Producer’s Partner Dismissed From Suit Over Drug Death

Hollywood filmmaker Jerry Bruckheimer and eight other defendants were dropped Thursday from a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of a doctor who died of a drug overdose at the Bel-Air estate of the late film producer Don Simpson.

The suit, filed in August by Dr. Stephen Ammerman’s father and son, alleged that Bruckheimer, Simpson’s ex-partner, and 18 others conspired to misrepresent information about Ammerman’s death to paramedics and law enforcement officers so they could keep under wraps a plan to detoxify Simpson--who died five months later of a drug overdose.

In response to a flurry of motions filed by attorneys for the Simpson estate, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Horowitz dropped Bruckheimer, Simpson’s brother Lary, private investigator Anthony Pellicano and six other defendants from the case. The judge issued the ruling after offering Ammerman’s lawyers several chances to revise the lawsuit.

“We have always denied any liability in this matter and the judge has confirmed our position,” said attorney Robert Chapman, who represents Bruckheimer, Simpson’s brother and estate as well as various Simpson/Bruckheimer corporate entities named in the lawsuit. “My clients are very pleased that this case is finally over for them.”

The case is still pending against Simpson’s former psychiatrist, Nomi J. Fredrick, and several other defendants. Fredrick and the others have repeatedly denied the allegations.

Ammerman, 44, died of a morphine overdose Aug. 15, 1995, at Simpson’s estate. Simpson, 52, died five months later on the same property from an overdose of 21 drugs, including cocaine and a broad spectrum of stimulants, antidepressants, sedatives and tranquilizers.

The two deaths spurred a criminal probe into prescription drug abuse by local doctors and pharmacies. Federal agents raided Fredrick’s office in August, but no charges have been brought so far.

According to Ammerman’s lawsuit, Simpson’s home was a “drug warehouse” where potent prescription medications were stockpiled and available to anyone, including Ammerman, a recovering addict.

The suit alleged that Ammerman’s body was moved after his death to keep police from discovering an elaborate and illegal drug detoxification program that Simpson was undergoing. The suit also contended that Pellicano and others removed and destroyed drugs and other evidence from Simpson’s mansion and pool house.

Representatives for the Ammerman family said they plan to appeal the decision.