Court: Anna Nicole Smith estate to get none of $300M-plus she said late oil baron promised her
By Paul Elias, APFriday, March 19, 2010
Court: Anna Nicole Smith gets none of oil fortune
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court says Anna Nicole Smith’s estate will receive none of the more than $300 million that she claimed her late billionaire husband had promised her.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest stop in the 15-year legal battle over the $1.6 billion estate that oil magnate J. Howard Marshall left after his 1995 death at age 90. Smith had married Marshall the previous year.
The appeals court ruled Friday that a Texas jury’s 2001 verdict should be honored because it had heard from all parties during the five-month trial. The jury ruled in favor of Marshall’s son, E. Pierce Marshall.
The appeals court says subsequent federal court decisions that granted Smith various parts of Marshall’s fortune should be ignored.
