Monday, November 20, 2006
Page 3
Judge in Anna Nicole Paternity Suit to Rule on Jurisdiction
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The judge in the Los Angeles paternity suit involving the two-month-old daughter of former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith said Friday he will decide by December 13 whether the court has personal jurisdiction over Smith and her attorney/boyfriend Howard K. Stern.
Judge Robert A. Schnider said he will also decide by that time if Stern should be held in contempt for allegedly lying in a declaration filed with the court. Schnider made the announcement in court after meeting privately with the parties’ attorneys for 20 minutes.
Debra A. Opri, who represents Smith’s former boyfriend Larry Birkhead, told the MetNews that Stern lied in a declaration regarding service.
“You don’t go lying to a judge,” she added.
Stern’s attorney, James T. Neavitt of Valencia, had no comment.
In the suit, filed last month, Birkhead claims that he is the father of Smith’s daughter, and seeks a court order requiring the girl to undergo genetic testing. Smith and Stern have claimed that Smith is the father.
The child was born in the Bahamas three days before Smith’s 20-year-old son Daniel Smith died at her bedside in an apparent accidental drug overdose. Three weeks later, Smith and Stern engaged in a nonbinding commitment ceremony in the Bahamas.
Opri said she is very happy with the speed at which the case is progressing and expects her client to prevail. A related suit has been filed in the Bahamas.
Smith was represented at Friday’s hearing by Ron Rale of the Los Angeles firm Trope and Trope.
Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company