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Judge: Goldmans Get O.J. Book Dough, If Any Arises

Tue., Mar. 13, 2007 8:23 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Maybe now we can finally turn the page on If I Did It.

A judge ruled Tuesday that the family of murder victim Ron Goldman is entitled to any income O.J. Simpson earns from his hypothetical tell-all book that was to have described how he would have gone about killing Goldman and ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson.

Since HarperCollins parent News Corp. slammed the brakes on that project last November after reportedly paying an unknown third party an $880,000 advance, the judge's decision will come into play if the book is ever published.

Simpson's rights to any income from If I Did It will be auctioned off by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department at a later date, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg said. (HarperCollins' California offices are located in the state capital.)

"They took a beating in there today," Goldman family attorney Jonathan Polak told reporters after Tuesday's hearing in Santa Monica. "The judge was very clear that we get the money in the event this book is ever published."

(Something no self-respecting publishing house will ever do but, hey, in the Internet age, who needs a self-respecting publishing house?)

"Plus, now there will be a sale to completely divest Simpson of any rights he might hold at this time," Polak said. "He will never again be in a position to profit from this book."

The Goldmans, who filed a federal lawsuit against Simpson last year accusing him of setting up a bogus company—Lorraine Brooke Associates—to hide HarperCollins' advance from them, were originally after the $880,000, although the former football star has said that the money is long gone, already spent on bills and taxes.

Rosenberg also ruled that the rights held by Lorraine Brooke Associates will be auctioned off, as well.

These days, Simpson is entitled to close to zero proceeds from any "creative" work he ever did, including his role in the Naked Gun trilogy and his part on the television series 1st & 10.

Last month, Rosenberg ruled that from now on all residuals from Simpson's past film and TV appearances should go to the Goldman family, as a way of putting a dent in the $33.5 million wrongful death judgment it and the Brown family won against Simpson in 1997. With interest, that figure now stands at about $38 million.

Simpson attorney Yale Galanter, who has said that his client's yearly film and TV residuals could be measured in cents, didn't seem fazed by Rosenberg's latest ruling, either.

"What they are seeking is whatever intangible property Mr. Simpson has relating to this book," Galanter told the Associated Press. "There isn't a book. There isn't anything."