Court Upholds $33.5-Million Verdict Against O.J. Simpson

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday let stand a $33.5-million civil verdict against O.J. Simpson for the deaths of his former wife and her friend.

The former football star had appealed the 1997 findings of a civil jury that Simpson was liable for the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Simpson, acquitted of murder in an earlier criminal trial, was ordered to pay the victims’ families $33.5 million.

Simpson asked the California Supreme Court to overturn the judgment, arguing that he had been denied the right to confront evidence and witnesses in the civil trial.

The state Supreme Court turned Simpson down without comment after considering his appeal in Rufo vs. Simpson during a closed session.

Edward Horowitz, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents Louis Brown, Nicole Brown Simpson’s father, said Simpson had paid about $200,000 of the judgment through the sale of furniture and his Heisman Trophy. Horowitz said he does not expect the families of the victims to get much more.

Simpson lives in Florida on a pension that by law the plaintiffs cannot take. Florida law also prevents the families of the victims from seizing his house.