J. Howard Marshall III
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James Howard Marshall III, is the son of J. Howard Marshall II, and brother to E. Pierce Marshall.
In 1995, J. Howard Marshall III filed suit against the estate of his father, J. Howard Marshall II. He claimed that his brother, E. Pierce Marshall had withheld half of his father's fortune, which according to J. Howard Marshall III was supposed to have been bequethed to him. J. Howard Marshall II disinherited his older son over a 1980 business dispute involving Koch Industries, Inc. stock. J. Howard Marshall III, who founded MDH Industries (a Los Angeles electronics company), claimed he and his father resolved their differences and he was re-assured he would receive half of his father's estate worth $1.6 billion. These claims were later found by a jury to be without merit and his fathers will and trust were upheld.
J. Howard Marshall III amended his lawsuit, in December 1998, to include Charles Koch and Donald Cordes as defendants, alleging that they used undue influence to cause his father to restructure his estate plan to suit their purposes. Charles Koch was the CEO of Koch Industries, Inc. and Donald Cordes was Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Howard III's claims against Charles Koch and Donald Cordes were later proven to be unsubstantiated and were dismissed for lack of evidence.
Koch Industries, Inc. in 1980 had a dispute between its shareholders in which two sides emerged, one led by Charles Koch and the other by his own brother, William Koch. J. Howard Marshall III owned a small percentage of the stock to that company, less than 4%, but it was enough to be the swing vote for a short period. While J. Howard Marshall II and E. Pierce Marshall supported Charles Koch, J. Howard Marshall III sided with William Koch, sparking the family fued that followed.
Angry with his son, J. Howard Marshall II threatened to disinherit J. Howard Marshall III completely if he did not cooperate. Behind closed doors, he offered to buy out the Koch Industries shares he had previously given his son as a gift. After learning he no longer had a swing vote position, J. Howard Marshall III agreed to sell his interests in Koch Industries for the amount of $8 million. According to Howard III, the verbal agreement was that J. Howard Marshall II would NOT disinherit him from his estate, as he had previously threatened and that his mother would receive a $100,000 per year allowance.
In J. Howard Marshall III's lawsuit, the jury found that Howard II's will and trust were valid; they were not the subject of fraud, undue influence or testamentary incapacity; E. Pierce Marshall (and others) had not committed any wrongdoing; and that Howard III had committed fraud with actual malice against his father's estate and awarded his brother $35 million.
In 1994, however, the Marshall family was thrown yet another curve, when their father, lonely and grieving the death of his wife of 30 years, Bettye Bohannon in 1991, wed Anna Nicole Smith, model and former Playboy Magazine Playmate of the Year (1993), who at that time was aged 26. J. Howard Marshall II was 89 and the marriage lasted 14 months, up until his death.
