Alex Murdaugh settles lawsuit in 19-year-old’s boating death

HAMPTON COUNTY, S.C. (WSAV) — A judge has approved a settlement between disbarred Lowcountry attorney Alex Murdaugh and the family of a 19-year-old killed in a boating crash.

Court documents confirm the family of Mallory Beach will receive a $500,000 payout from Murdaugh’s insurance company, according to South Carolina media outlets.

Murdaugh was one of several named in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Beach’s family. Mallory was killed in February 2019 when the boat she and five others, including Murdaugh’s son Paul, were on crashed into a piling in Archer’s Creek.

The teen was thrown into the water, and her body wasn’t found for seven days.

Murdaugh’s youngest son, Paul, who was also 19 at the time of the crash, was charged in Beach’s death after police said the younger Murdaugh had been drinking the night of the wreck and was driving the boat at the time of the crash.

The charges against Paul were dropped after he and his mother were found shot to death in 2021 at the Murdaugh family’s hunting property in Colleton County.

Renee Beach was suing Alex Murdaugh, older brother Richard Alexander “Buster” Murdaugh Jr. and the Parker’s Corporation for monetary damage.

South Carolina media outlets reported that a local court filing from Oct. 10 said that Alex Murdaugh’s insurance policy with Progressive would only agree to pay the $500,000 settlement on the condition that he was dropped from the suit.

A $15 million settlement between Mallory Beach’s family and Greg Parker, owner of Parker’s convenience stores, was approved by a judge in July of 2023.