Estate of Anna Nichole Smith loses $300 mn court fight

SAN FRANCISCO - The estate of Anna Nichole Smith is not entitled to the $300 million that the late reality TV star was claiming from the heir of her oil-tycoon ex-husband, a federal

appeals court in San Francisco ruled Friday.

The ruling follows a 10-year battle between the late Smith and the son of J. Howard Marshall, who was 89 when he married the 26-year-old model in 1994 a few years after they met at a strip club.

Smith had claimed that Marshall had promised her $300 million, and that his son, E. Pierce Marshall, used “fraud and undue influence” to have her removed from the will.

Friday’s ruling confirmed an earlier ruling by a Texas jury that the money was not meant as a gift for Smith.

Smith died in 2007 from a prescription drug overdose. She is survived by her three-year-old daughter.