Beach family attorney claims Parker’s is withholding evidence in boat crash lawsuit
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2019 Boat Crash Coverage
The crash of a Murdaugh family boat in 2019 killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach and started a chain of events that would remain in the news two years later. Here are the stories from that crash.
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This story first published Jan. 21, 2020.
A lawyer representing Mallory Beach’s mother on Tuesday demanded in a court filing that Parker’s convenience store hand over evidence of events surrounding the fatal boat crash that killed the 19-year-old near Parris Island early on Feb. 24.
Among the evidence Renee Beach seeks: video footage of Feb. 23 and a copy of the sale receipt from Parker’s #55 in Ridgeland, the store where boat driver Paul Murdaugh, 20, allegedly purchased $48 of alcohol, including a 15-pack of Natural Light beer.
Murdaugh, of Hampton, has been charged in criminal court with felony boating under the influence. He is not listed as a defendant in the civil lawsuit.
“The family believes the evidence requested tends to prove certain facts or will lead to the discovery of other evidence that will,” Mark Tinsley, of Gooding & Gooding law firm, said about the motion filed against Parker’s. “Further, the family does not believe, as stated in the motion, that there is any legitimate basis for Parker’s to not produce the evidence.”
In a statement released to The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette late Tuesday, Parker’s wrote, “We do not comment on pending litigation, but we look forward to having the opportunity to present our case at the appropriate time.”
Video footage from Feb. 23 is expected to show Parker’s selling alcohol to another minor involved in the crash prior to the sale to Murdaugh, the motion says.
It also says a copy of a receipt would “demonstrate that Parker’s cashier violated its policy requiring her to verify that the identification used by the ... patron matched the name on the credit card used to make the purchase, which was not done.”
The cashier was required to ask for Murdaugh’s ID because the purchase was more than $45, the lawsuit says. The cashier then was supposed to initial the receipt, the suit says.
“If the cashier had followed the policy or known about the policy and asked for a second form of ID, Paul Murdaugh would not have had one and the purchase would not have been allowed,” the motion says.
It says Murdaugh was using a credit card in “someone else’s name” and his older brother’s ID.
The motion also says Parker’s failed to provide a copy of a warning the cashier testified she previously received about using her cell phone. Surveillance video shows the cashier checking social media on her phone during the sale of alcohol to Murdaugh, according to the motion.
When Beach’s lawyers asked for a list of alcohol sold to Murdaugh and other minors in the crash, Parker’s objected, saying it “did not know of a sale to Paul Murdaugh and failed to respond with regard to the sale of alcohol to the other minors.”
The suit also asked for Parker’s financial documents, such as gross and net sales of alcohol beverages. “Parker’s,” it says, “has a pervasive corporate culture of not adequately training its employees to identify or prevent illegal sales of age-restricted items such as alcohol.”
Recently, most of the filings in the civil case have focused on Parker’s. Tinsley’s motion Tuesday asks for myriad pieces of evidence, including police documents and insurance coverage. In an exhibit included in the motion Tuesday, Parker’s acknowledged that it holds three insurance policies, one of which has a $10 million limit on liability.
An exhibit attached to the motion details previous objections Parker’s made for some of the items. But Parker’s has acknowledged that it has surveillance video footage of the transaction the night of the crash, as well as training manuals and policies and procedures covering alcohol sales and employees’ use of cell phones. It also acknowledged it has personnel files of the employees on duty Feb. 23.
Parker’s store #55 said it has not received any citations in the past five years for violations of rules or laws. But Parker’s did not provide any information about fines, citations and reprimands of employees for violation of alcohol beverage laws. Parker’s “does not have the records of fines or citations issued to employees by the local jurisdictions for violating any alcohol beverage laws while on duty at the store,” the response said.
Tinsley’s motion asks a judge to compel Parker’s to fully respond to discovery requests without “boilerplate or generalized objections.”
Among the exhibits Tinsley provided the judge is an Aug. 29, 2019, memorandum written by 9th Circuit Judge Roger Young. Tinsley suggests the judge use Young’s ruling as a basis to require Parker’s to produce evidence requested. Young concluded that a motion to compel must be granted when the party objecting to the motion — in this case, Parkers — has not given the court specifics on why it’s refusing to comply.
Another exhibit lists the defense witnesses expected to testify in the civil case. They include Renee Beach, Paul Murdaugh and Greg Parker, founder and CEO of Parker’s, along with other boat passengers, family members and friends.
Among those who are possible witnesses: emergency responders from S.C. Department of Natural Resources, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, Port Royal Police Department, Beaufort County EMS, Beaufort County Water Search and Rescue, Parris Island Fire Rescue and Marine Corps Recruit Depot.
Previous motions in the case
Two weeks ago, one defendant and five witnesses requested that the civil trial be moved to Beaufort County from Hampton County.
The motion to transfer venue was filed by attorneys representing Parkers 55.
No ruling on that motion had been filed in court as of Tuesday, according to online court records.
Murdaugh’s grandfather, Randolph Murdaugh III, and father, R. Alexander Murdaugh, are partners in the prominent Hampton County law firm Peters Murdaugh Parker Eltzroth & Detrick. The law firm was founded by Paul Murdaugh’s great-great grandfather.
Three generations of Murdaughs have held the elected position of solicitor for the 14th Judicial Circuit, which serves Beaufort, Hampton, Jasper, Allendale and Colleton counties, since 1920. Randolph Murdaugh, who succeeded his father in the post, served from 1986 to 2006. He continues to work as a contractor prosecuting criminal cases for the office. His son, Richard Alexander Murdaugh, voluntarily assists.
The affidavits did not mention the Murdaughs’ possible conflicts of interest in Hampton County as a reason to change the trial’s location.
The Murdaugh family’s prominence in the community has resulted in several officials stepping away from the case. Two judges have recused themselves from hearing the civil case.
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office recused itself from a criminal investigation into where the teens received or purchased alcohol on March 25. A “long-standing relationship with the Murdaugh family” was given as a reason.
A day after the crash, 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone asked South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson to reassign the case should charges be filed because three of the boaters are related to employees of Stone’s office.
The crash and investigation
Beach, also of Hampton, was ejected from the 17-foot boat Paul Murdaugh is accused of driving when it crashed into a bridge around 2:20 a.m. in Archers Creek. Her body was found a week later in a marshy area about 5 miles from the crash.
The five surviving passengers in the boat, including Paul Murdaugh, were injured, according to police reports. Law enforcement officers at the scene also noted that all five appeared to be “grossly intoxicated.”
State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, as well as Jim Griffin, are representing Paul Murdaugh.
At the scene of the crash, law enforcement officers did not give Paul Murdaugh a sobriety test.
He was taken to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, where SCDNR officers say Randolph and Alexander Murdaugh blocked investigators from questioning him and another boater who had also been identified as a possible driver, agency officials later said.
The lawsuit
Renee Beach originally filed the lawsuit on March 20 in Beaufort County, where the boat crash happened. That suit was dismissed on the same day she filed suit in Hampton County.
Since the civil filing, Paul Murdaugh was charged in criminal court in April with three felony counts of boating under the influence. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in May and was released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond.
On Tuesday, representatives of the state’s attorney general’s office said there were no updates to the criminal case. No court date is listed for Paul Murdaugh in the Beaufort County public index.
This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 7:47 PM.
