SC judge denies motion by Murdaugh attorneys to strike ‘scandalous’ language from lawsuit
A South Carolina circuit court judge on Tuesday denied a motion by Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys that sought to strike the introductory section from a lawsuit that accused Murdaugh of attempting to frame someone else instead of his son for the boat crash that killed Mallory Beach in 2019.
Judge Bentley Price listened to arguments from attorneys for both parties at a hearing Monday in Hampton County before notifying the attorneys of his decision via email Tuesday afternoon.
John Tiller, an attorney representing the suspended Hampton lawyer, had asked Price in November to strike the introductory section, which described what happened the night Alex’s son, Paul Murdaugh, drove the boat drunk.
The lawsuit, filed in September on behalf of Connor Cook, one of the passengers aboard the boat, alleged that Alex Murdaugh and “others were orchestrating a campaign” to blame Cook for the crash instead of Paul Murdaugh, who was ultimately indicted.
The suit also named as defendants Murdaugh’s older son, Buster, and the gas station that sold Paul alcohol the day before the crash.
The motion by Murdaugh’s attorneys was originally one of seven separate motions involving lawsuits against Alex Murdaugh (or related to Murdaugh) set to go before Price on Monday. However, the other six were withdrawn by attorneys prior to the hearing.
The six motions that were withdrawn, according to attorneys Mark Tinsley, who represents the Beach family, and Eric Bland, who represents the Satterfields, included:
▪ A motion from the defense to dismiss Murdaugh from a lawsuit filed by the sons of his former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield;
▪ A defense motion for a gag order and sanctions against Satterfield attorney Bland;
▪ A motion filed by Bank of America’s attorneys to dismiss the bank from Bland’s lawsuit;
▪ Two motions filed by Murdaugh’s brother, John Marvin Murdaugh, that sought to cancel lis pendens filed against two properties owned by the Murdaugh family;
▪ A motion to dismiss Private Investigations Services Group from a lawsuit filed by the family of Mallory Beach that accuses the Parker’s convenience store CEO and his lawyers of creating a social media campaign intended to bully the Beach family during its wrongful death litigation against the convenience store.
Bland, reached by phone Monday, confirmed that the motions involving his lawsuit against Murdaugh were withdrawn. He declined comment when asked whether he settled with Bank of America.
“When we started, we wanted people to be accountable and we wanted answers,” he said. “Now that it’s nearing the end of what we can do with the civil litigation process, we’re going to participate when requested in the criminal process. This needs to be seen through to conclusion. It’s time for other victims to get some compensation and justice. We’ve gotten a significant amount of that.”
In front of Price on Monday, Tiller argued that the introductory section of Cook’s lawsuit included allegations that were “redundant, immaterial, impertinent and scandalous.” He said the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure do not allow introductory narratives.
The introduction to Cook’s lawsuit detailed how Paul Murdaugh purchased alcohol from the Parker’s convenience store before driving drunk and crashing the boat, killing Beach on Feb. 24, 2019.
“Paul Murdaugh, drunk and traveling at excessive speeds down a narrow creek in the night, without a proper look-out or proper lights, crashed the boat belonging to his father, Richard Alexander Murdaugh ... into the Archer’s Creek Bridge with such force as to eject several of the boat passengers into the water and cause Connor Cook to strike his body on the boat frame, to lose consciousness and awake with a serious cut to his face and multiple fractures to his jaw,” the introductory section said.
“One passenger’s life, Mallory Beach, was lost forever and the surviving passengers suffered both physical and mental injuries.”
Tiller declined comment after the hearing, saying “I think you got it all. It’s pretty simple.”
Joe McCulloch, an attorney for Cook, painted the motion as a waste of time and superfluous. He said the request to strike his introductory section was moot because Murdaugh’s attorneys had already filed an answer to his lawsuit.
McCulloch referred to the motion as “lawyers dancing on the head of a pin.” He said Murdaugh, who sits in a Richland County jail on 74 charges, most stemming from allegations that he stole millions from his clients, is “libel proof.”
Price told the attorneys that he denied Tiller’s motion Tuesday afternoon, according to McCulloch. Price asked McCulloch to prepare an order for his signature.
Monday’s hearing was the latest legal battle involving Murdaugh, who has seen a dizzying fall from grace since the June murders of his wife and son at the family’s rural estate that splits Colleton and Hampton counties.
Alex Murdaugh, in jail for defrauding clients, also faces eight civil lawsuits that illustrate the tangled web of legal problems surrounding the once-respected Murdaugh family.
Cook’s suit claims Murdaugh started a “whisper campaign” in the Hampton County community, attempted to misdirect law enforcement and potentially obstructed the investigation so Cook would be held criminally and civilly responsible for the crash.
Murdaugh, in an answer filed in December, denied this allegation.
This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 3:50 PM.
