make It Right, for $20.5 million in a class-action lawsuit, claiming that their homes were defective.
Brad Pitt’s court appearance request
Brad Pitt, 61, started a project to replace damaged homes with environmentally friendly ones after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005. In the poorest areas of New Orleans, these houses were intended to serve as a refuge for people who had lost everything. Through his Make It Right Foundation, Pitt invested $12 million to construct 150 eco-friendly residences. The owners of these residences have now, almost twenty years later, filed a class-action lawsuit against him and his nonprofit, which started in 2018.
The homeowners are suing Brad Pitt’s charitable foundation for fraud, breach of contract, and unfair business practices. They claim the foundation failed to properly build homes and are struggling to cover repairs. A court ruling ordered Pitt’s foundation to provide key documents, but he refuses due to his busy film schedule. His absence could create scheduling issues and potential legal and financial consequences for the studio.
An agreement that was not completed
Global Green, an environmental charity supported by celebrities, promised to pay Brad Pitt and his foundation $20.5 million in 2022, but the transaction fell through. The charity allegedly believed Brad would step in and provide some kind of contribution because they lacked the funds to pay the settlement. Pitt, meanwhile, has declared that he never accepted the Global Green agreement.
A representative for the celebrity told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023 that “there was interest in exploring their proposal when they reached out to his team announcing a $20.5 million grant secured from generous donors, as Brad has supported the Global Green Foundation for many years.” “The foundation stated that they had already been given this money and intended to use it to resolve all of the homeowners’ claims in the ongoing lawsuit.”
