THE FEDERAL COURT JUDGMENTS
Lawyer Philip Boesch, after lengthy court proceedings and trial, obtained for Anna Nicole Smith the “Number One Judgment in the Nation” (US Law Weekly) for $475,000,000, and then after a second trial, Philip Boesch obtained a second judgment in the U.S. District Court for $89,000,000.
WHERE WE WERE THEN
Anna Nicole died in 2007 of a medication overdose, less than a year after her son Daniel’s tragic death. Her young daughter and heir – Dannielynn – remains the beneficiary of Anna’s estate. Through these difficult years, Anna’s federal case against Pierce Marshall uniquely achieved two Supreme Court opinions: the first 5-4 opinion in Anna Nicole’s favor held that the Federal Courts had the proper jurisdiction to proceed to the Judgments that they rendered; years later, however, in a second 5-4 opinion, the Court held that a Texas state court Judgment, which had become final three weeks before the Federal District Court judge rendered his $89,000,000 Judgment in favor of Anna, should have “preclusive effect.”
Despite her death, Anna’s long and hard-fought battle for the inheritance promised to her by her late husband, oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, continued on for the benefit of her estate, and her daughter Dannielynn. After 24 years of estate litigation, the Court of Appeals Affirmed their previous decision that the Texas court had jurisdiction to adjudicate issues relating to J. Howard’s estate, including those that precluded Vickie’s claim.
