Fred Goldman has an unsatisfied $25.5 million judgment against O.J. Simpson arising from a wrongful death judgment relating to the murder of his son, Ron Goldman. Simpson has never paid any of the judgment.
Now Goldman is moving to take Simpson’s ‘publicity rights’ in his name. Publicity rights are alienable (note Muhammad Ali’s recent transaction) and descendable. Simpson apparently is still able to make some money signing autographs and there is still some value in his publicity right. Simpson’s attorney is quoted as stating that there is no precedent for a ‘seizure’ of publicity rights.