The Associated Press
Anna Nicole Smith, shown in 1991, was awarded $88 million by a federal judge in the dispute over late husband's estate.

Smith wins latest estate battle

Olympian news services

Originally published Friday, March 8, 2002

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A federal judge awarded former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith more than $88 million in damages Thursday in the latest ruling in a bitter legal fight over the estate of her late husband, Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II.

U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter ruled Thursday that Marshall's son, E. Pierce Marshall, had interfered with Smith's attempt to get part of her late husband's oil fortune, estimated at hundreds of million of dollars.

"The evidence of willfulness, maliciousness and fraud is overwhelming," Carter wrote.

He found that E. Pierce Marshall and others spied on the couple and controlled Smith's access to her husband just before he died.

E. Pierce Marshall released a statement saying he would appeal the decision.

NEW YORK -- As master of his televised domain, Jerry Seinfeld handled all manner of urban headaches -- the dearth of parking spaces, the abundance of construction noise.

Now the comedian has found a permanent solution to problem No. 1 while contributing to problem No. 2: He's building a private Manhattan parking garage.

Seinfeld's 20-car Upper West Side garage, which would house his collection of Porsches, first was reported Wednesday in The New York Observer.

The garage already is two years in the making and is scheduled for completion in June. And some neighbors are less than amused by the heavy drilling this week to complete digging of a basement.

Seismographs have been installed to monitor the effects of the drilling on nearby buildings, and at least two businesses are closing temporarily or limiting their hours to avoid the noise.

NEWARK, N.J. -- Richard Pryor has won the return of master recordings made early in his career by settling his lawsuit against a Middlesex County enterprise.

The 60-year-old comedian sought the materials because he's ill with multiple sclerosis, said his lawyer, William J. Heller.

"He has engaged in efforts to recapture his rights so he can take care of his family," Heller said.

Last spring, Pryor sued Michael Chernow and his Sayreville-based companies, M.B. Music Inc. and San Juan Music Group Ltd., claiming the defendants infringed on his property rights.

Chernow agreed to return the recordings and refrain from any infringement. He admitted no wrongdoing.

In return, Pryor paid $10,000, Chernow said. That was the sum M.B. Music paid in 1988 for the assets of the bankrupt LaffRecords, which Pryor had licensed to market some of his recordings, according to findings by U.S. District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise.

The year before, however, Pryor had reacquired all rights to the material from the bankruptcy trustee, Debevoise found. He approved the settlement Feb. 27.

LOS ANGELES -- Former "Beverly Hills, 90210" actor Ian Ziering wants to end his nearly five-year marriage to ex-Playboy Playmate Nikki Ziering.

Ziering, 37, cited irreconcilable differences in divorce papers filed on Feb. 28 in Superior Court.

He and the former Natalie Jo Schieler were married in 1997. They have no children.

Ziering is best known as Steve Sanders, the smart-aleck teen who was expelled from both high school and college on "Beverly Hills, 90210," which aired from 1990-2000.

His 30-year-old wife made a guest appearance on the series and has been a model on the game show "The Price is Right."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

back to People index