[6] Stern maintained an apartment in Santa Monica, California, from which he operated a business called Hot Smoochie Lips, Inc.,[7] a talent agency that had Anna Nicole Smith as a client.
[8][9] On September 28, 2006, Stern and Smith exchanged wedding vows in a legally nonbinding ceremony in Nassau, Bahamas.
[11] On February 21, 2007, hearings commenced in Florida's Broward County Circuit Court over the disposition of Smith's remains.
[17] On March 13, 2009, the California Attorney General and Los Angeles County District Attorney announced that they would be charging Stern, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich of conspiring to "commit the crimes of prescribing, administering and dispensing controlled substances to an addict."
I find there is no reason to permit this case to go forward," Los Angeles Superior Court judge Robert J. Perry told reporters.
The suit, filed in federal court in 2007 in Florida, alleges John O'Quinn, attorney for Virgie Arthur, defamed Stern in statements made on television after Smith's death.
The suit also claimed O'Quinn hired private investigators to invade Stern's privacy and collude with Rita Cosby.
The case was dismissed before the trial in 2010 after TMZ Productions, CBS, Stern and other defendants won summary judgments.
[29] Journalist Rita Cosby alleged in her book, Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death, released on September 4, 2007, that Smith's nannies revealed that a sex tape existed of Stern and photographer Larry Birkhead engaging in homosexual relations.
[32] In July 2009, in a court hearing on whether to dismiss the lawsuit, Stern's attorney claimed that in deposition of the suits, Cosby admitted there was no videotape and could not prove other allegations.
O'Quinn had used the same strategy before in corporate litigations, a death by a thousand cuts, Lin Wood explained.
[34] In August 2009, federal judge Denny Chin ruled that: "Cosby's actions are extremely troubling, and suggest that she was attempting to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses" and allowed most of Stern's lawsuit against Cosby to proceed, but dropped her publisher, Hachette, as defendant.