Bienert Katzman Littrell Williams LLP attorneys Thomas J. Bienert, Jr. and Tony Bisconti secured a dismissal of contempt proceedings initiated against their client Edwin Hunter (“Hunter”), the trusts and estate attorney for J. Howard Marshall II, by Howard K. Stern, the executor of the estate of Vickie Lynn Marshall, a.k.a. Anna Nicole Smith (“Vickie Lynn”).

Stern had filed a motion seeking sanctions against Hunter and the estate of E. Pierce Marshall (“Pierce”), J. Howard Marshall’s son, alleging that Hunter’ s and Pierce’s misconduct during the protracted litigation over Vickie Lynn’s and J. Howard Marshall II’s marriage and estates caused a $44 million loss. 

In late 2013, BKLW filed a motion to dismiss the sanctions proceedings against Hunter on the grounds that Hunter and Vickie Lynn had entered into a settlement agreement in 2000 through which Vickie Lynn had released Hunter for any liability for sanctions in exchange for $350,000 (“Agreement”).  The Agreement, therefore, precluded Stern from pursuing or benefiting from sanctions against Hunter. 

In August 2014, a judge in the United States District Court for the Central District of California issued an order denying Stern’s motion for sanctions, finding that the Agreement barred recovery against Hunter. 

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