Sons of Murdaugh housekeeper reach settlement with Beaufort attorney over missing money
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Alex Murdaugh Coverage
The Murdaugh family saga has dominated the news after another shooting, a resignation and criminal accusations — with Alex Murdaugh at the center of it all. Here are the latest updates on Alex Murdaugh.
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The sons of the Murdaugh family housekeeper who died in 2018 after an alleged trip-and-fall accident said they’ve reached a settlement with a Beaufort lawyer accused of working with Alex Murdaugh to withhold death settlement money.
Gloria Satterfield’s sons reached a settlement with personal injury lawyer Cory Fleming and his firm to pay back “all legal fees and expenses Mr. Fleming and his law firm received from the $4,300,000 they recovered for the Estate in connection with the claims asserted against Alex Murdaugh for the death of Gloria Satterfied[sic],” according to a statement through their attorney.
The agreement was reached on Friday, and the settlement announced on Sunday night.
Cory Fleming, his law firm Moss, Kuhn, and Fleming, and their insurance carrier will pay back the funds to the Satterfield estate. Fleming was sued, along with Murdaugh and a banker, accused of diverting settlement money from the family. The sons never received any money.
What’s not clear from Sunday’s statement is how much money Fleming and his firm are paying back to the Satterfield estate.
In a missing judge’s order approving a $4.3 million settlement in 2019, nearly $1.5 million was set aside in attorney’s fees. The order said $2.76 million was supposed to be paid to the Satterfield family.
According to the statement, Fleming and the law firm will pay back “all legal fees and expenses” collected.
Fleming and his firm were Satterfield’s sons’ attorneys in the wrongful death claim, so the $1.5 million in attorney’s fees could have gone to them.
A reporter contacted all three partners of the Moss, Kuhn, and Fleming law firm but didn’t reach anyone. The Satterfield sons’ lawyer, Eric Bland, did not return a voicemail on Monday morning.
The firm is distancing itself from Alex Murdaugh.
“Mr. Fleming and his law firm maintain, they—like others—were victims of Alex Murdaugh’s fraudulent scheme,” the statement said.
Missing money?
The lawsuit, filed on Sept. 15, said that after Gloria Satterfield died, Murdaugh encouraged her sons to use the services of Fleming and banker Chad Westendorf to file a wrongful death claim against him. Fleming was Murdaugh’s college roommate and godfather to his son Paul, a connection not disclosed to the sons, the lawsuit stated.
An original death settlement of $505,000 was approved, according to public documents. The sons, Michael Satterfield and Brian Harriott, never received any funds from that settlement, the lawsuit states, and learned of its existence when it was reported in the news.
After the lawsuit was filed last month, Satterfield’s attorney, Eric Bland, said he discovered a missing judge’s order approving a $4.3 million settlement. The documents were never filed, though they were signed by a judge.
The sons were supposed to receive $2.76 million of the settlement, according to the documents dated May 13, 2019.
As part of the never-filed settlement, attorney fees of nearly $1.5 million were paid, presumably to Fleming and his firm, as he was Murdaugh’s designated attorney for the estate.
Sunday’s statement seems to represent that those fees will be paid back to the Satterfield estate.
“The estate will continue pursuing other culpable parties who resist acceptance of responsibility for their part in this tragic matter,” according to the statement.
While Fleming and his firm agreed to settle, the statement indicates that the lawsuit could continue to pursue Murdaugh and Westendorf for the alleged missing money.
Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, who is representing Murdaugh in criminal matters, said Murdaugh does not have representation in the civil case yet and he has “not been served with any lawsuit.”
‘Alleged inappropriate conduct of Alex Murdaugh’
Fleming and his law firm aren’t the only ones to publicly distance themselves from Murdaugh, in the wake of the Satterfield lawsuit. A week after the suit was filed, a Georgia-based financial firm released its own statement denying any involvement in the “alleged inappropriate conduct of Alex Murdaugh.”
Murdaugh had Fleming make a check for the settlement money payable to Forge Consulting LLC, a company which structures financial settlements, according to attorney Bland.
“Unfortunately, it appears that Mr. Murdaugh, and possibly others working with him, leveraged the Forge Consulting name and reputation by establishing a bank account titled ‘Forge’ without our knowledge or consent,” Forge wrote.
Forge wrote that it reported the alleged account to law enforcement, “along with others who are investigating.”
Murdaugh’s former firm, Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, and Detrick, has also cut ties with Murdaugh. In a message posted to its website, PMPED stressed that the Satterfield case was separate from the firm’s operations.
“If these reports are accurate, we are stunned at what occurred,” the statement on the website said. “It’s important for everyone to know that PMPED did not represent Alex in that case. His insurance company hired counsel to represent him.”
Separately, Murdaugh is under investigation for allegations he misappropriated funds from PMPED. Last month, he resigned from the firm, which his great-grandfather founded in 1910.
Additionally, the S.C. Law Enforcement Division is investigating the death of Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield. She died of injuries sustained in a trip and fall accident at the Murdaugh family home, according to court documents. However, her death was listed as “natural” at the hospital weeks later, so no autopsy was ever done. The current Hampton County coroner noticed the irregularity and petitioned SLED to investigate.
The Sunday night statement said a “more comprehensive joint statement from Mr. Fleming, his firm, and the Satterfield Estate will be issued later this week.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 10:30 AM.
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