<p><span>In this undated file photo, millionaire J. Howard Marshall II. The Texas oil tycoon died in 1995.</span></p>Temple Webber Photography, AP

<p class="indent">The state Supreme Court, in a ruling handed down Friday, denied a request by Judge Clayton Davis asking for an ad hoc judge to be appointed to replace a judge who has overseen the Harrier Trust, a case with ongoing litigation here in state district court.

<p class="indent">The ruling was based on a technicality because Davis had previously recused himself from the case prior to issuing the order for the ad hoc judge. The Supreme Court said it will, through different administrative means, appoint an ad hoc judge to hear a pending recusal motion to replace Judge Sharon Wilson who has been hearing the case and dealing with motions for two years.

<p class="indent">The case has had years of litigation in Texas and Louisiana courtrooms.

<p class="indent">The Harrier Trust is one of several trusts associated with the Marshall family.

<p class="indent">J. Howard Marshall II was a Texas oil tycoon who died in 1995. He was married to Anna Nicole Smith, a former Playboy playmate and reality television star who died of an accidental prescription overdose in 2007. She was 26 when she married the 89-year-old Marshall.

<p class="indent">The late Pierce Marshall Sr. was involved for years in litigation against Smith but she or her family never received anything from the Marshall estate or the family trust, which is governed under the Louisiana Trust Code.

<p class="indent">Elaine Marshall, the widow of Pierce Marshall Sr., was named by him as the sole trustee of the family trust with the power to name co-trustees, which she has done.

<p class="indent">One of those trustees named by Elaine Marshall is Judge Lilynn Cutrer, a longtime family judge in district court. The Harrier Trust includes large shares of Koch Industries, the nation’s second-largest privately owned company. Cutrer’s trustee fee alone could be as much as $18 million.

<p class="indent">Davis also expressed issues with Cutrer being named trustee but his concerns could not be addressed since he recused himself from hearing the case due to him being involved in business dealings with Hunter Lundy, a local attorney who represents Preston Marshall, one of Elaine Marshall’s sons, and who filed the motion to recuse Judge Wilson.

<p class="indent">Judge Davis also wanted the Supreme Court to recuse all judges in state district court from hearing the Harrier Trust case but it did not do so.

<p class="indent">Preston Marshall is the son of Pierce Sr. and Elaine Marshall and he was terminated from the Marshall family business in 2015 for alleged misconduct. He has been battling for a share of the family trust.

<p class="indent">Attorneys for Elaine Marshall say that Preston, since 2015, has waged a campaign of lawsuits in Louisiana and Texas seeking to disinherit his mother and brother, Pierce Marshall Jr., and trying to seize the family fortune and control over family trusts, foundations and entities.

<p class="indent">There are multiple local attorneys associated with both the case and the trust.