A South Carolina judge has ordered disgraced attorney-turned-convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh to pay a $500,000 settlement to the family of Mallory Beach through his insurance.
Mallory Beach was 19 years old when she was thrown off the Murdaugh family's boat in February 2019 after Alex's youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, allegedly crashed into a bridge after a night of drinking. Beach's body was found in the water a week later, and several other teenagers were injured in the crash.
"This is just concluding what happened last summer, but there was some attempted manipulation of who could get what," Mark Tinsley, the Beach family's attorney, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. "Alex didn’t want the Beach family to be part of the settlement."
"Alex Murdaugh tried to control what happened," Tinsley added.
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The recent settlement order filed on Oct. 10 was "a non-event as far as" the Beach family is concerned, since the settlement was officially reached last summer in their civil lawsuit against Murdaugh and Parker's Kitchen — the southern convenience store chain that allegedly sold Paul alcohol on the evening of the crash even though he was not yet 21.
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Parker's was ordered to pay $15 million to the Beach family in July 2023, while Murdaugh's portion of the settlement was unknown due to his ongoing criminal cases. The former personal injury lawyer was convicted in 2023 of killing his wife, Maggie, and Paul on their family hunting estate in 2021.
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"This matter came before the Court on July 27, 2023, to approve a settlement of the remaining claims pending in this matter. At the time of the approval, Progressive (Richard Alexander Murdaugh’s liability insurance carrier for the boat) would not tender its coverage without receiving a full Release for Alexander Murdaugh. As a result, the Beach family attorneys agreed to defer receiving $500,000.00 of their approved fees so that the other settlements could be achieved at that time," Judge Daniel Hall wrote in his order on Oct. 10.
Hall added that "since that time, the receivership was liquidated and with that, Progressive has tendered its coverage in exchange for a full Release of Mr. Murdaugh."
Murdaugh has also been convicted of defrauding vulnerable clients out of millions they received through his former work as a personal injury lawyer.
