Closing the Book on an Epilogue to the Simpson Saga

Plus, not ready for video . . . Settling up with Tupac . . . Torso tussles . . . Cars of the stars.

We may never know whether Ronald Lyle Goldman’s fateful visit to Nicole Brown Simpson’s condo to return her mother’s glasses was for business or pleasure.

An Orange County attorney’s quixotic attempt to recover $95,000 in the waiter’s death benefits from Mezzaluna restaurant would have raised the issue, but failed on a technicality.

“The matter is over,” said Santa Ana lawyer Nick O’Malley, who declined to discuss the workers’ compensation case further, citing a gag order. He had sought to recover the benefits on the state’s behalf.

Never mind that the state wasn’t interested in collecting, or that Goldman’s family protested the effort as grave digging. Or that O’Malley could have garnered up to 15% of the benefits.

A workers’ compensation referee, sitting in Santa Monica, ruled that the application had no standing. An appeals panel agreed.

The case could have breathed new life into an old mystery and raised some interesting legal issues, according to Mezzaluna’s attorney, Owens O. Miller.

Had Goldman returned the eyeglasses at his boss’ behest, he would have been performing a task for the restaurant and his slaying would have been work-related. Had he been delivering the glasses as a favor for his friend Nicole, the death benefits would not apply.

Because this sad, strange postscript to the Simpson legal saga has failed, unanswered questions remain concerning why all those candles were lighted at Nicole Simpson’s, or why Goldman drove around the block to find a parking place rather than double parking--as someone running a work-related errand might do.

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MEMORIES: For the second time this year, Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine has sued someone for using her old film clips in a video. Her suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Rhino Home Video is similar to an earlier suit against Blockbuster Entertainment in U.S. District Court, where it was dismissed.

Fontaine, who is 80 and lives in Carmel Highlands, claims that use of the clips was an invasion of her privacy that caused “humiliation, embarrassment, hurt feelings, mental anguish and suffering.” She seeks more than $25,000 in damages.

“If somebody steals from you, no matter how great you are, you’re going to feel pain,” said Fontaine’s attorney, Irving Meyer. A spokesman for Rhino Home Video said the lawsuit was “without merit.”

Fontaine won her golden boy for her 1941 role opposite Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Suspicion.” And, once upon a time, she invited yours truly over for watercress sandwiches and homemade peach ice cream. She even raided the wine cellar and let us touch the Oscar.

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TUPAC’S LEGACY: The estate of gunned-down actor/rapper Tupac Shakur is solvent now that two protracted legal disputes have been settled in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Shakur’s biological father, truck driver William M. Garland, is dropping his claim to half of the performer’s estate, settling for $540,000 and $360,000 in attorney’s fees. Garland had little contact with Shakur during his life.

And the family of Jacquelyn McNealy, a 27-year-old Arkansas woman struck by a stray bullet at a Shakur concert, has tentatively agreed to a $2-million settlement of her $16-million lawsuit.

The agreements are expected to be finalized Nov. 4 before Superior Court Judge Arnold H. Gold.

That should leave $8 million to $10 million in the estate for its sole beneficiary, Afeni Shakur, Tupac’s mother, according to New York attorney Richard S. Fischbein, who is co-administrator of the estate.

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NAKED EYE: What do unknowns Berto Luna and Timothy Christian Michael Holmes have in common with heartthrobs Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt? They have sued Playgirl magazine over allegedly unauthorized beefcake photos.

But Playgirl’s lawyer, Kent Raygor, says the male models signed release forms when they posed for the photos.

Luna and Holmes charged in separate Los Angeles Superior Court suits that photos taken for their professional portfolios somehow turned up in ads in Playgirl promoting its “900” line. Holmes’ suit alleges that the ad is associated with “explicit adult, sexually oriented entertainment.”

Anyone viewing the Playgirl ad “with the naked eye can reasonably determine that the person depicted in it is [Holmes] given that plaintiff’s face and upper body/torso is clearly visible and readily distinguishable,” his lawsuit said. Alleging invasion of privacy, the models seek unspecified damages and a court injunction to end their unpaid, involuntary modeling gigs.

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STARS AND CARS: A woman who last year sued actor Robert Downey Jr. over a collision between his Land Rover and her Jeep is taking the rehabbed one back to court, alleging that he has failed to pay half the $30,000 settlement.

Sunny Park says in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that Downey’s insurance company paid her the first $15,000 installment, but that the second installment Downey promised to pay is more than 60 days overdue. Downey was not driving the car that collided with Park’s, but as the registered owner is legally responsible, Park claimed in her earlier lawsuit.

Meanwhile, beware the repo man, Toni Braxton. The Grammy-award winning singer, best known for the hit “Unbreak My Heart,” is being sued in Los Angeles Superior Court over allegedly past-due lease payments for her 1997 BMW Z3.

A company called Financial Services Vehicle Trust claims to hold the title to the $32,000 roadster, and accuses Braxton of hiding the vehicle with a friend, identified in court papers as Cosandra Calloway, of Van Nuys.

Braxton said through a representative that the BMW was not hers. She said she co-signed the lease for Calloway, a former employee, and had no idea where Calloway or the car is now. Court Files couldn’t find Calloway either.

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QUOTABLE: “What do you think I’m doing up here when I’m quiet? Watching my navel? I’m thinking. Let me think.”

--Superior Court Judge Leslie W. Light, silencing squabbling attorneys at Susan McDougal’s embezzlement trial.