A RECAP OF ALL THE LAWSUITS SINCE THE DEATHS OF ANNA NICOLE SMITH AND HER HUSBAND

Houston Press
January 29, 2017

This week, the probate judge overseeing the decade-long civil case between feuding in-laws begged to be taken off the case, and ultimately recused himself. (He told them, "I don't want to deal with you people anymore.")

Since oil magnate J. Howard Marshall died a year after he married Smith, the Houston-born model and former Playboy playmate six decades his junior, his billion-dollar estate has been fought over. Here are the some of the stories we have written over the years about the litigious Marshalls and even the family of Smith.

Judge Begs Family of Anna Nicole Smith's Husband to Let Him Quit Case

Anna Nicole Smith, the big blond with the enormous breasts, has been dead for a decade. Her 90-year-old oil billionaire husband of 14 months, J. Howard Marshall II, has been ashes for more than 20 years. (She never picked up the urn.) But the fight over Marshall's estate is still going strong.

In fact, it's been dragging out for so long that it finally caused Probate Judge Mike Wood, a man who has overseen family quarrels severe enough to turn litigious for decades, to say he's done

Anna Nicole Smith: The U.S. Supreme Court Decides To Get Involved

The Anna Nicole Smith litigation, which seemingly has gone on as long as her career did, is not over yet. The U.S. Supreme Court, of all people, has decided to wade into the case and rule on whether a Houston jury made the right decision when it kept Smith from getting her hands on J. Howard Marshall's money.
The sometimes sad, sometimes heroically comic tale of the Mexia funtime gal goes on.

Flirting with Disaster

Chicken-shack waitress. Single mom. Playboy centerfold. Heiress. Walking coma. These are just a few of the terms people have used to describe the enigma that is Anna Nicole Smith. Once a curvy throwback to the days of Monroe, Mansfield and Ekberg, she's now a bloated, slurred, frighteningly gaudy emblem of dubiousness. It's a story that is nothing short of pathetic, and therefore it's funny. So who better to have her own reality show?

Larger Than Life

Until about five years ago, there lived in this town at least one grasping old man with an enormous appetite for pretty young women. His name was J. Howard Marshall II, and for many years, he lived respectably, doing something dull with oil. At last, he diversified his interests. He is chiefly remembered today as a most astounding old lecher.

Anna Nicole Smith’s Mom Files Suit Against Howard K. Stern, CBS Studios and KPRC Houston

It’s been quite a while since Anna Nicole Smith’s name was last mentioned in the news, but once again, the former Playboy centerfold and reality TV show star is front and center, thanks to a lawsuit filed by her mother in Harris County.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Here are some more details on the lawsuit filed by Anna Nicole’s mother.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH’S MOM FILES SUIT AGAINST HOWARD K. STERN, CBS STUDIOS AND KPRC HOUSTON

By Chris Vogel

Houston Press
October 11, 2007

It’s been quite a while since Anna Nicole Smith’s name was last mentioned in the news, but once again, the former Playboy centerfold and reality TV show star is front and center, thanks to a lawsuit filed by her mother in Harris County.

On Tuesday, Virgie Arthur, a retired police officer living in Montgomery County, sued Howard K. Stern, Smith’s longtime attorney and companion, CBS Studios Inc. and KPRC Houston for defamation and conspiracy to defame.

According to the lawsuit, Arthur alleges that in the months preceding Smith’s death Stern isolated Smith, whose real name is Vickie Lynn Marshall, from her family and controlled Smith by “providing her with prescription drugs, with some prescriptions obtained illegally in the name of defendant Stern and other persons, but intended for Ms. Marshall.”

After Smith’s son, Daniel Smith, died a drug-related death in September 2006, Arthur became greatly concerned about the safety of her daughter, but Stern prevented Arthur from “communicating with Ms. Marshall through normal channels,” it states in the lawsuit. So, Arthur reached out to her daughter through the media to warn her to be cautious about the people surrounding her.

In retaliation, it states in the lawsuit, Stern arranged for the TV program Entertainment Tonight, produced and distributed by CBS Studios, to interview Smith. Arthur alleges that Stern conspired with Smith and CBS to defame Arthur during the interview, in which Arthur was accused of being “complicit in alleged physical and sexual abuse” of Smith as a child.

Arthur claims that CBS aired portions of the interview in November 2006 and that KPRC then aired additional portions of the interview three months later. Arthur alleges that the “production to the public had a distinctly defamatory tenor.”

Arthur denies the allegations aired in the interview and in the lawsuit claims that, “the truth is that (Arthur) loved and cared about Ms. Marshall and never harmed Ms. Marshall or knowingly allowed harm to come to Ms. Marshall.”