STOP CLOWNIN' Smith

If we told you frightening new uncut Anna Nicole Smith-as-clown video had surfaced or that Larry Birkhead's estranged attorney Debbie Opri has blasted her former client again in response to his media whoring, would you be down for kicking the Anna corpse for one more round of gossip?

Sure you would.

When we last joined the Smith leeches, everyone was suing everyone—Birkhead's lawyer was suing Birkhead and Stern was suing tele-journo Rita Cosby for $60 million over claims in her Blonde Ambition book that Stern and Birkhead were money grubbing manwhores. Mama Virgie Arthur sued Stern for an interview her own daughter did while alive (she says Stern orchestrated the whole thing). And we're pretty sure sweet little baby Dannielynn's first Crayon-colored doodle was a legal brief seeking punitive damages unheard of, even in the adult world, from all these bastards.

But the very latest is this: Last Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles C. Lee upheld an earlier ruling denying former Birkhead attorney Opri's appeal to get her $620,000 claim against Birkhead settled in arbitration. The Birkhead-aligned blogs high-fived each other, claiming a massive Opri facial by Birkhead and his attorney Michael A. Trope, but she tells Radar it's just another step in her attempts to keep this thing out of the media (interesting turn for an attorney who relied on Birkhead's media deals to get herself paid in the first place).

Opri's latest shot after the jump ...

"Larry Birkhead and Trope seem to need the limelight. I don't," Opri tells Radar in an exclusive statement. "Arbitration clauses exist in contracts for a reason. They are common and used in every business to keep matters simple and private and litigation costs down. It is not interesting to arbitrate a lawyer's bill. However, Birkhead and Trope seem to think a publicized jury trial will buy Birkhead another round of televised publicity and media attention that he constantly seeks [just like he got in Florida]. I will not be a willing participant. I believe the Court of Appeals will properly review the contract Birkhead signed and will rule differently than the lower court did. I will respect whatever the Court of Appeals decides."

Let's hope that's not the case.