Goldman Sister, Father File Suit

O.J. Simpson’s legal woes were compounded Friday when Ronald Lyle Goldman’s father and sister filed a wrongful death suit contending that the ex-football star “brutally murdered” the 25-year-old waiter.

Even if Simpson is acquitted of criminal charges that he killed Goldman and Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, he could still face civil damages. Unlike criminal cases, lawsuits do not require that a jury find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, only that a preponderance of the evidence favor one side or the other.

“The imposition of substantial punitive and exemplary damages will in this case be both justified and necessary in order to send out a message . . . that such vicious and outrageous savagery inflicted by one human being upon another shall be met with the severest of civil penalties,” the complaint states.

It also says that Simpson “negligently, carelessly, unlawfully, willfully, wantonly and maliciously threatened to kill (the) decedent.”

In addition to the claim by Goldman’s father and sister, his mother has filed a separate action, though the most recent suit says she was long estranged from her son and should not receive a significant share of any judgment.

Goldman’s father and sister have hired Robert H. Tourtelot, the same attorney who is representing Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Fuhrman, to represent them in their case against Simpson.