New York Daily News (MCT)
LOSThe Goldmans had fought for months in court to win rights to the manuscript and were "just days away" from a legal settlement that would have allowed them to sell it to a publisher and keep the proceeds, Goldman lawyer Jonathan Polak said.
"It's reprehensible," said Polak, who suspects someone in Simpson's camp leaked the text to spite the Goldmans.
The entire manuscript, which contains a "hypothetical" confession to the murders of Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, was briefly posted on TMZ.com as a downloadable PDF document. Then it was removed, Polak said.
TMZ.com Managing Editor Harvey Levin could not be reached for comment.
"There is only one person who could have been behind this — and that's O.J. Simpson," said Polak.
Simpson owes the Goldmans $40 million in damages and interest stemming from a 1997 wrongful death verdict, but he has ducked their efforts to collect for a decade.
Simpson's lawyer, Yale Galanter, scoffed at the accusation his client was behind the leak to TMZ.com. "Baloney, baloney, baloney," he said.
Goldman lawyers are headed to U.S. bankruptcy court in Miami Wednesday in a bid to have TMZ.com and its owners found in contempt of court for airing the manuscript, Polak said.
And they want the Web site, which is partly owned by AOL-TimeWarner, to pay damages for posting the book and ruining any publisher's incentive to buy it.
"They have removed any viable opportunity the Goldmans had to realize financial recovery of the judgment and justice," said Polak.
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