J. Howard Marshall

James Howard Marshall II (January 24, 1905 – August 4, 1995) was an American

Born in the

In 1946, he drafted the executive order creating the National Petroleum Council (US).^[7] In 1952, he became Executive Vice President at Signal Oil & Gas under Samuel B. Mosher. In 1961, he became President of Union Texas Petroleum and moved to Houston. In 1967, he became Executive Vice President of Allied Chemical (now Honeywell). He was also a director of Coastal Corporation.^[7] In 1984, he formed Marshall Petroleum, which was primarily a holding company for his interest in Koch Industries.

Koch Industries

In 1952, Marshall co-founded Great Northern Oil, which, in 1955, built an

Marshall married Eleanor Pierce in 1931 and divorced in 1961. They had two sons together: J. Howard Marshall III (born February 6, 1936) and E. Pierce Marshall (January 12, 1939 – June 20, 2006). His second marriage, to Bettye Bohannon, lasted from 1961 until her death from Alzheimer's disease in 1991.

In 1982, he met "Lady" Diane Walker at a

In 1994, at the age of 89, he married 26-year-old model Anna Nicole Smith. Their marriage lasted until his death 14 months later.

Eldest son left out of estate

In 1980, when Marshall's eldest son,

On August 4, 1995, Marshall died of pneumonia at age 90 in Houston, Texas.^[10] Following Marshall's death, Anna Nicole Smith (who died on February 8, 2007) became involved in a court battle with her former stepson, E. Pierce Marshall (who died on June 20, 2006). J. Howard's will and trust did not include Anna Nicole or J. Howard's other son, J. Howard Marshall III. Anna Nicole and J. Howard III both sought to overturn the will and trust. In 2001, they both lost their cases during a six-month Texas state court jury trial.^[11]

During the probate proceedings, Smith declared bankruptcy in California and was awarded $474 million as a sanction for E. Pierce Marshall’s alleged misconduct in discovery.^[12] In 2002, the bankruptcy judgment was vacated and Smith’s award was reduced to $88 million in a United States district court in California.^[13] In December 2004, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the District Court decision under the probate exception, ruling that the federal courts lacked subject matter jurisdiction over state probate matters. The Ninth Circuit decision also affirmed the primacy of Texas Probate decision which determined that no misconduct had taken place and that Smith was not one of J. Howard Marshall's heirs.^[14] However, on May 1, 2006, the Supreme Court of the United States in Marshall v. Marshall reversed the Ninth Circuit's decision regarding the probate exception, allowing Smith another opportunity to pursue her claims in federal court. The case was remanded to the Ninth Circuit for adjudication of the remaining appellate issues.^[15][16] On June 25, 2009, the same three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments on the remaining appellate issues.^[17] On March 19, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its second opinion on remand, finding in favor of E. Pierce Marshall, that the California Bankruptcy Court did not have jurisdiction and the California Federal District Court was precluded from reviewing matters already decided in the Texas Probate Court.^[18]

On September 28, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court again agreed to hear the case.^[19] On June 23, 2011, the United States Supreme court decided the case in a 5–4 decision in favor of the Marshall family (now styled Stern v. Marshall 10-179). The majority of the Court decided Congress cannot constitutionally authorize non-Article III bankruptcy judges final order jurisdiction on state law based counterclaims to proofs of claim which are not necessary to resolve the claim itself.^[20]

Marshall's eldest son, J. Howard Marshall III, lost his case in Texas probate court and also lost a counterclaim against him for fraud with malice. The jury originally awarded E. Pierce Marshall $35 million in damages but the probate court reduced that amount to $10 million. J. Howard Marshall III then filed for bankruptcy in California and was discharged by the same bankruptcy judge that had administered Smith's bankruptcy. This decision was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Dispute over pledge to alma mater

In 1976, Marshall pledged $4 million to his alma mater, Haverford College. However, by the time of his death in 1995, Marshall had only contributed $2 million. Haverford sued his estate in a Houston probate court; in April 2003, a jury found that Haverford had not been injured because it had not relied on Marshall's pledges.^[21]

See also

• History of the petroleum industry in the United States

References