Michael M. DeWitt, Jr., Greenville News
·4 min read
A new Alex Murdaugh-related lawsuit may confirm shocking allegations uncovered during the Mallory Beach wrongful death and civil outrage cases.
A private investigating firm that says it was hired to uncover inside information on the family of former Hampton attorney Alex Murdaugh and influence the outcome of a pending wrongful death lawsuit involving the Murdaughs has filed a revealing civil suit in Charleston this week that may impact other lawsuits filed in 2019 and 2021.
When Allendale, S.C., attorney Mark Tinsley filed a 2019 wrongful death suit following the now infamous February boating accident that took the life of 19-year-old Beach in Beaufort County waters, he knew his opponents would put up stiff resistance — but he soon suspected something possibly not ethical or legal was happening behind the scenes.
The wrongful death suit, which named now notorious convicted murderer and fraudster Alex Murdaugh, who owned the boat allegedly driven by his son, Paul; as well as Gregory Parker and his Parkers Corporation, who sold the alcohol to the drunken underaged boaters, has since been partially settled for $15 million, but during the course of fighting that legal battle a second, parallel "civil outrage" personal injury suit was ignited.
In that December 2021 suit, Tinsley, on behalf of grieving mother Renee Beach, alleges that the Parkers defendants and their attorneys hired private detectives to mount an undercover campaign to both harass and inflict emotional distress on his clients and sway public opinion in the case. Over the past two and a half years, Tinsley has been filing subpoena after subpoena in an effort to obtain documents supporting his allegations.
The detective's new, related lawsuit, filed May 21 in Charleston County Court of Common Pleas by detective agency Inquiry Agency, LLC against law firm BakerHostetler, LLP and its partner Jason D’Cruz, is a simple breach of contract lawsuit over allegedly unpaid work and legal fees totaling less than $75,000, but it may hold far-reaching implications for Tinsley and the Beach family.
The May 21 civil complaint alleges that Inquiry was hired by D'Cruz and BakerHostetler, LLP and its partner Jason D’Cruz to mount "a shadow campaign used to sway public opinion" in the Beach wrongful death case — allegations which certainly seem to support claims that Tinsley and his Beach clients have been making for more than three years.
"This case exposes years of lies that Parker and his lawyers have been spinning in the conspiracy case to keep me from getting the documents," Tinsley told The Hampton County Guardian/Greenville News. "The revelations contained in this lawsuit are very much contrary to the position taken by the defendants and their lawyers for going on three years. A surreptitious smear campaign is not a part of how litigation is supposed to be conducted."
This new complaint alleges: "On or about February 8, 2021, BakerHostetler, LLP... entered into a contract with Inquiry Agency to investigate Paul Murdaugh and his family in an effort to gain information to be used in a public relations campaign to sway public opinion in favor of Greg Parker and Parkers Kitchens who was being sued for the wrongful death of Mallory Beach."
The complaint adds that when Tinsley became aware of what Parker and BakerHostetler were doing, Inquiry Agency was served with subpoenas from Tinsley and Gooding and Gooding, P.A. for its "entire investigative file," claiming that these documents were not subject to attorney-client privilege and should be released.
As a result of the subpoenas, and the fact that Parker's attorneys allegedly instructed Inquiry Agency not to comply but fight the release of the documents in court, Inquiry has incurred thousands of dollars in legal expenses and its own time, and is demanding to be paid.
On May 23, Renee Beach shared a portion of the Inquiry lawsuit on her social media accounts, commenting, "For years Parker and his lawyers have tried to keep what they did hidden, and now the PI (private investigator) is telling the truth!"
Representatives for Parker and Parker's Corporation declined to comment on the new lawsuit Thursday.
The Beach civil outrage case remains pending in Hampton County Court of Common Pleas, but no trial date has been set as the parties are still engaged in legal arguments over whether the detective files and other documents are protected by attorney-client privilege, or can be released to Tinsley.
S.C. Circuit Judge G.D. Morgan Jr. is now presiding over the case.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Private detective lawsuit may affect Mallory Beach civil outrage case
