Anna Nicole Smith Will Fight for $88 Million

By Stephen M. Silverman and Maureen Harrington

UPDATED 01/03/2005 at 06:40 PM EST • Originally published 01/03/2005 at 08:00 AM EST

Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer says last week's decision by a U.S. federal appeals court to strip the former Playboy pinup of $88.5 million awarded her from her late husband's estate is an "injustice" and has vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court.

"We will seek rehearing from the 9th Circuit as a whole, and the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary, which we believe will be as disturbed as we are by this ruling," Howard Stern, Smith's lawyer, tells PEOPLE.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week reversed an earlier judgement that awarded $88.5 million to Smith from the estate of her late billionaire husband J. Howard Marshall.

In 2002, after a bitter fight between Smith and Marshall's surviving son, E. Pierce Marshall, a federal judge in California ruled that the dying 90-year-old patriarch truly loved his then 26-year-old wife when he left her the huge chunk of change after his death in 1995.

Furthermore, the judge said that the younger Marshall had tried to rob Smith of her rightful inheritance by mounting a campaign of deceit and dishonesty.

But last week, the 9th U.S. Circuit upheld a previous Texas probate court's decision that the oilman's son was Marshall's sole heir.

In a statement after the new ruling, E. Pierce Marshall said: "After nine years of litigation, I'm very pleased by the judgment issued by the 9th Circuit upholding my father's wishes regarding disposition of his assets."