O.J. Simpson's estate agrees to pay Goldmans

The $58-million claim stems from a suit the family won in 1997 in Ron Goldman's death.

- BY RICHARD WINTON AND HANNAH FRY

FRED GOLDMAN, center, and his wife, Patti, leave a courthouse in Santa Monica in 1997 after a jury found football star O.J. Simpson liable in a civil trial involving the slaying of the Goldmans' son, Ron, in 1994.

Ron Goldman's family has been fighting for justice for three decades, ever since the man they believed responsible for his murder was found not guilty.

They've waged court fights, done painstaking forensic accounting and even some detective work to try to get O.J. Simpson to pay.

But all efforts ended in frustration, as the football legend, who was also found not guilty of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, spent his days on the golf course, served time in prison and wrote a book featuring a hypothetical description of the slayings as if he were the assailant.

Now, Simpson's estate for the first time has accepted a multimillion-dollar claim from Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, stemming from a wrongful death suit the family won against Simpson in 1997.

The Goldmans had collected only a fraction of the $33-million judgment, which continued to grow because of interest, while Simpson maintained over the decades that he didn't have the money to pay. But it remains unclear how much the family will actually recover, after accounting for Simpson's debts on an estate valued at just under $600,000.

Simpson's executor, Malcolm LaVergne, indicated in a document filed in Clark County District Court in Nevada on Friday that the estate was approving the nearly $58-million claim, plus interest. Simpson, 76, died in April 2024 of prostate cancer at his home in Las Vegas.

It marks an important step in the fight that Fred Goldman has waged for 31 years - even if he doesn't end up with much of the money, said his attorney, Michaelle Rafferty.