Alex Murdaugh settles lawsuit over teen’s ship death

HAMPTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – Disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh has been dropped from a wrongful death lawsuit following an insurance payout to the family of a teenage victim.

Disbarred Lowcountry attorney Alex Murdaugh has been dropped from a wrongful death lawsuit following an insurance payout to the family of a teenage victim.

Court documents confirm Mallory Beach’s family will receive a $500,000 payout from Murdaugh’s insurance company.

Murdaugh was one of many named in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Beach’s family. Beach was 19 when she died in the boating accident on Feb. 24, 2019, when the boat she was a passenger in struck the Archer’s Creek bridge near Parris Island.

Mallory Beach was 19 when she died in the boating accident on Feb. 24, 2019, when the boat she was a passenger in struck the Archer’s Creek bridge near Parris Island.

Murdaugh’s youngest son, Paul, also 19 at the time of the crash, was charged in Beach’s death.

Police said the younger Murdaugh had been drinking the night of the wreck and was driving the boat at the time of the crash.

Charges against Paul Murdaugh were dropped after he and his mother, Maggie, were shot on the Murdaugh family’s hunting property in Colleton County in 2021.

An Oct. 10 lawsuit states that Alex Murdaugh’s insurance policy with Progressive would only agree to pay the $500,000 settlement on the condition that Murdaugh was dropped from the lawsuit.

In a previous settlement signed in July 2023, Parker’s Corporation agreed to pay $15 million to the Beach family. Authorities said it was at a Parker’s location in Ridgeland where Paul Murdaugh, who was not of drinking age, purchased alcohol before a boating accident that left Paul driving and killed Mallory Beach.

The final settlement marks the end of the civil case over the boating accident.

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