Murdaugh lawyers ask court to drop latest civil suit, claiming debts repaid

Who shot and killed Murdaugh's wife, Maggie, and son Paul outside their hunting lodge in June. Whether Murdaugh and his family obstructed the investigation into the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach. The unsolved death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith. Smith's body was found with blunt-force head trauma on a Hampton County road in July 2015. SLED has previously acknowledged reopening that case because of information investigators gathered while investigating the death of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh in June. How Gloria Satterfield died and what became of the wrongful death settlement meant for her family. The Murdaugh family's housekeeper reportedly died after a fall at the Murdaugh home, but her death certificate states she succumbed to natural causes. Accusations that Murdaugh also used a fraudulent bank account to steal millions of dollars owed to his former law clients and his former employer, the Hampton law office of Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, Detrick. The Labor Day weekend shooting that reportedly stemmed from an insurance fraud plot.

HAMPTON - Defense attorneys for Alex Murdaugh have asked a judge to drop civil claims contending the suspended lawyer pocketed millions from the family of his deceased housekeeper, citing the fact the family has already been compensated for the disputed money.

The Nov. 17 motion in the state's 14th Judicial Circuit stems from a civil lawsuit filed in September by the sons of Gloria Satterfield, the housekeeper who fatally fell while working at Murdaugh's home.

Satterfield's sons accused Murdaugh of using a fake bank account to misdirect millions of dollars from a wrongful-death settlement negotiated on their behalf.

The sons were already compensated $6 million for their losses by other co-defendants in the case through settlement agreements and thereby have been fully compensated, the motion claims.

The motion also argued Satterfield's sons are prohibited from being compensated twice from the same injury, meaning Murdaugh should be entitled to a $6 million credit paid by all others who settled in the case against any judgment the sons may be awarded in the case.

Alongside the sons' civil complaint, there is also a criminal case against Murdaugh into the alleged wrongful death settlement scam. Murdaugh was arrested by the State Law Enforcement Division in October in connection with the criminal case and denied bail.

Murdaugh is the sole defendant in the sons' civil case. Cory Fleming, a longtime friend who represented the Satterfields in the wrongful death proceeding, was dropped from the family's suit last month after also reaching a settlement with the family.

The Satterfields' attorneys said they also reached an agreement that dismisses Murdaugh's former law firm, Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick, from any legal liability in the case.

Palmetto State Bank was released from the case Nov. 11. The bank reached a settlement with Satterfield's sons, ending a pending legal claim. Palmetto admitted no wrongdoing, describing the resolution as a business decision. Terms of the settlement were not released.

Charleston attorneys Ronnie Richter and Eric Bland, who represent the sons, said Murdaugh had encouraged them to sue him - and hire Fleming to do it - after their 57-year-old mother died following a February 2018 trip-and-fall accident at Murdaugh's Colleton County hunting lodge.

Richter and Bland said Fleming encouraged the Satterfields to appoint Chad Westendorf, one of the bank's vice presidents, to represent and manage her estate.

After that, the Satterfield sons were never told of the settlement negotiated on their behalf, the attorneys alleged. State prosecutors allege Murdaugh pocketed $3.4 million of that money after directing Fleming to send settlement proceeds to a fraudulent bank account.

SLED has led half a dozen Murdaugh-related investigations.

The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office of South Carolina also have opened an investigation in the Murdaugh case.

Federal investigators also are digging into allegations the attorney used a fraudulent bank account to steal millions of dollars from his law firm, clients and the family of his late housekeeper, The Post and Courier reported in October.

What's more, a judge froze Murdaugh's assets at the beginning of November after concerns he or his son, Buster, would try to hide millions of dollars that could be recovered in civil suits against him.

The Murdaughs are a prominent family in South Carolina and are known to be a legal dynasty. Three generations of Murdaughs have served as 14th Circuit solicitor covering the state's southern tip.

The slew of white-collar criminal charges connected to the powerful bloodline have emerged since June, when Murdaugh's wife, Maggie, and son Paul were found shot to death outside their hunting lodge.