LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith won a victory in federal court as a bankruptcy judge voided a Texas court's decision that had declared her ineligible for a $474 million inheritance.
Judge Samuel Bufford agreed Tuesday with Smith's claim that the Texas judgment violated federal laws, said Philip Boesch, an attorney representing Smith.
Smith has been battling in the courts 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.