As nearly everyone knows by know, Anna Nicole Smith, celebrity, died yesterday in Florida under mysterious circumstances. While her celebrity arose out of a myriad of projects, she is also well known for her involvement in one of the highest profile estate litigation lawsuits in the U.S. over the past several years.
In 1995, Smith married 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall, who died a mere 15 months later. Shortly thereafter, Smith discovered that her elderly husband had left her nothing in his will. She sued his son, E. Pierce Marshall, for interfering with her right to receive support from J. Howard's estate in Texas state court. Then it got really interesting.
In 1996, Smith filed for bankruptcy in California federal court, claiming that E. Pierce's actions were responsible for her dire financial situation. Similar to Canada, in the U.S., estate & probate matters are regulated by the state, while bankruptcy is a federal matter. A couple of counterclaims were filed by each party in federal court and in 2000, the court awarded Smith $475 million dollars, ruling that E. Pierce was involved in a conspiracy with the estate's lawyers to prevent Smith from receiving part of the estate. Smith, apparently feeling like justice had been served, withdrew her initial lawsuit.
E. Pierce, of course, appealed this ruling to the federal district court, saying that the district court had jurisdiction over probate matters, thanks to a little known exception that allows federal courts jurisdiction over estate matters only if it doesn't interfere with state probate proceedings. The federal district court agreed, but threw out the bankruptcy court's decision in favor of doing its own review. It's review essentially found the same as the bankruptcy court, but lowered Smith's award to $88.5 million. Smith - 2, E.Pierce - 0.
Meanwhile, E. Pierce had filed his own action in Texas state court to determine the validity of J. Howard's will. In 2001, the Texas state court ruled that the will was valid, meaning that Smith wasn't entitled to anything.
He caught another break in 2004, when his appeal to the Ninth Circuit was successful. The Ninth Circuit ruled that the district court had interfered with state probate proceedings in its ruling.
So Smith appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case. On May 1, 2006, the Supreme Court found in Smith's favor, holding that a federal district court had concurrent jurisdiction with state probate courts in in personam cases.
All of that was thrown into a bit of dissaray when E. Pierce died just a month after the verdict. His widow is now acting on behalf of the estate. It remains to be seen what will happen now that Anna Nicole herself has passed away. Whether someone will decide to continue arguing the case on behalf of her beneficiaries (which at this point include her husband, Howard K. Stern, and baby daughter, Dannielynn) remains to be seen.
Today, a judge in California ruled that Anna Nicole's body must be preserved pending the hearing of a paternity suit involving Dannielynn. Why the body would need to be preserved is unclear, although concurrent speculation that her husband may have been supplying her with an excessive amount of prescription drugs makes the whole thing really suspicious.
It's a sad, tragic tale. It would appear that the only people benefitting from all of this are the lawyers hired to sort everything out. Let's hope for all of us that it gets sorted out soon.