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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A federal judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit by O.J. Simpson demanding telephone records that he claims can prove he did not murder ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald L. Goldman.

U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson said the former football star’s suit should not have been filed in federal court.

“I think your lawsuit borders on the frivolous,” Pregerson told Simpson attorney Douglas E. McCann, apparently referring to his claim that federal civil rights laws were being violated.

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Outside court, McCann denied that the suit was frivolous.

He said he will consider refiling the case in state court, as suggested by Pregerson, or contesting the judge’s ruling before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Simpson wants the records to prove that Nicole Brown Simpson was talking to her mother about 11 p.m. on June 12, 1994, the same time he was being driven to Los Angeles International Airport to catch a flight to Chicago.

Simpson tried to subpoena the records from GTE Corp. in connection with his appeal of a $33.5-million civil verdict holding him liable for the fatal stabbings. Simpson was acquitted in criminal court on murder charges.

GTE refused to surrender the records without a court order or written consent from Nicole Brown Simpson’s parents. Stan Blumenfeld, attorney for the telephone company, said GTE otherwise could be sued for violating the Browns’ privacy rights.

On the evening of her murder, Nicole Brown Simpson dined with her parents at Mezzaluna restaurant several blocks from her Brentwood home. Her parents then drove back to their home in Dana Point. The telephone call between Nicole Brown Simpson and her mother occurred sometime later.

While there was testimony at Simpson’s criminal and civil trials about the call, the actual phone company records were never introduced as evidence.

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Daniel M. Petrocelli, who represented Goldman’s family in the civil suit, previously branded Simpson’s claims “bogus.” He said the evidence was clear that Nicole Brown Simpson last spoke to her mother “well before 10 p.m.”

In court Monday, GTE attorney Blumenfeld asked Pregerson to impose sanctions against Simpson on grounds that the legal issues raised in the suit were frivolous. The judge declined to do so, but made clear his displeasure with Simpson’s taking the case to federal court.

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