Saturday, January 01, 2005

Anna Nicole done in by probate exception to federal jurisdiction

In Marshall v. Marshall, that is, the Anna Nicole Smith case, the Ninth Circuit held, among other things, that "all federal courts, including bankruptcy courts, are bound by the probate exception to federal court jurisdiction and that we are required to refrain from deciding state law probate matters, no matter how the issue is framed by the parties." (You can add that one to the list of favorites, along with Younger and Princess Lida and Rooker-Feldman and Heck v. Humphreys.)

Anna Nicole famously married a rich old guy, who gave her a bundle during his life but nothing on his death, so she sued and lost in state court, sued and won millions somehow in the bankruptcy court, but then lost it again on this appeal.

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