Mallory Beach's family reaches $15M settlement with all remaining defendants Alex Murdaugh
The family of Mallory Beach, the young woman who was killed during a fatal late night boat ride in 2019, have reached a $15 million out of court settlement with 'all remaining defendants' weeks before the civil case was to head to court.
Beach, 19, was thrown from the boat when it crashed into Archers Creek Bridge, in Beaufort, South Carolina, in February of that year. Her body was found five days later.
It is believed Paul Murdaugh, 19, was drunk at the time, with Buster accused of lending his younger brother his ID in order for him to buy alcohol before the crash.
Following months of negotiations a 'global settlement' has been reached with 'several defendants' including convicted killer Alex Murdaugh who is behind bars.
It means the trial which had been planned for August 14 in Hampton County, South Carolina, will now be scrapped.
Aside from Murdaugh, who owned the boat that crashed, other defendants include Savannah convenience stores owner Greg Parker and his company, Parker's Kitchen chain of gas stations which sold alcohol to Murdaugh's son, the alleged driver of the boat at the time of the accident.
Mallory Beach's family, the 19-year-old woman killed during a fatal late-night boat ride in 2019, has reached an out-of-court settlement with the remaining defendants
The family patriarch Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison for wife and son's deaths in March of this year
Beach, 19, was thrown from the boat when it crashed into Archers Creek Bridge, in Beaufort South Carolina, in 2019. Her body was found five days later
The six youths on board that night, who were under 21, were ejected from the vessel and all but Mallory Beach made it to shore. Her body wasn't found for a week
The Beach family alleged how a Parker's convenience store employee was negligent to sell alcohol to an underage Paul only hours before the crash, in effect contributing to Mallory's death.
Although the female clerk selling the alcohol looked at the ID and ran it through her system verifying that it was valid, she did not make sure that the person handing over the driver's license matched the height, weight, or face of the person buying it.
Attorney Mark Tinsley confirmed limited details of the settlement agreement on Sunday night to News 4.
Other occupants on the boat also settled claims against Parker's, including Morgan Dowdy, Miley Altman, Conor Cook, and Anthony Cook will share $3 million.
Connor Cook, and cousin Anthony resolved the case for one million dollars each while Dowdy and Altman will split the remaining million.
'Case won't see a trial,' Palmetto State attorney Bakari Sellers tweeted ahead of the settlement on Sunday. 'That's (Parker's) last pebble. Will settle.'
The settlement will give the bulk of the money to the Beach family
Paul was indicted on three counts of boating under the influence in April 2019. But while awaiting trial, the 22-year-old was gunned down in 2021
The settlement will give the bulk of the money to the Beach family.
'We are pleased we were able to get some resolution on this case and keep the Beach family from having to go through the pain and suffering of a trial and hear testimony, and have to relive their daughters' death.
'We are happy the settlement agreement is not confidential as well so that the public sees that you will be held responsible no matter who you are or how much money you have,' Beach family attorney Mark Tinsley wrote in a statement.
The six youths on board the boat on the night of the crash, who were all under 21, were ejected from the vessel - and all but Beach made it to shore. Her body wasn't found for a week.
Paul was indicted on three counts of boating under the influence in April 2019.
But while awaiting trial, the 22-year-old along with his mother Maggie, were found shot to death at their hunting lodge in June 2021.
Paul's father Alex Murdaugh, who has since been convicted of his wife and son's murders, had tried to convince the jury that someone else had killed Maggie and Paul in revenge for the boat wreck.
The boat crash victims and their families recently appeared in a Netflix docuseries called Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.
Alex Murdaugh was convicted in March for the murders of his wife and son. He had long claimed that someone else was responsible for the murders in response to the boat crash
Paul Murdaugh and his mother Maggie (left) - who were both named in a lawsuit over Mallory Beach - have since been murdered. Husband and father Alex (second-right) is behind bars for the murder his son and wife. Alex's eldest son Buster (right) has already settled in the $50million, paying an unknown amount to Mallory's family and other boat crash survivors
Prior to the murders, one of the six teens on board the boat had testified that they were scared to speak about the Murdaugh family because they knew how to 'cover things up.'
All of the survivors had told the authorities that [Paul] Murdaugh was drunk and there had been arguments over his determination to drive his boat.
Beach's boyfriend Anthony Cook offered to get them all an Uber home but Murdaugh was insistent they would travel by boat despite the fog and a lack of light on the vessel.
Cook told attorneys that Murdaugh had a 'crazy' alter-ego called 'Timmy' who came out when he was drunk.
On the night in question Cook stated: 'The whole way everybody was fighting and arguing. We drifted around in circles numerous times. We idled along….Miley was steady hollering that she had to work the next morning. She was ready to go.
'All Paul was doing was making a fool of himself…then for some reason Paul acted like he was on drugs or something.
'He started taking off his clothes during one of the arguments and it is 40 degrees outside.'
According to Cook, Murdaugh stripped 'all the way down to his boxers,' and belligerently refused to let anyone else drive his boat.
Both Cook and Altman told how Murdaugh, 'slapped, pushed and spat' on his girlfriend Doughty as the bitter arguing continued.
Asked if Murdaugh had ever spat on her when he was sober, Doughty replied, 'No.' She admitted to having witnessed him smoking weed and taking cocaine on other occasions.
Describing the terrifying scenes as the youngsters begged Murdaugh to let someone else drive, or just take them home, Altman recalled, 'I yelled at him once and he just told me..he was like..shut the eff up and sit the eff down. Nobody else is driving my boat.'
The family of Mallory Beach (pictured) also reached a tentative settlement earlier this year with Murdaugh's surviving son Buster Murdaugh in a $50million lawsuit after she was killed
Paul Murdaugh was believed to have been drunk when the boat with six people onboard crashed in Archer's Creek near Parris Island, and Buster was accused of lending his younger brother his ID in order for him to buy the alcohol
One of the boat passengers told attorneys that Paul Murdaugh had a 'crazy' alter-ego called 'Timmy' who came out when he was drunk
Archers Creek Bridge in Beaufort, South Carolina into which the boat crashed in 2019
Doughty told how she and Beach cowered in the boat with their arms 'intertwined,' as Murdaugh continued the journey that was doomed to end in such tragedy.
Ultimately, Cook remembered, the boat suddenly took off. In a chilling recollection he said: 'We went from a two-mile-per-hour idle to the bow of the boat sticking up in the air and I went to the back.'
Cook pulled Beach down next to him and held on to her but the next thing he knew, he testified, he was 'waking up' in the water, grabbing at piles of weed and debris and fighting against the swift current and frigid temperatures.
Alex Murdaugh, 54, is pictured during his double murder trial in February 2023 at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina
Both Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were found gunned down at the South Carolina estate in June 2021
The survivors then quickly established that nobody could locate Beach. Her body was found a week later.
In January 2023, after months of negotiations 'several defendants' including Buster settled with the Beach family and three of the other surviving passengers in the fatal crash.
Four years after the boat crash tragedy and nearly two years after Maggie and Paul were murdered at their South Carolina home, the family patriarch Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison for his wife and son's deaths.
Murdaugh is now serving two consecutive life sentences for murdering Maggie and Paul the family's hunting lodge in June 2021.
Source: Daily Mail
