A California attorney seeking to collect a civil judgment from O.J. Simpson after he was found responsible for the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in a 1997 civil trial is vowing Thursday to push forward with collection following Simpson’s passing.
Simpson, 76, “succumbed to his battle with cancer” on Wednesday, April 10, as he “was surrounded by his children and grandchildren,” the Simpson family announced in a statement.
“I’ve been dealing with this problem since 2008, so it’s been a long time, so I’m still dealing with the matter,” San Francisco-based attorney David Cook told FOX Business on Thursday. “As to O.J. Simpson here, it’s really simple, it’s called dead without penance. He’s gone, but it’s without penance. For Ron, obviously he’s gone.”
Simpson famously was acquitted in a 1995 murder trial for the brutal slayings of his ex-wife and Goldman outside of her Los Angeles home.
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But a year later, a civil trial began that ultimately found O.J. responsible, and awarded the Brown and Goldman families $33.5 million in damages.
Cook, who represents Ron’s father Fred, told FOX Business that the judgment in the case has now risen to $114 million due to interest.
“Everything starts a new life here, I’m trying to find out are there any funds here that would be available for Fred, if there would be those. But we need to hire lawyers to do that,” Cook said.
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He also revealed he had spoken to Fred following Simpson’s death announcement, but did not reveal the nature of the conversation.
Cook separately told The Associated Press that regarding collecting from Simpson, “We don’t know what he has, where it is or who is in control” and that “we will pick up where we are and keep going with it.”
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As of February 2021, Simpson only paid around $133,000 of the settlement, according to KNTV, which cited a Nevada court filing.