O.J. Simpson Prevails in Legal Battle Over Autograph Signing

The Juice doesn’t have to spill after all, according to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.

O.J. Simpson prevailed in court on Tuesday after Fred Goldman argued any money Simpson makes from signing autographs should go toward the 1997 wrongful death judgment of Ron Goldman, who was killed in 1994 along with Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson.

TMZ reports that a judge ruled in favor of O.J. Simpson and against Fred Goldman and his lawyer, David Cook, who requested an order forcing anyone who profited from Simpson signing autographs to turn over the proceeds to Goldman to satisfy the $33 million civil judgement that has ballooned to $70 million.

The news outlet reported that the judge tentatively ruled in Simpson’s favor because Goldman and his team did not name specific people who profited.

Simpson was acquitted of two counts of murder in the 1994 slayings, but a civil court jury found him liable and ordered him to pay $33.5 million, which has more than doubled over two decades.

Goldman has hounded Simpson for years and Cook said the former football star has never willingly paid a cent of the court order.

Mr. Simpson has sought to subvert this wrongful death judgment by his abject refusal to pay, much less accept personal responsibility,” Cook said in court papers, USA Today reports.

Simpson sold autographs shortly after his release from a Nevada prison in October to pay legal bills and has no interest in signing memorabilia, one of his lawyers, Malcolm LaVergne, said in court papers objecting to any order relinquishing his right to publicity.

Goldman and Cook have “attempted to drag Mr. Simpson into court every time they hear a rumor, see something on television, or read in an internet news posting, a mere vague allegation involving Mr. Simpson’s commercial exploitation of himself,” attorney Ronald Slates wrote in court papers on behalf of Simpson.

Although most of the court award has been unpaid, Goldman has been able to seize some of Simpson’s assets, including video game royalties and the rights to the book If I Did It, a ghostwritten account in which Simpson tells how he might have killed his ex-wife and Ron Goldman.

Goldman was also able to acquire memorabilia Simpson claimed he was trying to take back when he led five men, two with guns, into a Las Vegas casino hotel in September 2007 to confront two sports collectibles dealers.

Simpson, 70, served nine years in Nevada state prison for armed robbery and assault with a weapon in an ill-fated bid to retrieve memorabilia. He was released on Oct. 1, 2017.