The former Playmate of the Year won from the United States Supreme Court on Monday a new chance to collect millions of dollars she claims her late Texas oil tycoon husband promised her.
WASHINGTON: Former Playmate of the Year Anna Nicole Smith won from the United States Supreme Court on Monday a new chance to collect millions of dollars she claims her late Texas oil tycoon husband promised her.
The justices unanimously overturned a US appeals court ruling that the blonde widow was entitled to nothing because federal courts lacked jurisdiction to hear claims that are also involved in state probate hearings.
The high court sent the case back to the federal appeals court in California for more proceedings in the long-running legal battle involving the former Playboy centerfold, who had a reality television show.
Smith was 26 when she married oil tycoon J Howard Marshall in 1994. He was 89. They met three years earlier when she was working as a topless dancer in Houston.
Marshall was one of the wealthiest men in Texas, worth more than an estimated $1.6 billion. His death in 1995, after 14 months of marriage, triggered a legal battle between Smith and his son, E Pierce Marshall.
She claimed that her husband promised her half of his estate. The son said the more than $6 million in gifts she received in 1994 was all his father wanted her to get.
In Texas, a state probate court ruled that E Pierce Marshall was entitled to his father's estate.
But in California, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled for Smith and awarded her $474 million because of her claims the son had interfered with the inheritance she was supposed to receive.
A federal district court judge then cut Smith's award to $88 million. But the appeals court ruled she was entitled to nothing because federal courts lack jurisdiction in probate disputes.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in the ruling for the Supreme Court that the appeals court was wrong and the district court properly asserted jurisdiction over Smith's claims against the son.
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