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A Convenience-Store Magnate, Teen Drinking and a Fatal Boat Crash: The Legal Case Shaking S.Carolina
Last edited Mon Aug 15, 2022, 08:55 AM - Edit history (1)
Dear Jilly_in_VA: you call that a new low? Hold my mint julep and read this.
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.
There was a long article in the Weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal. this weekend. I don't have a subscription, so I can't share it with you. This one is worth the trip to the library. I was able to get to the entire article by clicking through from the tweet.
Behind the sensational Murdaugh murder case, there is an equally wild legal drama that’s ensnared South Carolina’s elite. “This life of privilege is part of what should be examined here.” https://wsj.com/articles/alex-murdaugh-murders-south-carolina-parker-lawsuit-11660167263?st=yt0lx9eo7292abe via
@WSJ
@WSJ
wsj.com
A Convenience-Store Magnate, Teen Drinking and a Fatal Boat Crash: The Legal Case Shaking South...
The sensational killing of two members of the Murdaugh family has become intertwined with a parallel lawsuit aimed at changing the state’s liability laws.
A Convenience-Store Magnate, Teen Drinking and a Fatal Boat Crash: The Legal Case Shaking South...
The sensational killing of two members of the Murdaugh family has become intertwined with a parallel lawsuit aimed at changing the state’s liability laws.
Link to tweet
A Convenience-Store Magnate, Teen Drinking and a Fatal Boat Crash: The Legal Case Shaking South Carolina
The sensational killing of two members of the Murdaugh family has become intertwined with a lawsuit aimed at the state’s liability laws
By Valerie Bauerlein
https://twitter.com/vbauerlein
valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com
Aug. 13, 2022 12:00 am ET
HAMPTON, S.C.—The saga of disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh includes five deaths, millions of dollars allegedly absconded from clients and, in July, indictments accusing him of murdering his wife and son, to which he pleaded not guilty. ... It also spawned a pair of explosive and potentially groundbreaking lawsuits, with one tentatively set to go to trial this fall. ... On one side sits the family of Mallory Beach, a 19-year-old killed in 2019 when a boat driven by Mr. Murdaugh’s late son, Paul, crashed into a bridge to Parris Island. On the other sits Greg Parker, a wealthy convenience store magnate whose company Ms. Beach’s family sued for selling alcohol to an underage Paul before the boat crash. ... Mr. Parker denies his company’s culpability in the boat crash, saying the store clerk who sold the alcohol did nothing wrong because Paul Murdaugh presented a valid ID belonging to his older brother.
Mr. Parker, whose Savannah-based Parker’s Kitchen chain has 71 stores in Georgia and South Carolina, is effectively the last defendant standing as others have settled and the Murdaugh family’s assets are frozen. Under an unusual feature of South Carolina law, that means he could be held 100% financially responsible for the girl’s death, with damages potentially running to tens of millions of dollars. ... “I’ve spent 47 years trying to create a company that I’m really, really proud of,” Mr. Parker said. He has declared repeatedly that he won’t settle the case, because to settle would be “to have Parker’s name besmirched.”
{snip}
The wrongful-death suit led to a second lawsuit against Mr. Parker personally, accusing him of inflicting intentional emotional distress on the Beach family, which Mr. Parker denies, with an aggressive defense, including a covert investigation into the boat passengers. ... The litigation so far hasn’t featured in the lurid headlines associated with the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, which took place at the family’s hunting estate near Hampton, S.C., in June 2021. But it has become the poster child for tort reform in a lobbying campaign underwritten by Mr. Parker, who has staked much of his reputation and personal fortune on the case. His goal is to change the way financial damages in certain lawsuits in South Carolina are awarded. {snip} Mr. Tinsley, a personal-injury lawyer in Allendale, S.C., said he wants to take Mr. Parker “for everything he’s got” because the case has become personal. Mr. Tinsley said he is offended by the lengths to which Mr. Parker’s team has gone in the continuing investigation, which has made an excruciating situation for the Beaches even worse. ... “I can prove everything he did and I’m going to, and he’s going to write me a big check,” Mr. Tinsley said.
{image of Mark Tinsley that will not display correctly at DU: https://images.wsj.net/im-597306/?width=1260&size=1.5}
{snip}
Quirk in Liability Law
{snip}
South Carolina law allows a plaintiff in an alcohol-related case to choose to collect 100% of the damages from a bar, store owner or host if a jury finds that entity the slightest amount at fault. The law, known as a joint-and-several liability law, differs from that in most other states, including Georgia, where a defendant pays a share of damages based on a percentage of fault assigned by a jury. ... “You say ‘Well, wait a minute. If I’m one-millionth of 1% responsible, I can be held 100% liable?’ ” said Mr. Parker, in a recent interview. “How does that work? That’s not fair.” He is lobbying the state legislature to change the law. ... The law was designed to make sure a plaintiff could collect the full amount awarded by a jury, {Beach family lawyer Mark Tinsley, a personal-injury lawyer in Allendale, S.C.,} said, adding it originated when bars commonly operated without liquor liability insurance. ... In December 2021, Mr. Tinsley filed the second suit on behalf of the Beach family against Mr. Parker personally and some of the lawyers and investigators working on his defense team, alleging civil conspiracy and outrage, or the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Write to Valerie Bauerlein at valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com
Appeared in the August 13, 2022, print edition as 'Teens, Alcohol and a Crash: Case Shakes South Carolina'.
The sensational killing of two members of the Murdaugh family has become intertwined with a lawsuit aimed at the state’s liability laws
By Valerie Bauerlein
https://twitter.com/vbauerlein
valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com
Aug. 13, 2022 12:00 am ET
HAMPTON, S.C.—The saga of disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh includes five deaths, millions of dollars allegedly absconded from clients and, in July, indictments accusing him of murdering his wife and son, to which he pleaded not guilty. ... It also spawned a pair of explosive and potentially groundbreaking lawsuits, with one tentatively set to go to trial this fall. ... On one side sits the family of Mallory Beach, a 19-year-old killed in 2019 when a boat driven by Mr. Murdaugh’s late son, Paul, crashed into a bridge to Parris Island. On the other sits Greg Parker, a wealthy convenience store magnate whose company Ms. Beach’s family sued for selling alcohol to an underage Paul before the boat crash. ... Mr. Parker denies his company’s culpability in the boat crash, saying the store clerk who sold the alcohol did nothing wrong because Paul Murdaugh presented a valid ID belonging to his older brother.
Mr. Parker, whose Savannah-based Parker’s Kitchen chain has 71 stores in Georgia and South Carolina, is effectively the last defendant standing as others have settled and the Murdaugh family’s assets are frozen. Under an unusual feature of South Carolina law, that means he could be held 100% financially responsible for the girl’s death, with damages potentially running to tens of millions of dollars. ... “I’ve spent 47 years trying to create a company that I’m really, really proud of,” Mr. Parker said. He has declared repeatedly that he won’t settle the case, because to settle would be “to have Parker’s name besmirched.”
{snip}
The wrongful-death suit led to a second lawsuit against Mr. Parker personally, accusing him of inflicting intentional emotional distress on the Beach family, which Mr. Parker denies, with an aggressive defense, including a covert investigation into the boat passengers. ... The litigation so far hasn’t featured in the lurid headlines associated with the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, which took place at the family’s hunting estate near Hampton, S.C., in June 2021. But it has become the poster child for tort reform in a lobbying campaign underwritten by Mr. Parker, who has staked much of his reputation and personal fortune on the case. His goal is to change the way financial damages in certain lawsuits in South Carolina are awarded. {snip} Mr. Tinsley, a personal-injury lawyer in Allendale, S.C., said he wants to take Mr. Parker “for everything he’s got” because the case has become personal. Mr. Tinsley said he is offended by the lengths to which Mr. Parker’s team has gone in the continuing investigation, which has made an excruciating situation for the Beaches even worse. ... “I can prove everything he did and I’m going to, and he’s going to write me a big check,” Mr. Tinsley said.
{image of Mark Tinsley that will not display correctly at DU: https://images.wsj.net/im-597306/?width=1260&size=1.5}
{snip}
Quirk in Liability Law
{snip}
South Carolina law allows a plaintiff in an alcohol-related case to choose to collect 100% of the damages from a bar, store owner or host if a jury finds that entity the slightest amount at fault. The law, known as a joint-and-several liability law, differs from that in most other states, including Georgia, where a defendant pays a share of damages based on a percentage of fault assigned by a jury. ... “You say ‘Well, wait a minute. If I’m one-millionth of 1% responsible, I can be held 100% liable?’ ” said Mr. Parker, in a recent interview. “How does that work? That’s not fair.” He is lobbying the state legislature to change the law. ... The law was designed to make sure a plaintiff could collect the full amount awarded by a jury, {Beach family lawyer Mark Tinsley, a personal-injury lawyer in Allendale, S.C.,} said, adding it originated when bars commonly operated without liquor liability insurance. ... In December 2021, Mr. Tinsley filed the second suit on behalf of the Beach family against Mr. Parker personally and some of the lawyers and investigators working on his defense team, alleging civil conspiracy and outrage, or the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Write to Valerie Bauerlein at valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com
Appeared in the August 13, 2022, print edition as 'Teens, Alcohol and a Crash: Case Shakes South Carolina'.
