A jury has held Cory Fleming, a known Murdaugh conspirator, liable in a civil insurance scheme complaint while finding his law firm at the time not liable for his actions.
The issue dates back to 2018, when Murdaugh housekeeper Gloria Satterfield suffered injuries after a fall on their property, she later died from her injuries.
The insurance company, Nautilus Insurance, says Murdaugh created ‘the perfect story’ with him as the only witness to the conversation with Satterfield, making it hard to refute as long as he held firm. Murdaugh later admitted during his testimony at the murder trial of his wife and son, that he fabricated the story leading to the insurance claim, and his intention was to steal the insurance money from the Satterfield’s sons from the beginning.
Fleming’s defence lawyers maintained he had nothing to do with the details of the insurance policy and that Murdaugh was solely responsible. Fleming attmitted throughout the trial that his firm wronged the Satterfields by cutting checks in a way that stole from their payout. Fleming maintained he did not defraud the insurance company through his actions.
Fred Kuhn of Moss and Kuhn, testified at the trial that all of Fleming’s actions were for his personal benefit, not for the law firm. He stated that they never noticed any red flags with his work. Kuhn added that Moss and Kuhn returned the money to the Satterfields to make their former client whole and cooperated with criminal investigations into Fleming. Furthermore he said that those investigations did not find any wrongdoing by Moss and Kuhn Law Firm.
The jury is also deliberating punitive, or punishment damages, for Fleming to pay.