Milton H. Greene Archives, Inc. v. Marilyn Monroe LLC

An enduring American celebrity, Marilyn Monroe continues to inspire both admiration and litigation a half-century after her death. At issue is whether appellants inherited a right of publicity, which was created and deemed posthumous by the states of California and Indiana decades after her death, through a residual clause in her Last Will and Testament. The will was subject to probate in the state of New York, which does not recognize a posthumous right of publicity. The issue of appellants’ rights turns on whether Monroe was domiciled in California or New York at the time of her death. We conclude that because Monroe’s executors consistently represented during the probate proceedings and elsewhere that she was domiciled in New York at her death to avoid payment of California estate taxes, among other things, appellants are judicially estopped from asserting California’s posthumous right of publicity. We therefore affirm the district court’s order so holding.

I.

Following her divorce from Arthur Miller, while in New York City, Marilyn Monroe executed her Last Will and Testament on January 14, 1961. She named New York attorney Aaron Frosch executor. She then traveled to…