Goldmans Score O.J. Victory

Fri., May. 25, 2007 7:55 AM PDT by Josh Grossberg

The Juice is being squeezed again.

A Los Angeles judge ordered Wednesday O.J. Simpson to hand over money being held in trust by his Florida attorney to the family of Ron Goldman, marking one of the rare occasions the Goldmans have collected a portion of a $33.5 million wrongful-death civil judgment from the former football great.

While the amount is small, just $3,500, the ruling is significant, according to David Cook, the lawyer representing father Fred Goldman.

"Obviously we didn't get big money," Cook tells E! Online, "but I think that besides sending a message for whatever it's worth over the bow, it's just another forward marching step towards collection."

Cook said the fact that he got a court order from a California judge breaking open a trust account across state lines is part of a new legal effort to break through the wall of secrecy surrounding Simpson's financial affairs.

"We call the lawyer's trust account the tin can buried in the backyard and we called the court order a can opener," says Cook, who describes Fred Goldman as elated. "Fred likes it. First time in 10 years that we're getting in gear. And this is a case like you drive your car, you've got to put it in first."

There was no immediate comment from Leonardo Starke, the attorney overseeing Simpson's money in Florida, or his Los Angeles lawyer, Ronald P. Slates.

Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of killing ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Goldman. Two years later, however, the victims' families won the wrongful-death lawsuit against the Naked Gun star and were awarded $33.5 million. But they've collected little to date, because Simpson's $4 million NFL pension is protected by law and Simpson relocated from California to Florida, which prohibits creditors from confiscating a person's primary residence.

Aside from the recent legal win, Goldman has also been able to collect a few royalty checks from Simpson's days as a Hollywood actor.

"I'm sitting on approximately $1,400 more or less of Naked Gun money," says Cook. "I have that money and we're getting [checks] every so often from Paramount. So the royalties are slowly coming in. We're due for another $100 bucks from The Towering Inferno."

The attorney says his next effort will be to crack into Simpson's pension from his own company, which is separate from his untouchable football and acting accounts.

Cook also filed a petition in a Santa Monica court seeking to have a sports souvenir collector to turn over a suit and tie that O.J. wore in court the day he was acquitted to ensure the Goldman family receives a portion of any sale.

The Goldman and Brown families are also attempting to collect money Simpson received from his ill-fated hypothetical tell-all, If I Did It. Simpson insists he spent all the money on bills.

However, a Los Angeles judge ruled that the families are entitled to any income Simpson may earn from the scuttled book and TV deal. The judge also ordered that the book rights be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the families. That auction remains on hold after one of the companies involved in the deal filed for bankruptcy last month.