Advertisement

With O.J. Simpson’s release, effort resumes to collect $33.5-million judgment, Goldman attorney says

Share

O.J. Simpson’s release from a Nevada prison early Sunday will launch a renewed effort to collect from him a 1997 civil jury award that held him liable in the deaths of his estranged wife and her friend, a family attorney said.

The onetime football legend was paroled for his 2007 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping at 12:08 a.m. Sunday.

Attorney David Cook, who represents the father of Ron Goldman, told CNN the $33.5 million Simpson was ordered to pay the victims’ families had since ballooned to nearly $70 million with interest. He said he renewed the judgment in 2015 at $57 million.

Advertisement

Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of murdering Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson in a criminal trial that was closely watched across the nation and revealed deep-seated racial tensions. A civil jury found there was enough evidence to hold Simpson accountable for their stabbing deaths, but only a fraction of the multimillion-dollar award was ever collected.

Simpson served nine years in prison for leading a group of men into a Las Vegas hotel and casino to steal sports memorabilia at gunpoint. A parole board granted him release in July after serving a portion of his 33-year sentence with credit for good behavior and taking classes in prison.

Simpson’s attorney, Malcolm LaVergne, told CNN as far as he knew, his client will be a retiree and won’t have assets for the victim’s family to collect.

victoria.kim@latimes.com

For more California news, follow me on Twitter @vicjkim

ALSO

Advertisement

UC Berkeley student beaten unconscious outside campus dorm

Music teacher suspected of contaminating flutes with semen, roiling Southern California school districts

Man loses both legs when Metrolink train hits him in Chinatown

Advertisement