Washington – Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy Playmate and widow of a Texas oil billionaire, won a unanimous ruling from the Supreme Court on Monday that clears the way for her to claim as much as $500 million from her late husband’s estate.
But the decision does not finally resolve the 11-year-old legal dispute, which has bounced back and forth between the state courts of Texas and the federal courts in California.
The court battle has been fought over who lied and schemed to get shares of the estate of Howard Marshall: his son or his widow.
Marshall was 89 years old and worth an estimated $1.6 billion in 1994 when he married the 26-year-old model. He died a year later, and the fight was on.
A Texas court backed the oilman’s son, E. Pierce Marshall, but a federal bankruptcy judge backed Smith.
In a victory for the widow, the Supreme Court tossed out a decision saying federal judges had no authority to decide a lawsuit she brought against her stepson. She claimed he schemed and forged documents to deprive her of a huge gift her husband promised her before his death.
Despite his loss Monday, Pierce Marshall vowed to fight on. “I will fight to clear my name in California federal court. That is a promise (she) and her lawyers can take to the bank,” he said.
So far, both sides have taken plenty of money to their lawyers, not to the bank. Experts in bankruptcy law agreed the battle will drag on.
“There is a long way to go between here and her ability to collect any money judgment against Pierce Marshall,” said Craig Goldblatt, a Washington lawyer who filed a court brief on behalf of experts in bankruptcy.
