Family of Murdaugh boat crash victim Mallory Beach settles for $15m – report
A series of lawsuits centering on the deadly February 2019 crash of a boat purportedly driven by Alex Murdaugh’s son before his high-profile murder at the hands of his father has reportedly been settled for about $15m.
Most of the money from the settlement, confirmed on Sunday, is destined to go to the family of Mallory Beach, 19, who was killed on the night of the wreck near Parris Island, South Carolina, according to the local news outlet WSAV.
Other passengers on the boat which crashed had joined Beach’s relatives in filing the lawsuits in question. The suits, which are all now reportedly resolved, targeted Alex Murdaugh – because he owned the boat – as well as a store named Parker’s where the former attorney’s then underage son Paul had bought alcohol using a fake identification before purportedly driving and crashing the boat.
An attorney for Beach’s family, Mark Tinsley, provided a statement to WSAV which held up the settlement as a warning to alcohol retailers that they are indeed responsible when teenagers drink their products.
“The Beach family believes this settlement will serve as a warning to all the Parker’s of the world, who might make an illegal sale of alcohol to a minor, that they will be held to account for their wrongful conduct if they do,” Tinsley’s statement said.
Meanwhile, Parker’s attorney PK Share issued a statement explaining that the retailer’s insurers preferred to settle the plaintiffs’ litigation rather than go to trial and risk being forced to pay an even higher amount because of Alex Murdaugh’s infamy over his convictions in the June 2021 murders of his wife, Margaret, and their son Paul.
“Parker’s insurance carriers … resolve[d] these suits to avoid paying the likely award intended to punish Alex Murdaugh,” Shere’s statement said, ac