Anna Nicole Smith's next husband better like her for her TrimSpa'd body, because that's about all she has going for her right now.
A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out a lower court judge's 2002 ruling that awarded Smith $88.5 million of her late billionaire husband's fortune.
Smith and Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II famously married in 1994 after meeting at a strip club--she was 26 and he was 89. He died 14 months later.
The former Playboy playmate and star of E!'s Anna Nicole Show had claimed she was entitled to the multimillion-dollar "gift" because her 90-year-old hubby promised to take care of her before he passed away.
In March 2002, U.S. District Court Judge David Carter agreed with Smith, saying she was indeed owed the cash. In Carter's 80-page ruling, he said that although the relationship of Smith and Marshall was "driven by greed and lust" the judge was "convinced of [Marshall's] love for her."
By making his decision, Carter overturned a Texas state probate court that had earlier deemed one of the oilman's sons, E. Pierce Marshall, the sole heir to the estate, effectively shutting out Smith.
On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Carter overstepped his judicial authority in even hearing the case three years ago. In the new decision, the appellate judges wrote, "It is undisputed that Texas law governs the 1982 trust and the last will and testament of J. Howard Marshall."
Pierce Marshall has been adamantly opposed to giving Smith a cut of his father's money, claiming the elder Marshall was manipulated by the sexy Smith and had been milked out of nearly $7 million worth of gifts when he was senile and dying. During their nine-year inheritance feud, the younger Marshall has accused "Miss Cleavage" (as he calls her) of trying to pocket a plus-sized amount of late husband's change, even though she was not mentioned in any of the tycoon's six wills.
Thursday's ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is a serious blow to Smith's hope of claiming any money from Marshall's estate.
Smith's attorney, Phillip Boesch, said he might appeal the decision to the entire 9th Circuit Court; if that failed, his only other hope would be an unlikely hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Smith, now 37, could not be reached for comment on the ruling Thursday.
While Smith watches a life of luxury slip away, a jubilant Pierce Marshall applauded the decision. "After nine years of litigation," he said in a statement, "I'm very pleased by the judgment issued by the 9th Circuit upholding my father's wishes regarding disposition of his assets."
This is not the first time the buxom beauty has experienced a court-related reversal of fortune. In 2000, a federal bankruptcy judge awarded her a massive $474 million chunk of her late husband's estate; however, that ruling was overturned in 2001.