Alex Murdaugh’s ex-SC law firm fires back after Mexican citizen sues over missing money

A Mexican citizen has filed a lawsuit against disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh, his former law firm and former banker Russell Laffitte and his bank, alleging that settlement money owed to him from a lawsuit after a 2008 car crash is missing.

“Defendants failed to inform Plaintiff of the amount of funds recovered on his behalf and to this date, the Plaintiff has never received the funds,” the lawsuit says.

In response, the firm formerly known as Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, or PMPED, told The State newspaper that the lawsuit “contains numerous allegations that are demonstrably false” and that in fact $73,000 in settlement funds paid to Manuel Santis-Cristiani, who filed the lawsuit.

Cristiani’s lawsuit was filed Oct. 7 in Hampton County state court. The firm and other defendants in the case have 30 days to file a legal response. The law firm and the bank are both headquartered in Hampton.

The lawsuit alleges that Santis-Cristiani, who now lives in Chiapas, Mexico, was a migrant worker at the time of the crash and hired PMPED to represent him after he was injured in a car crash on Nov. 4, 2008, on Interstate 95 in Colleton County.

A tire tread on the vehicle separated from the right rear tire, “causing it to overturn,” with Santis-Cristiani inside, the lawsuit said.

The firm filed a products liability lawsuit on behalf of Santis-Cristiani in 2011 against the driver, Hilario Garcia, the vehicle maker, Ford Motor Co. and the tire manufacturer, Michelin North America.

In 2013, PMPED reached a settlement with Ford and Michelin, and Santis-Cristiani’s lawsuit was dismissed. In addition to Murdaugh, PMPED’s attorneys Ronnie Crosby and William Barnes helped handle the case, PMPED’s statement said.

Crosby and Barnes are also defendants in Santis-Cristiani’s lawsuit.

The lawsuit says Laffitte, then an officer at Palmetto State Bank, received an unspecified amount of money from the settlement to put in the bank and handle on Santis-Cristiani’s behalf. However, since then, Santis-Cristiani “has never received the funds from the product liability case” or an accounting of money received, the lawsuit said.

The firm has countered Santis-Cristiani’s allegation, saying in its statement to the newspaper that Santis-Cristiani was present for a mediation to settle the case and that he “was fully aware of the terms of the settlement and approved them.”

“Statements to the contrary in the recently filed complaint are utterly false,” the firm said.

In addition to the $73,000 paid to Santis-Cristiani from the settlement, some $70,000 is still in escrow housed at the firm, waiting to be paid to the Medical University of South Carolina for his medical bills, the firm said.

In July, Crosby offered to give Santis-Cristiani’s client file to the attorneys who filed his lawsuit, but the attorneys never requested the file, the firm said.

“Had the attorneys bringing the suit purportedly on behalf of Mr. Santis-Cristiani bothered to request and review Mr. Santis-Cristiani’s file, they would have been aware of these facts,” the firm said.

Last January, PMPED — for decades one of the Lowcountry’s most prominent firms — formed a new legal entity and rebranded itself as the Parker Law Group after Murdaugh found himself the center of several ongoing lawsuits, under charges for murder and accused of stealing money from his law firm.

Murdaugh has since been disbarred from practicing law and charged with numerous financial crimes. He is also charged with the June 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul. He has pleaded not guilty.

Orangeburg attorneys Glenn Waters and Korey Williams, who represent Santis-Cristiani, could not be reached for comment.

Andy Haselden, who represents Laffitte, declined comment. Trenholm Walker and Thomas Gressette Jr., who represent Palmetto State Bank, could not be reached for comment.

Jim Griffin, who represents Murdaugh, declined comment.

News about the lawsuit was first reported by the Hampton County Guardian.

This story was originally published October 19, 2022 at 11:25 AM.