The Supreme Court dealt a defeat to the heirs of Anna Nicole Smith

June 23, 2011, 9:47 a.m.

The Supreme Court dealt a defeat to the heirs of Anna Nicole Smith in a long-running estate battle that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. compared with Charles Dickens' "Bleak House," about the endless court fight that outlives all the main players.



The decision is a victory for the Texas heirs of Smith's late billionaire husband, J. Howard Marshall. His son, Pierce Marshall, also died during the course of the litigation.





Vickie Lynn Marshall, who was better known as Anna Nicole Smith, married the aged oil billionaire a year before his death. Though he had given her many gifts and apparently promised many more, she was not included in his will.



She sued in a Texas probate court, alleging that Pierce, the prime heir, had conspired to deny her the more than $300 million she said her late husband had promised her. She also filed separately for bankruptcy in California. Pierce Marshall filed a claim there against her in the California bankruptcy court, alleging she had defamed him with her accusations.




Since 1999, the federal courts in California, overseeing the bankruptcy judge, have been dueling with Texas probate courts over who has the authority to resolve the disputes. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court said the Texas probate court, and not a bankruptcy judge in California, had the authority to resolve the estate dispute.



Roberts devoted most of his opinion to explaining the limits on the authority of a bankruptcy judge to resolve matters that go beyond the bankruptcy.