News Corporation is facing its first phone-hacking lawsuit in the US after a former stunt double for Angelina Jolie launched a lawsuit alleging her mobile phone messages were intercepted by the now defunct News of the World and the Sun.

The civil claim opens up a potential new frontline in News Corporation's battle to close the scandal, with the Sun accused of phone hacking for the first time.

Eunice Huthart, who is British, worked with the star from 2001 on blockbuster movies including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Salt and Mr and Mrs Smith. She had previously enjoyed TV fame in the 1990s as Blaze in the UK entertainment show Gladiators.

She alleges that messages left on her phone were hacked when she was working in the US in 2005 on Mr & Mrs Smith.

Eunice Huthart as Blaze in UK TV show Gladiators. Photograph: ITV/Rex Features

Huthart claims in court papers filed in Los Angeles that "illegal activities were undertaken ... principally through the two newspapers, the Sun and the News of the World".

She cites several stories in the two titles, including a report in the Sun that she had started a relationship with her co-star Brad Pitt on the set of Mr & Mrs Smith, something that only their bodyguards, their PAs and Huthart knew.

The documents cite another story in the Sun that revealed she was wanted to go on motorbike rides with Pitt, in relation to the hacking allegations.

Huthart says she arranged for a friend to teach Jolie on his farm in Kent, but the stuntman's messages in relation to the lessons were intercepted.

"These messages appeared to have been hacked and deleted before she heard them," the documents say.

Huthart also claims a story in the News of the World revealing that Jolie was considering giving up acting came from eavesdropping on her phone messages.

Huthart says she and Jolie "developed a close friendship and often travelled and socialised together". They spent Christmas together in 2003 and 2004 and Huthart is godmother to Jolie's first biological child.

She claimed she did not receive messages left by family members and that her husband complained that she had not been responding to his messages.

"During one period when the plaintiff was in Los Angeles working on the film Mr & Mrs Smith, her daughter called several times to report that she was being bullied in school in Liverpool, England. Although plaintiff's daughter left messages asking her mother to call her back, plaintiff did not receive those messages and could not console her daughter."

The court papers say her husband also criticised her for not returning calls and "became very insecure as a result" and suspected her of having an affair.

The papers were lodged by Norman Siegal, the New York attorney who represented families of the victims of the September 11 victims.

The stunt double claims Jolie told her several times she had called Huthart and left messages and that she did not receive them because they had already been listened to.

On one occasion, Jolie had left a message on Huthart's phone to tell her she had checked into a hotel using the pseudonym Pocahontas but she went to the hotel not knowing what name to ask for even though Jolie had left this information on a voicemail. "Plaintiff never received it," says the documents.

"Ms Jolie had communicated with plaintiff on this subject prior to the article appearing in the newspaper, and would leave messages on plaintiff's cellphone, some of which she did not receive," the court filings say.

Huthart is seeking compensatory, statutory and punitive damages for violations of the Stored Communications Act, the Wiretap Act, the California constitution, and invasion of privacy and intrusion into private affairs.

News Corporation declined to comment.