Judge Awards Former Playmate Nearly $450 Million

L O S  A N G E L E S, Sept. 27 -- A federal bankruptcy judge awarded formerPlayboy Playmate of the Year Anna Nicole Smith $449.7 milliontoday in her claim to the estate of her late billionairehusband, Texas oilman J. Howard Marshall.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Samuel Bufford ruled that Marshall’syoungest son, E. Pierce Marshall had deprived Smith “of herexpectancy of an inheritance.”

The decision also will result in Smith being awarded punitivedamages, her attorney, Philip Boesch Jr., told The Associated Presstonight.

Smith, her attorney said, was “very pleased” and believes theruling “puts the matter to rest.”

Family FeudSmith testified last year that E. Pierce Marshall defrauded herof between $556 million and $820 million she was entitled to as hershare of her late husband’s estate.

The former model for Playboy, Guess jeans and other magazinesand advertisements, was working as a stripper at a topless bar inHouston when she met Marshall. She was 26 and he was 89 when theywere married in 1994.

He died the following year at age 90, leaving behind a fortuneestimated at as much as $1.6 billion.

Smith, who uses her married name of Vickie Lynn Marshall incourt documents, claims her husband intended she would receive halfof his estate.

“He wanted to make me happy,” she testified last year. “Mywish was his command.”

But when he died in 1995, Marshall’s will bequeathed everythingto the younger of his two sons.

Bufford ruled that Smith’s expected inheritance was based on her“widow’s election,” or right to elect against her husband’s will,“which made no provision for her.”

Marshall’s son disagreed, saying various trusts and wills leftbehind by his father made it clear he and his older brother, HowardMarshall III, should get everything. He also contended that hisfather’s estate was not worth anywhere near $1.6 billion.