According to court documents filed Friday, November 14, in Clark County District Court, Nevada, Malcolm LaVergne, executor of the O.J. Simpson estate, accepted Goldman’s creditor claim for $57,997,858.12, plus accumulated judgment interest. The settlement represents roughly half of what Goldman initially sought when he filed his claim in July 2024, originally requesting more than $117 million.
The agreement stems from a 1997 civil trial verdict in which Simpson was found liable for the wrongful deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, the former NFL star’s ex-wife. A civil jury ordered Simpson to pay millions of dollars in damages after finding him liable for the June 1994 deaths, yet the money remained largely unpaid throughout Simpson’s lifetime.
LaVergne’s acceptance marks a dramatic reversal from his initial stance following Simpson’s death from cancer in April 2024. Initially, the attorney admitted he hoped Goldman’s family would receive “zero, nothing” for the massive judgment, but later changed course. “I can tell you in advance, Fred Goldman’s claim will be accepted,” LaVergne said about Ron’s father.
The tragic events that set this decades-long legal saga in motion occurred on June 12, 1994, when 25-year-old Ron Goldman and 35-year-old Nicole Brown Simpson were found stabbed to death outside Brown Simpson’s Los Angeles home. Goldman had been returning sunglasses that Brown Simpson’s mother had left at a restaurant where he worked when he was killed.
Simpson was acquitted of the murders in what became known as the “Trial of the Century,” a verdict that shocked millions of television viewers worldwide. However, the Goldman and Brown families pursued civil litigation, winning a $33.5 million judgment in 1997. That amount, which has more than doubled over nearly three decades due to accumulated interest, remained mostly uncollected during Simpson’s lifetime.
The reality of the payout presents a sobering challenge. Simpson’s entire estate is valued at somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million, creating an enormous gap between the acknowledged debt and available assets. LaVergne told TMZ the estate plans to pay out as much of it as it can as it continues to auction off items, some of which have been stolen.
LaVergne has rejected most other creditor claims, accepting only those from Fred Goldman and the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS debt will take priority in the distribution of estate assets, with California’s separate $636,945 claim also awaiting resolution.
Despite the symbolic victory, the Goldman family faces the stark reality that they will receive only a fraction of the acknowledged judgment. David Cook, an attorney for Fred Goldman, captured the family’s long struggle when he stated that Simpson “died without penance. He did not want to give a dime, a nickel to Fred, never, anything, never”.
The estate executor has indicated he will continue working with Goldman to calculate a more accurate interest amount on the approved sum. LaVergne also plans to ask the court to award Goldman a fee for administrative costs for advising him on how to run the estate, suggesting a cooperative relationship has developed between the parties.
As the probate process continues, this settlement represents the closest Fred Goldman has come to financial resolution in his three-decade pursuit of accountability for his son’s death. While the actual payout will fall dramatically short of the $58 million acknowledgment, the estate’s acceptance of the claim marks a turning point in one of America’s most enduring legal sagas.
