O.J. Simpson loses civil case

"Some of this stuff I haven't seen for years."
O.J. Simpson, on the whereabouts of many of his most valuable possessions

In 1997, O.J. Simpson got sacked in civil court for $33.5 million.

In February, a Superior Court jury in Santa Monica, California, found the former football star liable for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

The jury awarded:

• $8.5 million in compensatory damages to the Goldman family and Goldman's biological mother, Sharon Rufo. Nicole Simpson's family, the Browns, did not seek compensatory damages.
• $25 million in punitive damages to the Goldman and Brown families, $12.5 million each.

Simpson had been acquitted in October 1995 of murdering Goldman and his ex-wife after a lengthy criminal trial. Their bodies were found June 12, 1994, lying in a pool of blood outside Ms. Simpson's condominium.

The civil verdict affected only Simpson's finances, and he cannot be tried again on criminal charges. Unlike the criminal trial, the standard of proof was lower and the proceeding was not televised. But many of the same issues debated during the criminal trial arose in the civil case.

In May, Simpson's attorneys formally filed a notice of appeal for a new trial, hoping to overturn the verdict. And during the year, plaintiffs have sought to collect on the judgment by seizing Simpson's assets.