Alex Murdaugh settles wrongful death lawsuit that sparked downfall

Disgraced US lawyer Alex Murdaugh has settled a lawsuit brought by the family of a teenager killed in a boat crash involving Murdaugh’s youngest son that prosecutors said provoked him to later kill his wife and their son who wrecked the boat.

The agreement by an insurer to pay the 500,000-dollar (£381,847) policy Alex Murdaugh had on the boat ends the wrongful death suit that ultimately pried open Murdaugh’s finances and laid bare his schemes to steal millions from his clients and his South Carolina law firm.

The family of Mallory Beach, 19, sued the Murdaugh family and others after authorities said the boat Paul Murdaugh was driving crashed into a Beaufort County bridge in February 2019. Ms Beach was killed and several others were injured.

Paul Murdaugh, who was 19 at the time of the crash, was charged with felony boating under the influence. Investigators said he had a blood alcohol level over 0.28% — more than three times the legal limit.

Ms Beach’s family already received more than 15 million dollars (£11.5 million) from a settlement with the Parker’s Kitchen chain of convenience stores and others, as well as lawsuits with a family that held an oyster roast the group on the boat attended, a bar that served Paul Murdaugh liquor just before the crash, and Paul Murdaugh’s older brother, Buster, whose ID he used to buy the beer.

A snag with the insurer of the boat, Progressive, prevented the entire case from being settled last summer. Progressive would not pay until Alex Murdaugh was dropped as a defendant in the Beach family’s lawsuit, according to court records.

Once special receivers assured all Murdaugh’s assets were paid out, Ms Beach’s family agreed to end the case and the insurer paid the 500,000 dollars, Judge Daniel Hall wrote in an order filed on Monday.

Court records indicate the other passengers on the boat who were injured have also settled their lawsuits against Murdaugh and others involved in the crash.

But even if his murder convictions are overturned, he will remain in prison.

Murdaugh admitted stealing around 12 million dollars (£9.2 million) from his family’s law firm and from clients including a man who became a quadriplegic after a crash and from a trust fund intended for children whose parents were killed. He was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison.

Prosecutors said one of the last things Murdaugh did before heading home the night of the killings was work on a financial statement he would likely have to present at a court hearing for the Beach lawsuit scheduled three days later.

Murdaugh feared an investigation into his statement would show he stole millions from clients and his law firm, prosecutors said, and the killings were a sinister, methodical plan to buy time to straighten out his finances and derail the wrongful death suit over the boat crash.

The lawsuit, which became known in the true crime world as the “Boat Case”, showed both his family’s longtime influence over Hampton County where for decades they controlled much of the criminal and civil courts and cracks in their control of their rural empire.

Nurses at the hospital where the injured teenagers were taken said Paul Murdaugh and his father tried to talk to them alone in the emergency room. One teenager said it appeared the family was trying to convince them to say someone other than Paul Murdaugh was driving the boat.

Ms Beach’s lawyer Mark Tinsley gave evidence at Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial that he wanted him to pay 10 million dollars (£7.6 million), and Murdaugh’s lawyer said he was broke and might be able to scrape together one million.

Mr Tinsley said that did not make sense with Murdaugh’s reputation and outward signs of wealth and asked for records of all of Murdaugh’s finances for the lawsuit hearing, which was postponed following the killings.

Alex Murdaugh killed his son Paul with two shotgun blasts and his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, with four or five rifle shots outside their home, authorities said.

Alex Murdaugh said he called 911 after finding the bodies following a brief visit to see his ailing mother.

He told investigators who arrived that he wondered if the anger towards his son over the boat crash led to the killings.