Schwarzenegger’s Legal Muscle Tries to Collect $18,000 Debt

When Janice Nickerson’s husband died in 1989, leaving a string of creditors, she expected that it would take a while to put her financial house in order.

But the Granada Hills widow did not count on a lingering dispute with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won a court judgment against her in an effort to collect an $18,000 debt.

The debt stems from work that the late James Nickerson left unfinished at the Pacific Palisades home of the actor and his wife, television journalist Maria Shriver.

A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said James Nickerson was paid $70,000 to install cinema equipment in the couple’s private screening room and had not completed the project at the time of his death.

Janice Nickerson said that shortly after her husband’s funeral she offered to pay off the debt “a few dollars a month� but that lawyers for the film star--who reportedly will earn up to $15 million for his next movie, “The Last Action Hero�--rejected the offer.

Later, she said, she offered to pay Schwarzenegger $10,000, which she said was all that was left from her husband’s pension. She said a lawyer for the actor also rejected that offer, saying his client would accept $15,000. Meanwhile, as a result of the judgment, a lien was placed against Nickerson’s modest home.

“I don’t dispute that I owe the money,� said Nickerson, 46, a part-time secretary. “I just don’t understand why a person of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s means would play hardball with someone like me who is struggling.�

The actor’s publicist and his attorney said that the matter was handled by subordinates at Schwarzenegger’s Venice-based production company and that the actor had no knowledge of the collection effort.

“Arnold Schwarzenegger is a compassionate person and I can say that he knew nothing about this,� said Charlotte Parker, his publicist.

Leonard Marangi, the actor’s lawyer, said Schwarzenegger became aware of Nickerson’s situation only last week after a reporter for the television tabloid program “Hard Copy� called Marangi to inquire about it.

“He has since instructed me to offer to remove the lien against the woman’s home,� Marangi said.

But the lawyer said there were no plans to remove the judgment, which, with accumulated interest, has grown to more than $22,000.

Asked about the alleged $10,000 offer to settle the matter, Marangi acknowledged that an offer was made but had “no recollection as to the specifics of it.�

He said the instructions to place the lien against the house came from Schwarzenegger’s production company, and that he never discussed the matter with the actor.

Nickerson dismissed the notion that Schwarzenegger was unfamiliar with her plight as “inaccurate,� saying that it “goes against all of what has transpired in the last 2 1/2 years.�

“Whenever I would make an offer through my lawyer, he would come back and say: ‘No. His lawyer says Arnold won’t go for that’ or ‘Arnold says no.’ I can’t believe he is ignorant about any of this for a minute.

“Believe me, I’m grateful for every little thing, but that doesn’t amount to much,� Nickerson said, upon learning of the actor’s offer to remove the lien. “But the judgment will eventually wreck me. I don’t have any money. If relatives weren’t helping, I couldn’t make my mortgage and buy food.�

She said that when her husband, a former motion picture studio engineer, died of a heart attack in December, 1989, he left her more than $40,000 in debt, much of it associated with the small projection equipment design business he operated out of their garage.

“Most people were really understanding,� she said of the creditors. “I paid off a few with what was left of the savings, and when the pension money became available, I gave that to other creditors. Some just walked away. They knew there was nothing left.�

But she said it was a different story with Schwarzenegger.

“Every time I tried to settle things with him,� she said, “my lawyer would come back and say: ‘This guy just won’t go away.’ �

Her former attorney, Donald Peckner, wrote to Marangi last February, saying that, despite being broke, Nickerson was “doing every conceivable thing she can� to meet her obligations.

“I find it really hard to believe that Mr. Schwarzenegger, who is not exactly teetering on the brink of poverty, would undertake (to levy against the house),� her lawyer’s letter said.

Nickerson said she wrote to Schwarzenegger last month “appealing to his humanity� to forgive the judgment.

“I keep thinking maybe he thinks I’ve really got money, that I just want to take advantage,� she said. “But I’m just trying to put my life back together.�