Twenty-seven years after a civil jury declared O.J. Simpson was “responsible” for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, the Goldman family is still waiting for their full payment.
Fred Goldman, father of Ron, on Thursday filed a creditor’s claim against Simpson’s estate, demanding he be paid the full US$117 million (C$162 million) amount owed to him in connection with the verdict in the 1997 wrongful death lawsuit filed after the death of his son.
Though Simpson was acquitted in a criminal court, he was ordered to pay US$33.5 million (C$46.4 million) to the Goldman family after the Los Angeles civil trial. The court determined the disgraced athlete “willingly and wrongfully” caused both deaths.
Fred filed the new creditor’s claim in Nevada.
The court documents say the claim was renewed three times before, in 2006, 2015 and 2022. The last renewal saw the amount owed increase to US$96.3 million (C$133.4 million), with US$20.6 million (C$28.5 million) in interest accrued since then.
Simpson died in April at age 76 from cancer.
His death came 30 years after Simpson’s ex-wife Brown Simpson, 35, and her friend Rob, 25, were found stabbed to death outside her L.A. home. The ex-Buffalo Bills player was accused of perpetrating the double murder.
Simpson’s criminal trial remains one of the most famous cases in history and created divisive opinions among American people as to whether he was innocent.
The trial was filmed and broadcast live. Standout moments from inside the courtroom — including the now-infamous line, “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit” — remain in the cultural zeitgeist.
Fred told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Simpson “never paid a penny” of the amount owed to the Goldman family.
It is not clear what Simpson’s estate is currently worth.
In the days after Simpson’s death, his longtime lawyer and estate executor said he would “do everything in my capacity” to make sure the Goldman family gets nothing from Simpson’s estate. Lawyer Malcolm LaVergne later had a change of heart and said he will have the Goldman’s claim “accepted” and “handled in accordance with Nevada law.”