Anna Nicole To Stay In House

Emerick Knowles, who represents South Carolina businessman G. Ben Thompson, who claims to own the house, told the Journal on Thursday that he intended to file Friday to get that stay of judgment set aside, and resume eviction proceedings against Ms. Smith if she does not voluntarily leave.

"If the court finds that our judgment was right, then she would be deemed to be a trespasser going back to the date the judgment was issued," he said.

Mr. Knowles explained that he had entered a default judgment for damages – for trespassing – against Ms. Smith on Tuesday.

He told the Journal he had sent a letter to Ms. Smith Tuesday afternoon giving her 48 hours to vacate the house.

He said that his firm, Alexiou Knowles and Co., had served a writ on Ms. Smith personally on November 11, in the presence of her lawyer, Wayne Munroe, who is now named as a co-defendant in the proceedings.

That writ sought a declaration that Mr. Thompson is the owner of the million-dollar oceanfront residence formerly owned by Ron H. Kelly.

When the two-week deadline for a response to the writ had passed on Tuesday, Mr. Knowles entered the judgment in default. While it is not a judgment by a judge, it is a judgment by the rules, and is equally legally binding upon the parties.

However, Mr. Munroe’s lawyer, Cedric Parker, appeared before Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court and got an order for the judgment to be suspended for three months or until the judgment is set aside.

At the same time, Mr. Parker filed an application to get the default judgment set aside as "irregular."

It appears that because Mr. Thompson’s writ demanded a declaration, it was improper for Mr. Knowles to enter a judgment without a declaration having been obtained.

Mr. Knowles told the Journal he intended to file on Friday to get that order set aside, insisting that it was obtained "ex parte" and therefore contrary to the rules.

"What they have done by wrongfully entering a judgment, in my view, is to delay the trial," Mr. Munroe told the Journal on Thursday.

He explained that the date set for the Deputy Registrar to hear the application to set the judgment aside is February 12.

By that time, Mr. Munroe said he would have expected the trial to be in its early stages, but that cannot happen now because nothing can be done until the judgment is dealt with.

G. Ben Thompson claims to be the true owner of the house in which Ms. Smith is staying. He has continued to assert that Ms. Smith agreed to take out a mortgage to pay him back the $950,000 he spent purchasing the residence, which he said he did as a favour for Ms. Smith.

Ms. Smith denies that assertion, instead claiming that the residence was a gift. She produced a conveyance granting her ownership of the residence.

Mr. Knowles told the Journal on Thursday that that conveyance has been cancelled. The person who signed the conveyance in the first place – Mr. Thompson – has cancelled it, and as Ms. Smith has not yet paid stamp tax – according to Mr. Knowles – "she has no right to be in that house."