'Frozen O.J.': Bankruptcy Stops Simpson Book Auction

Proceeding thwarts auction for rights to controversial book; drama keeps going and going and going...

The epilogue to the O.J. Simpson saga is like the Energizer Bunny - it just keeps going and going and going, seemingly without end. Just when it appeared likely that the latest chapter in the ever-unfolding narrative might reach some resolution, fickle fate's fingers interceded yet again, with more drama and judges and lawyers and high emotions the likely result. On Friday, the planned auction for the rights to a controversial book by Simpson was stalled when the corporation that cut the book deal with publisher HarperCollins filed for bankruptcy protection in Florida, according to Newsweek.

Once again, Simpson is faced off against Fred Goldman, who continues his quest to collect any of the $33.5 million awarded to him in a 1997 civil suit against the former football great, who was acquitted of the murders his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend (Goldman's son) Ron in 1995.

When publication of "If I Did It" first came to light this winter, Goldman expressed outrage. The firestorm of criticism that ensued cost HarperCollins chief Judith Regan her job. But when the Goldmans won a court battle to strip Simpson of his rights to the book, a judge ruled that the rights had to be sold at auction. The Goldmans adopted the new view that publication was acceptable because, as Fred Goldman said weeks ago, the book amounted to a confession and proceeds from the rights sale would help pay down the judgment Simpson owed his family. Simpson vowed to contest that ruling.

The maneuver on Friday by lawyers for Lorraine Brooke Associates Inc. (LBA), a company set up to provide Simpson's four children with income from the book, delayed the court-ordered auction in Sacramento, Calif., scheduled for Tuesday - at least until a federal bankruptcy judge can hold a hearing on the case.

"Everything is frozen now," said David J. Cook, a lawyer for the Goldman family. "They filed bankruptcy to stop the auction. It's now frozen O.J."

(Image from TheBunnyMuseum.com)