A federal judge has rejected a request for $44 million in sanctions against the estate of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith’s late stepson, despite finding that the case involved “litigants with a distinct disinterest in rules or ethics.”
“Stern’s equitable arguments are compelling, and the court is not insensitive to the unfairness to the surviving persons interested in this litigation,” U.S. District Judge David Carter wrote, referring to Howard K. Stern, executor of Smith’s estate. “Sympathy and righteousness, however, are not legal grounds for compensatory sanctions.”
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