Playboy model wins 'lucrative' victory
2001-09-27 08:12
Los Angeles - Former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith won a victory as a bankruptcy judge voided a Texas court's decision that had declared
her ineligible for a $474 million inheritance.
Judge Samuel Bufford agreed on Tuesday with Smith's claim that the
Texas judgment violated federal laws, said Philip Boesch, Smith's
attorney.
Smith has been battling for the right to claim an inheritance
from her late husband, J Howard Marshall II. His son, E Pierce
Marshall, has argued that Smith has no claim to the oil tycoon's
estate.
In December, Bufford finalised a previous ruling awarding Smith $474 million from the estate. E Pierce Marshall then filed new
claims in Texas and a jury found that Smith had no claim to the
estate. Tuesday's ruling voided that decision.
US District Judge David O Carter has scheduled a hearing for
December in which Smith and Marshall must testify before a final
decision is made on the award.
Because of Tuesday's ruling, "the federal court jurisdiction
will proceed and the appeals process will proceed in California,"
Boesch said.
David Margulies, a spokesman for Marshall, said on Tuesday that the
bankruptcy court's ruling did not address the Texas court's finding
that Smith has no right to the estate.
Smith, 33, met her former husband in 1991 when she was dancing
at a Houston strip club. They married in 1994 and he died the
following year at age 90. - Sapa/AP
- SAPA