Drew Tripp
@DrewTripp
Attending a hearing today in the Mallory Beach boat crash case. Judge Daniel Hall is hearing arguments from attorneys for Beach & Parker's convenience stores. Parker wants summary judgment to be dismissed from the lawsuit, believing they have no liability for Beach's death.
11:12 AM · May 3, 2023
Parker's attorney PK Shere argues Parker's didn't knowingly sell alcohol to Paul Murdaugh prior to boat crash, & store clerk Tajeeha Cohen did her due dilligence by checking & scanning ID (taken from Buster), which came back valid.
Shere: SLED & Solicitor's Office declined to prosecute / cite Parker's or Cohen multiple times. No statutory or common law violation of duties was found to have occurred. Beach attorneys have no actionable claim, complaint must be dismissed.
Shere now moves to assumed risk by Mallory Beach. Made deliberate plans to avoid detection by law enforcement. Knew no life jackets or lights on boat, knew Paul's history of drinking, knew he was drunk. Had multiple chances to get off the boat, knew the risks, yet stayed on boat.
Shere brings up case precendent of SC man who knowingly picked up wild racoon that got in house, got bitten, admitted it was bad decision, but then sued landlord for injury liability. Judge dismissed that case prior to jury trial. Shere says Judge Hall should do same here.
Shere: Mallory knew dangers of being in vehicle with Paul with history of excessive drinking. Morgan Doughty affidavits say Mallory knew of 2 prior drunk driving crash incidents involving Paul, even witnessed one. Mallory & all on boat voluntarily put themselves in harm's way.
Shere brings up Anthony Cook testified multiple people tried to get them not to take boat back home from oyster roast because of how much they'd been drinking. Anthony Cook said passengers were all "sketched out" by thought of getting back on boat with Paul. Shere: assumed risk.
Shere showing Morgan Doughty, Miley Altman, Anthony Cook comments in Netflix documentary about history of Paul drinking, Murdaugh's giving underage kids alcohol, Paul becoming "Timmy," etc all before boat crash. Says it shows knowledge of risk, and Mallory *wanted* to be on boat.
Shere shows Anthony Cook saying they discussed getting an Uber before leaving dock while Paul and Connor Cook drank at Luther's bar in Beaufort. Things were getting bad. They were scared. Shere: voluntary exposure to risk, law is clear, case should be dismissed. Shere done.
Mark Tinsley now arguing for Beach family. Says Shere got a number of things wrong. Case law holds knowledge of illegal alcohol saleto minor isn't necessary, it's negligence per se. Also Supreme Court has held underage persons lack full capacity to make decisions re: alcohol.
Tinsley: legislature has made statutorily clear the issue of use, sale or possession of alcohol necessitates "joint and several liability." Undisputed that Parker's sold alcohol to Paul, and law says it's now up to a jury to decide negligence. Knowingly selling doesn't matter.
Tinsley: Elements of assumption of risk can't be satisfied in this case because cases of alcohol sale to minors resulting in injury are specifically exempted by legislature.
Tinsley: Mallory asked to be let off the boat when it was clear things had gotten dangerous. That undermines Parker's argument about assumed risk.
Tinsley reading transcripts of his deposition with Tajeeha Cohen, Parker's clerk who sold alcohol to Paul. Notes discrepancies about her true level of training. Also notes Miley Altman had just successfully used a fake ID at same store minutes before. Cohen didn't scan it.
Tinsley: Parker's hid fact of underage sale to Altman where ID wasn't scanned per protocol. Parker's also refused to produce write-up against Cohen for using her cell phone while at work, which she's shown doing on surveillance video.
Tinsley: Cohen wasn't fully trained on policies. She wasn't even originally supposed to work the front register. Example, Cohen should've used ID to match with credit card for Paul's purchase because it exceeded $45. She testified she didn't even know she needed to do that.
Tinsley: Cohen didn't attempt to verify Paul's height and weight against ID presented, wasn't looking for that, wasn't trained on policy saying she needed to do that.
Tinsley: Statute says whether or not a reasonable person could think Paul Murdaugh would pass for his brother Buster by simply looking at ID is an issue for a jury to decide, and it precludes Parker's from summary judgment here.
Tinsley: Parker's policy also required monitoring parking lot. Cohen if properly trained should've noticed other young people outside and Paul holding the beer up to celebrate, then reported what they saw to police.
Tinsley says Parker's cherry picked details from SLED report on decision not to prosecute or cite Parker's. Tinsley says SLED agents testified they only chose not to go forward because of difficulty determining the ID Paul used. Circumstantial evidence it was his brother Buster's
Tinsley done. Shere in reply. Says Tinsley desperately trying to obscure facts to make this a jury issue. He believes it's not. Shere says law doesn't support Tinsley on assumption of risk factor regarding underage sales. Aware of no law saying person under 21 can't assume risk.
Judge Hall will take arguments under advisement and will issue order on or before May 26.