Anna Nicole Smith

Anna Nicole Smith


An internet lawsuit over Anna Nicole Smith has resulted in a real estate agent being sent to court for contempt of court.

Lyndal Harrington, from Houston, Texas, is accused of defamation in a civil suit brought by Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur.

Arthur took action against Harrington after she posted comments on an Internet blog allegedly making false remarks about Arthur's relationship with her daughter, who died of an accidental drugs overdose in 2007.

Harrington last week (beg 25May09) spent four nights in jail after failing to comply with a court order to turn over her computer to authorities. She claimed the machine had been stolen in a burglary less than a week after it was subpoenaed.

But a police officer told the Texan court he believed the theft had been staged, and Harrington was ordered to produce the computer by 2 July (09) or face further incarceration.

The suit names three other bloggers along with Smith's former lawyer-turned-lover, Howard K. Stern, and Larry Birkhead, the father of her daughter, Dannielynn.

Arthur alleges the defendants conspired to defame her so she wouldn't gain custody of Dannielynn, who stands to inherit up a multi-million dollar fortune

Birkhead was granted custody of the tot in 2007 after a DNA test proved him to be her father. Lawyers are currently battling in court over the two year old's inheritance from Smith's late husband, oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, who passed away in 1994.


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