Satterfield lawsuit involving Alex Murdaugh and missing millions gets new SC judge
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Alex Murdaugh Coverage
The Murdaugh family saga has dominated the news after another shooting, a resignation and criminal accusations — with Alex Murdaugh at the center of it all. Here are the latest updates on Alex Murdaugh.
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A new South Carolina judge will oversee the lawsuit involving Alex Murdaugh and his family’s deceased housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, in a case involving millions of dollars promised to but missing from her estate.
State Judge Bentley Price will oversee the ongoing multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by Satterfield’s heirs, primarily focused on Murdaugh. The case did not previously have a judge permanently assigned to preside over it.
“It is hereby ordered that this case is designated as complex. Therefore, it is further ordered that exclusive jurisdiction over this case be retained by the Honorable Bentley D. Price as Chief Administrative Judge of the Fourteenth Circuit,” Price wrote in an order filed Wednesday morning in Hampton County.
Price, who sits in Charleston, is an Horry County native who grew up in Conway. He was elected judge in 2019.
The Satterfield lawsuit was filed in mid-September by Michael Satterfield and his brother, Brian Harriott, against Murdaugh and four other defendants. It alleges Murdaugh colluded with the other defendants, who include a Beaufort attorney and a Hampton banker, to steal from the estate of Satterfield.
Satterfield died of injuries she received in a fall at Murdaugh’s house in February 2018. Murdaugh’s insurance companies paid $4.3 million to settle a legal claim from her fall, and that became the value of her estate. But nearly all that money wound up in Murdaugh’s possession, according to evidence in the case.
Since the lawsuit was filed, the other four defendants have settled their cases, according to the Satterfield heirs’ lawyers, Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter.
Murdaugh is the only defendant left.
Several motions will be pending before Price by Satterfield’s attorneys as well as Murdaugh’s attorneys, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin.
Those motions include:
▪ A motion by Satterfield’s attorneys to bring all parties into court to explain how the $4.3 million was handled, or mishandled, and testify about what they did.
▪ A motion by Murdaugh’s attorneys about whether Satterfield attorney Bland should be gagged from making improper out-of-court statements on the case.
▪ A motion by Murdaugh’s attorneys to postpone proceedings in this case until criminal charges alleging Murdaugh stole from Satterfield’s estate are resolved.
▪ Motions by both parties concerning the appointment of a receiver to manage Murdaugh’s assets and expenses. In November, state Judge Dan Hall appointed a receiver to oversee Murdaugh’s financial affairs.
The case will be the second one Price has heard related to the Murdaugh saga.
In late July, Price ruled that the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, the state agency investigating the killings of Murdaugh’s wife and son on June 7, did not violate the Freedom of Information Act by heavily redacting police reports related to their deaths.
Price said SLED blacked out much of the information “in good faith,” to protect the integrity of the investigation.
The lawsuit was brought by the Charleston Post and Courier and has since been dismissed.
This story was originally published December 1, 2021 at 10:36 AM with the headline "Satterfield lawsuit involving Alex Murdaugh and missing millions gets new SC judge."
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