LOS ANGELES -- For the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, it has been nearly three decades of court fights, painstaking forensic accounting, detective work and, ultimately, frustration.

The goal: Make O.J. Simpson pay.

A civil court jury in 1997 found Simpson liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend and ordered the former football star to pay their families more than $33 million.

They have collected only a tiny fraction of the judgment, which their attorney claims has now ballooned to more than $100 million because of interest.

The question now is whether O.J. Simpson's death last week opened a new door for the families to finally collect.

Legal experts said the death of Simpson — who had fought efforts to pay the judgment — offers a new window for the families, but they still face what could be a lengthy battle.

Malcolm LaVergne, a longtime attorney for Simpson who was appointed executor of his estate, said in an interview with The Times this week that a claim filed against Simpson's estate by Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, is "going to be a valid claim that's going to be accepted."

It was a clear departure from a comment he made to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday when he said it was his "hope that the Goldmans get zero, nothing."

LaVergne walked back that statement Monday, saying he was responding to "highly inflammatory" remarks made by the Goldman family's attorney after Simpson's death.

"It's time to basically tone down the rhetoric," LaVergne told The Times. "Let's reduce the boiling water to a simmer and try to handle this thing in a calm and dispassionate manner."

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