A Victory for the Rule of Law
Robert Alt /
Do you remember Anna Nicole Smith? The Playboy model died from a drug overdose back in 2007, but the litigation over her late husband J. Howard Marshall’s estate lived on. After forum shopping for a friendly venue and multiple appeals that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court (where Anna Nicole’s appearance at oral arguments was widely covered by the press), recent decisions from the federal appeals court in California hearing the case suggest that it is finally coming to a close: her husband’s estate plan, which did not include the millions of dollars which she sought, will be honored. This is a good outcome not only for the proper recipients of Marshall’s estate, but for the rule of law, and, as I argued previously here, for Americans who wish to have some assurance that their estate plans are honored as they intend them.
Recapping the case briefly, in an attempt to gain more than the millions in cash and gifts that she had received during his life, Anna Nicole challenged her wealthy husband’s estate plan, claiming that he had made a verbal promise of half of his fortune—a claim which was flatly contradicted by his very detailed, written estate plan. The jury in Texas probate court didn’t buy this self-serving story, so she shopped for a more receptive court in California, and she found one in a federal bankruptcy court. On what was already the second appeal, the Ninth Circuit dismissed the millions awarded by the court based upon a federal jurisdictional rule, but the Supreme Court in 2006 reversed, saying that the federal court could consider the merits of the case. (more…)