Cosmopolitan Settlement Money To O. J. Simpson Going To Ron Goldman’s Relatives

Posted on: June 18, 2021, 06:29h. 

Last updated on: June 19, 2021, 12:00h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More

Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

Money that The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas was to pay O.J. Simpson to settle a legal dispute reportedly will be sent instead to Fred Goldman. He is the father of the late Ron Goldman.

Simpson was found not guilty in the 1994 Brentwood, Calif. murder of the younger Goldman, as well as his friend Nicole Brown Simpson. She was the ex-wife of O. J. Simpson.

But in a later civil lawsuit, Simpson was ruled liable for their deaths. He was ordered to pay the families of the victims more than $33 million. Most of that money remains unpaid and has increased to $58 million, KLAS, a Nevada TV station, reported.

Earlier this month, Clark County District Judge Veronica Barisich ordered that the settlement money be “immediately turned over” to the attorney representing Fred Goldman, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

O. J. Simpson, now a Las Vegas resident, initially sued the casino-hotel in 2019 for defamation. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount in April. O. J. Simpson claimed he was defamed by Cosmopolitan employees after an alleged leak to TMZ led the online site to report that he “was drunk and became disruptive” at the Cosmopolitan’s bar in 2017. TMZ was not named in Simpson’s legal action.

Despite their successful lawsuit against Simpson, the relatives of the victims cannot touch Simpson’s Social Security payments or a pension from the NFL, the Review-Journal said. The pension payments are estimated to be $20,000 a month, Reuters reported.

Separately, Simpson served nine years in prison for an armed robbery plot. He disputed the charge, saying he was only trying to retrieve his memorabilia from a room at the Palace Station hotel-casino, the Review-Journal said.

What Happens in Vegas Doesn’t Necessarily Stay There

When asked about the latest series of events involving The Cosmopolitan and Simpson, Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad College of Law, said it provides a reminder to casinos.

“The lesson for casinos is that patron matters need to be kept confidential,” Jarvis told Casino.org. “TMZ obviously found a way to get its hands on a copy of The Cosmopolitan’s incident report.

“This is a serious breach, and reminds every business — not just casinos — that patron matters must be kept confidential to avoid the possibility of being sued,” Jarvis added.

For the patrons of casinos and other businesses, the lesson is: what happens in Las Vegas  — or any other place — doesn’t necessarily stay there. Indeed, patrons always should expect their misbehavior to become public knowledge,” Jarvis advised.

The Cosmopolitan’s attorneys had argued that Simpson’s reputation was already so damaged that it couldn’t get any worse. Jarvis said such an argument “really missed the mark.”

Cautionary Tale to Casinos

Also, Anthony Cabot, Distinguished Fellow of Gaming Law at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law, told Casino.org, “This is more a cautionary tale to the casinos than the patrons.

The casinos need constant vigilance that their interactions with patrons can be subject to potential tort claims — such as assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or defamation,” Cabot added.

Unlike the police, casino security staff and other employees do not have broad qualified immunity, Cabot said.