The U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in Stern v. Marshall was the capstone in the epic battle involving the late tabloid siren Anna Nicole Smith over oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II’s estimated $1.6 billion estate. The opinion by Chief Judge John Roberts Jr. likened the 16 years of litigation to the protracted lawsuit in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House, which “drags its weary length before the Court.” (For a timeline of events in the case, scroll down.)
The case is perhaps the most publicized piece of estate and bankruptcy litigation ever to reach the high court. But that had everything to do with celebrity and very little to do with substance.
