Stern Backs Down from DNA Appeal

The world just got one step closer to finding out who really fathered Dannielynn.

Howard K. Stern has dropped his bid to block the release of the infant's DNA test results, after it became apparent that a Bahamian Court of Appeal was less than sympathetic to his cause.

A lawyer for Stern withdrew the challenge Monday after the three-judge panel expressed skepticism over Stern's reasons for objecting to the DNA testing, but before they issued a ruling on the matter.

All three judges noted that Stern waited too long to file his challenge, stating that he should have raised his objections before the testing was ordered in the paternity case filed by rival would-be baby daddy Larry Birkhead.

Justice Emmanuel E. Osadebay pointed out that Stern himself agreed to DNA testing, and even suggested an expert to perform the test, but waited until a week after the sample was taken to file the challenge.

"His problem is that the person he wanted to do the testing was not the one selected by the court," Osadebay said.

In withdrawing his challenge, Stern agreed to cover $5,000 of legal costs incurred by Birkhead, as well as $5,000 in attorney's fees to the Bahamas Registrar General, the department that deals with birth certificates. Such sanctions are generally imposed when the court considers an appeal to be frivolous.

For now, the results of Dannielynn's Mar. 21 DNA test remain confidential. Because Stern is listed as her father on her birth certificate, he was not required to submit a sample of his own.

Birkhead, on the other hand, was only too eager to present his cheek for the requisite swabbing last month, as was less likely paternal candidate Prince Frederic Von Anhalt, even though no one asked him to do so.

Another hearing in the paternity case is scheduled for Tuesday in the Bahamas, but in accordance with Bahamian legal rules, all involved parties are staying mum with regard to its nature.

Though Stern's decision to withdraw his challenge is a positive development for Birkhead, the paternity crusader was also hit with some not so good news over the weekend.

Birkhead reportedly received a bill from his former attorney, Debra Opri, for services rendered up until the duo's professional parting of the ways last month, with total charges in excess of $620,000, according to tmz.com.

In addition to charging $475 an hour for her lawyerly services, Opri billed Birkhead for extras  such as the more than $4,000 in cell phone roaming fees she racked up while in the Bahamas as well as thousands of dollars in restaurant bills for dinners at which he was not even present.

However, Opri generously offered Birkhead a reduced rate of $511,365.09, on the condition that he paid her immediately with no further haggling.

Opri issued a statement Monday defending her accounting system and decrying the chain of events that resulted in the details of Birkhead's bill becoming public fodder. 

"I cannot comment on unauthenticated documents which were disseminated to the media under suspicious circumstances, and which are covered by the attorney-client privilege," Opri said.

"I can assure you, however, that all of the fees and expenses incurred on behalf of Mr. Birkhead were reasonable, necessary, and appropriate, given the complexity and magnitude of this very high profile case that was litigated in two different states and a foreign country."

As far as Birkhead's concerned, the matter's not up for discussion. At least not publicly.

"I have absolutely no comment nor have I made any comment on any situation pertaining to any attorney's bill," he wrote on his official Website Monday.

Birkhead also took the opportunity to clear up reports that he had obtained a trademark on the phrase "Good Night, My Sweet Anna Baby" for use in book, movie or TV deals.

"I have never requested a trademark, signed or filled out any paperwork on a trademark relating to Anna Nicole Smith, and the saying 'Goodnight My Sweet Anna Baby,' " Birkhead wrote. "The form was filled out by another individual on my behalf."

Birkhead said he would seek to have the trademark on the phrase, which was his standard goodnight sendoff to Smith, "withdrawn or canceled on the grounds that it was not approved by me."

He also weighed in on a couple of monetary matters, denying reports that he had been participating in high-stakes poker games in the Bahamas at $1,500 a hand ("I do not even know how to play poker…") and urging his supporters not to send him any donations for his legal bills.

"Previously someone set up a 'Save Dannielynn' defense fund for me (again without my authorization) and some individuals sent in donations before the 'fund' was discovered by me," he wrote. "I demanded that person who initiated the fund to immediately cease any unauthorized collection on my behalf."

Judging from the size of Opri's bill, he may want to reconsider.