O'Quinn faces slander suit in Anna Nicole case

As we watched the ultra-classy Larry Birkhead celebrating his little bundle of cash solemnly announcing that he was the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby last week, we foolishly breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally," we thought, "the media can turn its attention to something else. Bring on the Imus!"

We should have known better.

Over the weekend, the AP reported that Howard K. Stern, Smith's former attorney (and ex-baby daddy contender), has filed suit against Houston lawyer John O'Quinn, who was representing Smith's mother Virgie Arthur in the custody battle over little Dannielynn. The lawsuit accuses O'Quinn of slander, saying that he appeared on several national television shows and implied that Stern murdered Smith; it also accuses O'Quinn of invasion of privacy and seeks unspecified damages. "The public airwaves should never be used to promote personal agendas or vendettas," Stern's attorney, L. Lin Wood, said in a statement. (There was speculation earlier this month that Stern might sue media outlets that he believes implicated him in Smith's death; it's not clear whether or not that will still happen.)

There's been no statement from O'Quinn, who Arthur hired in February, though he did say earlier in the week that Arthur has dropped her bid for guardianship of Dannielynn.