Owner of boat involved in fatal Beaufort Co. crash will be sued, mom’s attorney says

This story first published March 26, 2019.

More lawsuits will be filed in connection with the Beaufort County boat crash that killed teen Mallory Beach, and this includes one listing the boat’s owner, an attorney for Beach’s mother, Renee Beach, said Tuesday.

Beach filed suit last week against a Beaufort bar, a convenience store and the hosts of a party in Beaufort, alleging all three provided or sold alcoholic beverages to the six boaters prior to the crash. All the boaters were underage.

Last week’s filing is just the start, Mark Tinsley of the Gooding and Gooding law firm said Tuesday.

“How much would you want to be paid to wait on a causeway for seven days as they look for your daughter,” Tinsley said. “Anyone who contributed to causing this — we are pursuing.”

He wouldn’t go into detail about every possibility but said a lawsuit against the boat’s owner “is absolutely going to happen.”

Alexander Murdaugh is the registered owner of the 17-foot center-console boat Mallory was a passenger on when it crashed into the pilings of a small bridge around 2:20 a.m. Feb. 24 just outside the main entrance to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources officials have said. The agency is leading the crash investigation.

Attempts to reach Murdaugh for comment late Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Beach was missing for a week before her body was found in a marshy area about 5 miles from the crash site.

“I don’t believe for one minute, if the evidence is there, that they are going to fight it,” Tinsley said about the boat’s owner.

SCDNR had not charged anyone in connection with the crash as of Tuesday afternoon. The agency also has not identified the driver nor spoken with the two individuals suspected of driving.

Tinsley said it is possible that a driver will not be listed in future civil lawsuits.

“Neither boy, regardless of which was driving, has any money,” Tinsley said. “To get a judgment against someone who doesn’t have the ability to pay for it is a paper victory, but unfortunately, it costs money to bring lawsuits.”

Last week’s lawsuit alleges that, on Feb. 23, Parker’s 55 unlawfully sold alcoholic beverages to a person under 21 who then shared those beverages with others under 21. Later that day, the boaters went to a party at the Beaufort home of Kristy and James Wood, where they were reportedly served alcoholic beverages and then allowed to operate a boat, the lawsuit says.

The group then drove the boat to Luther’s Rare & Well Done on Bay Street in Beaufort, where two among them were served alcohol despite being underage and intoxicated, says the lawsuit.

Public comments on social media have claimed the boaters used “fake identification” at the businesses.

Tinsley said some of the underage boaters used identification that was not theirs.

“It was an ID that, if they opened their eyes for a second, they would have seen what was in front of them,” Tinsley said. “All they have to do is look at the ID and see that it is not you.”

A Port Royal Police Department report states the remaining five boaters appeared “grossly intoxicated” at the scene of the crash. The boat crashed “at a high rate of speed,” according to first-responders speaking to dispatchers in 911 audio.

Law enforcement did not give sobriety tests to occupants of the boat because a driver had not been identified and two suspected drivers had attorneys soon after the crash, SCDNR spokesman Capt. Robert McCullough has previously said.

Teenagers will at times push boundaries, Tinsley said.

“Nobody is going to be relieved of this responsibility — including Mallory Beach,” Tinsley said. “She died. She paid the ultimate price. Whether she should have or shouldn’t have, that is what happens with 19-year-old kids. We all think it is not going to happen to us. That is why there is the law. If you are under 21, you are not competent to make these decisions.”

The 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone has requested the case be assigned to another solicitor’s office or the state Attorney General’s Office because three of the boat’s occupants are related to employees of Stone’s office.

This includes Randolph Murdaugh III, a former 14th Circuit solicitor who continues to work under contract for the office, trying criminal cases.

Beach has been described by family and friends as always having a smile, being kind and a lover of animals.

This story was originally published March 26, 2019 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Owner of boat involved in fatal Beaufort Co. crash will be sued, mom’s attorney says."