Judge approves $15 million settlement in Mallory Beach boat crash
A South Carolina judge has approved a $15 million settlement between Mallory Beach’s family and Greg Parker, the owner of a convenience store that sold an underage Paul Murdaugh alcohol the night Beach was killed in a boat crash.
Judge Daniel T. Hall approved the settlement Thursday afternoon at a hearing in York County. After four years of legal wrangling, Hall’s ruling has largely ended one of the most bitterly fought chapters in the Murdaugh saga.
The Beach family’s lawsuit against Parker and Hampton County lawyer Alex Murdaugh following their daughter’s death in February 2019, and the relentless pressure by their attorney, Mark Tinsley, led to the exposure of Alex Murdaugh’s precarious financial situation and his thefts from clients and his own firm. Earlier this year, Murdaugh was convicted of double murder after prosecutors argued his financial troubles led Alex to kill his wife, Maggie, and son Paul.
The total settlement approved Thursday amounted to $15,517,892.03. It will be supplemented by the sale of Maggie Murdaugh’s Mercedes SUV once it has been released by SLED and the South Carolina attorney general’s office, who are looking to download additional GPS data off of the vehicle before it is sold, said Beach family attorney Mark Tinsley.
In describing why the Beach family decided it was time to settle, Tinsley said: “We compromised this case to achieve what they want, which was a level of objective accountability for their daughter, in the hope that this does not happen again.”
In court, Parker’s attorney, Deborah Barbier, recommended that Hall approve the settlement but stated it was not an admission of liability by either Parker or Tajeeha Cohen, the cashier who sold Paul the alcohol the night of the crash.
The complex settlement approved Thursday combines $15 million from Parker’s insurance companies along with more than $500,000 from the estate of Maggie Murdaugh, which reached a settlement with the Beach family in January. As part of the deal, Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster, was also released from the lawsuit.
While the Beach family agreed in January to release Buster from the lawsuit, his release was formally approved by Hall on Thursday.
But Alex Murdaugh is not off the hook. The settlement between Parker and the Beach family does not extend to Murdaugh, who is currently serving two life sentences for the killings of Maggie and Paul.
The settlement means that a much-anticipated civil trial in the lawsuit scheduled to begin Aug. 14 will not be held. This may come as a relief to some in Hampton, where the sheriff told the Beach family: “Hampton County can’t afford this trial,” Tinsley said.
“We didn’t want to put the county through the expense of the trial,” Tinsley told the court. “We felt it was important not to create an Alex Murdaugh circus that benefits somebody that ought not be benefited and give him a platform.”
Parker’s decision to settle came after two significant decisions by Hall earlier this month. He ruled against Parker’s efforts to move the case out of Hampton County and to try Parker alone rather than with Alex Murdaugh.
Parker’s lawyer, P.K. Shere, had unsuccessfully tried to convince the judge that for Parker to be tried with one of South Carolina’s most notorious criminals would prejudice a jury against Parker. On the weekend after those rulings, the deal was reached following an hours-long negotiating session at a law office on Daniel Island, lawyers said.
Also present Thursday were lawyers representing Alex Murdaugh, his son, Buster; his brother John Marvin Murdaugh in his capacity as a representative of Maggie’s estate, and Parker’s insurance carriers. The attorneys all expressed support for the settlement.
The lawsuit had accused Alex and Maggie Murdaugh of turning a blind eye to Paul’s drinking. Buster Murdaugh was named because Paul, 19 at the time, used his brother’s ID when purchasing the alcohol.
With so many interested parties, the hearing was held in York County, where Judge Hall is based, rather than Hampton County, Tinsley said.
In court, the Beach family attorney said that he planned to donate $130,000 to Mal’s Palz, an animal rescue started by Renee Beach in her daughter’s memory.
“If she (Mallory) could have had a job saving all the animals of the world, she would have been blissfully happy,” Tinsley said.
This story was originally published July 27, 2023 at 2:55 PM.