Browns To Pay Simpson Kids For Daughter's Sold Items

LOS ANGELES - The legal representative of O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson's children has settled a lawsuit against the slain woman's parents that claimed the children were entitled to more than $260,000 the Browns allegedly made from the sale of their daughter's belongings.

The confidential settlement, which court officials said yesterday was reached Friday, ended one of the uglier chapters of the Simpson case.

"The matter has been amicably resolved among the parties via a private resolution," said Gary Ruttenberg, attorney for Nicole Simpson's parents, Louis and Juditha Brown.

Attorneys for the children's guardian confirmed a settlement but would not comment further.

B. Wayne Hughes, the multimillionaire guardian for Sidney and Justin Simpson's estate, filed papers in July demanding the Browns repay the children. While O.J. Simpson was awarded custody of the children in the wake of his wife's murder, Hughes has continued to represent the children in this probate matter.

Hughes claimed the children were entitled to $100,000 that the Browns made when they sold Nicole Simpson's diaries to the National Enquirer, $162,000 they received from the sale of photographs and a video of the Simpson wedding, and any other money the Browns or their children made from the sale or use of Nicole's personal property.

Hughes also sought $6,665 of estate money the Browns spent in their unsuccessful bid for custody of the children and repayment of

a $50,000 loan he claimed Nicole Simpson made to her father.

In court papers, Hughes took issue with Louis Brown's claims that he owned his daughter's diary.

Brown said in a deposition that Nicole told him on Mother's Day 1994 - a month before her death - that her ex-husband was going to kill her, court documents allege. Brown said Nicole told him that "she had incriminating information that she wanted me to have if anything did happen to her, if she lost her life."

O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman, but a subsequent civil trial found him liable for the deaths. A jury ordered him to pay the two families $33.5 million in damages.

A few days after her death in June 1994 - on the same day as the infamous slow-speed chase of O.J. Simpson's white Ford Bronco - Nicole's cousin said he found an envelope stamped and addressed to Louis Brown, court documents say. Her diary was inside.

But Hughes argued Brown was still not entitled to the diary because it was not given to him before his daughter's death or specifically bequeathed to him. They contended it automatically became part of Nicole's estate and therefore the property of her beneficiaries, Sidney and Justin.