Simpson Juror Sues, Claims He Was Fired Over Trial Service

Claiming he was fired by his Camarillo employer for simply doing his civic duty, an alternate juror in the O.J. Simpson civil trial filed a lawsuit Monday seeking his job back and damages for lost wages and emotional distress.

Paul Chepikian, a graphic designer who worked for U.S. Pet Products, said he declined to claim a financial hardship--against the wishes of his boss--when asked if he could serve on the Simpson case.

Chepikian contends that George Davlantes, president of the firm, retaliated by firing him from his job as creative director at the small company the day after he was selected as a Simpson alternate panelist.

“He said, ‘You could have gotten out of this if you wanted to,’ ” recalled Chepikian, who filed his lawsuit in Ventura County Superior Court.

Chepikian, who lives in Sherman Oaks, earned $57,000 a year as the head of the company’s one-man graphic arts department. He said he had claimed financial hardship three times over the last 15 years when summoned to jury service because he could not afford the time away from work as a freelance artist. As a full-time employee at the company, which produces pet doors, he said he was ready to fulfill his duty.

“It’s like being fired for voting,” he said. “This is not how a good citizen should be treated.”

Davlantes said that Chepikian was let go because the company of 40 employees closed the graphic arts department as a cost-cutting move.

“It certainly had nothing to do with his being on jury duty. It was not retaliatory,” Davlantes said. “I have a business to run. I have to make decisions that are good for the company.”

The company’s policy encourages employees to perform jury service. But Davlantes said he told Chepikian that the company would not pay his salary during his time away.

“I told him that the company does not offer to pay, so if you have a financial problem, you can tell that to the court,” Davlantes said. “If you can’t do something, people will listen to you. That’s what I was trying to say. The intent was to inform and nothing else.”

On another legal front, Simpson’s lawyers on Monday mounted a legal challenge to retrieve many of the football legend’s high-priced possessions that were seized by authorities last month to satisfy the $33.5-million judgment against him.

The lawyers filed a “claim of exemption” with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department--the agency that hauled the items away March 29 from Simpson’s Brentwood estate--arguing that state law exempts “a substantial number” of the possessions from being confiscated.

Attorney Ronald P. Slates said the law allows civil defendants who face judgments to retain certain possessions that meet an “ordinary and necessary standard” of living.

For example, Slates said, a Tiffany lamp taken from Simpson’s home--valued at $3.2 million--should be returned because the former football star is entitled to a lamp of that style.

Slates would not reveal which of the more than 100 seized items he sought to regain. But the list could potentially include dozens of expensive accouterments from Simpson’s home, such as the Tiffany lamp, a fox fur coat valued at $26,500, a Vince Lombardi Touchdown Club trophy, a Chinese enamel dragon, 51 golf clubs and five football jerseys.

“The state in its wisdom provides that even though you may owe money by virtue of a judgment, you are entitled to a certain basic minimum that you can keep,” Slates said. “Fundamentally, the state doesn’t want you wandering through the streets picking up state support because your creditors have pushed you into a bottomless pit.”

Attorneys for Fred Goldman, father of slaying victim Ronald Lyle Goldman, had not seen the claim or its list and would not comment Monday. They were expected to file a response later this month.

But Goldman’s legal team pushed ahead with its own effort to collect the $19.7-million judgment awarded to Goldman by a civil jury in February.

One Goldman lawyer said he suspects that Simpson’s lawyers and business manager may be harboring some of the high-priced items that were missing--including Simpson’s prized Heisman Trophy and his $65,000 Chevrolet Suburban--when sheriff’s deputies descended on the Brentwood estate.

Attorney Peter Csato on Monday sought an order compelling Simpson business manager Lero “Skip” Taft and other third parties to appear in Superior Court to explain the whereabouts of the goods.

Csato requested that representatives from the law firm that represented Simpson in the civil trial and from Simpson’s two enterprises--Orenthal Productions and Pigskins Inc.--appear with any information about the possessions or money that may be owed to Simpson.

Csato said records show that, as of Dec. 31, Orenthal Productions owed Simpson $265,000, and that Pigskins Inc. earned $248,000 from the sale of Simpson’s interest in a Honey-Baked Ham franchise.

“I’m not limiting my examinations to the items that were missing from the sheriff’s seizure,” said Csato, a specialist in enforcing civil judgments. “Clearly, that’s one of the things I’m looking for. But I’m looking for other things as well.”

Simpson attorney Philip Baker said he had not seen the court papers and could not comment. Taft did not return phone calls to his office seeking comment.

* CASHING IN: Sales brisk for Bruno Magli shoes and other icons from ‘the trial of the century.’ B8