Anna Nicole Smith heirs are losers in Supreme Court

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.