Simpson Could Pay Millions More But Plaintiffs Could Have Real Trouble Collecting

As O.J. Simpson absorbed the blow of a whopping $8.5 million judgment against him, a judge Wednesday cleared the way for jurors to strap Simpson with an even more devastating debt in the civil trial’s punitive damage phase, which begins today.

But though Simpson could be ordered to pay millions more, the families of slaying victims Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman could face serious obstacles in collecting significant sums of money. “If they (collect) a million dollars, they should kiss it,” Los Angeles bankruptcy attorney Ronald Michelman said.

Before the plaintiffs can lay claim to even one dollar, Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki must review the jury verdicts and decide whether the damage awards are reasonable. If he deems them inflated - the product of irrational passions rather than logical deliberations - he can slice them down, as judges frequently do. In a review of the largest U.S. personal injury awards in 1993, for example, the Los Angeles Times found that most plaintiffs received less than 20 percent of what the jury ordered.

And if Fujisaki approves the verdicts, Simpson can always appeal to a higher court.

So far only two of the plaintiffs have won any money at all.

Jurors unanimously ordered Simpson to pay Goldman’s parents $8.5 million in compensation for the loss of their son. But Nicole Simpson’s children did not request that type of compensation. (As her legal heirs, they’re the only ones who could have brought such a claim.)

The children, Justin and Sydney, will have their only shot at funds in the punitive damage phase. If they do win money, Simpson will not be able to keep his money in the family by paying them first.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys say they will try to ensure that any funds coming in from Simpson are distributed fairly. For example, each plaintiff might get a piece of every dollar that comes in, with the money divided proportionately so that those holding the biggest judgments receive the most, one source said. The attorneys’ contingency fees also come out of these funds.

Several attorneys said compensatory awards do not get priority over punitive awards; all the judgments are combined into one lump sum, and the plaintiffs go after whatever assets they can find to start collecting on that debt.

Any money paid to Sydney and Justin Simpson will go into a trust fund, managed by an independent executor. Simpson will not be able to withdraw the money for any purpose other than an extraordinary medical emergency, according to a source close to the case. The children will not be able to touch it either, until they come of age.

How much the children win from the civil case depends in large part on how wealthy the jurors think their father is.

And that will be the subject of hot debate.

Plaintiff attorney Peter Gelblum argued in court Wednesday that Simpson’s lawyers had engaged in some “creative accounting” to make him look poor. Gelblum told the judge that when he was starting to delve into Simpson’s assets last year, he found a statement valuing Simpson’s net worth at $8 million. But a month and a half later, the defense team produced a revised statement claiming Simpson was worth just $500,000, Gelblum said.

According to lead defense attorney Robert C. Baker, Simpson has earned “considerably less” than $100,000 over the past six months. As for the future, Baker argued that Simpson may not ever be able to make money the way he knows best: by selling his sparkle.

“We don’t know if Mr. Simpson will ever have a personal appearance contract again,” Baker said.