In an interview with RadarOnline.com, Fred Goldman’s attorney said he is not going to give up trying to collect about $70 million dollars that OJ Simpson owes the bereaved family — and he plans to take the disgraced former athlete to a Nevada court!
Attorney David J. Cook appeared before a judge at the Santa Monica courthouse Tuesday morning, and asked the judge to order Simpson to turn over any money the former Heisman Trophy winner has or may have made from memorabilia signings. Fred Goldman filed a motion in November to stop Simpson from dodging the $33.5 million judgement in the wrongful death suit concerning Goldman’s son, Ron.
Cook said that judgment has ballooned to about $70 million because of interest. Under the motion, Goldman asked for a court order that would turn over the rights from any revenue Simpson has and could make from any autograph or memorabilia signing, promotion, or other commercial enterprises.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenburg handed down a tentative ruling against Goldman’s motion, but at Tuesday’s hearing, made the ruling permanent and told Cook he would need to present the names of the individuals who might have hired or paid Simpson. The judge also denied Cook’s request to order Simpson to provide discovery information every 30 days.
“The judge said if you want to do that, you are going to have to identify who is paying Mr. Simpson,” Cook said in an exclusive interview with Radar. “In other words, who hired [Simpson]? … It’s a temporary pause in our tempo, but it won’t stop us. We can call it a low-level speed bump.”
Meanwhile, Simpson’s attorney, Ronald P. Slates, told reporters at a press conference after Tuesdays hearing that Simpson offered the Goldman family $5 million “from the very beginning.” Slates said Simpson also made an offer about 21 years ago to give up potentially 25 percent from any gross revenues he would’ve made in the future. The Goldmans, however, have repeatedly refused those offers, Slates said.
“We hear all of this discussion that the justice system failed,” Slates said. “In America, it’s my understanding … when a jury says you’re not guilty, then you are not guilty. For Mr.Cook to tell you that Mr. Goldman, on the criminal side, was taken advantage of. That is not the case. …
“Obviously, there is sympathy for the loss of a child, for the loss of any person. That is not what we are playing with. Everyone is asking, ‘When is Mr. Simpson ever paying any money? He is the denier, and he’s not going to give them a dime.’ Excuse me, but that is utter and total nonsense.”
Cook said he plans to take the legal fight to collect the Goldman family’s monetary judgement to the Nevada courts, where Simpson now lives. The Juice spent nine years in prison for a botched robbery and was paroled on October 1.
Cook said he plans to depose Simpson in Nevada to figure out who the former athlete has done business with.
When asked how the Goldmans are dealing with the lengthy legal battle, Cook told Radar that the family will never find closure.
“For anybody here, be it any person who has lost their child, whether to not the wrongdoer was acquitted, it is still consuming,” Cook told Radar. “Anybody who says it’s not consuming is not from this planet. They live with the loss … and anyone who sees their children die before they do, the loss of a child can be very consuming. Fred rejects, as many people do, what’s called ‘closure.’”
“Closure for anybody for anybody who has lost a child is an obscene word.”
