|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Earlier this year, outgoing South Carolina circuit court judge Bentley Price abruptly withdrew from a high-profile civil case involving a lawyer who amassed fame and fortune during the ‘Murdaugh Murders’ crime and corruption saga.
Price’s withdrawal came shortly after our media outlet exposed the judge’s controversial attempts to fast track this contentious litigation – which was initiated by Hampton, S.C. attorney Mark Tinsley. Dubbed the “outrage case,” the matter in question stems from a 2019 boat crash lawsuit involving members of the Murdaugh family and multiple other defendants.
The boat crash lawsuit settled last summer – but a separate complaint alleging misconduct by corporate defendants is still pending. That lawsuit – filed in December 2021 – focuses on the unauthorized disclosure of confidential mediation materials by those allegedly in the employ of wealthy Savannah, Georgia convenience store magnate Greg Parker, founder of the Parker’s Kitchen chain of gas stations.
Parker and his company were among the co-defendants in the boat crash case, and were accused of leaking sensitive information.
While the outrage case ostensibly focused on allegations against Parker and those in his employ, it has spawned allegations of unauthorized disclosures by Tinsley… as well as alleged conflicts of interest involving a former reporter at this media outlet.
***
***
Prior to Price’s decision to stand down, Tinsley fought tooth and nail to keep the embattled judge on the case – even though Price was deemed unqualified by a state judicial screening committee and subsequently denied another term on the circuit court bench as a result of that determination. According to filings from Tinsley, Price should have been allowed “to complete pending work in the case before he leaves the bench.”
Tinsley also pushed back against Price’s disqualification by both the S.C. Bar and the S.C. Judicial Merit Selection Commission (JMSC) – the latter of which refused to nominate him for another term on the bench last November.
“No entity … has declared judge Price is not qualified by ability to hear these matters, rather the Bar and the JMSC found him not qualified by reputation,” Tinsley argued.
Those arguments did not hold sway, thankfully…
Since Price withdrew, S.C. circuit court judge G.D. Morgan Jr. of Greenville, S.C. has been handling the outrage case. Last month, Morgan issued an order (.pdf) instructing Tinsley to “fully comply” with a June 27, 2023 supreme court ruling requiring the production of materials Parker’s attorneys have been seeking for several years now.
Two weeks ago, Parker’s attorneys responded (.pdf) to Tinsley’s assertions that he has complied with the court’s order – asking him “to return all documents within (his) possession… and to otherwise fully comply in all respects” with the supreme court order.
Will he?
While we await the latest developments in that case, Price is facing scrutiny on multiple additional fronts.
***
For those of you uninitiated, Price was the poster judge for weak sentences, dubious pleas and shady backroom maneuvering. Last month, our Dylan Nolan reported on one of his final miscarriages of justices – the last in a long line of unconscionable displays of lenience toward violent offenders.
Price’s legacy of leniency and backroom dealing is not limited to these cases, however. In fact, a recent filing out of Charleston, S.C. could be the first of many motions seeking to undo the damage he has done to the integrity of the Palmetto State’s judiciary.
According to a motion submitted in the S.C. ninth judicial circuit last month, a plaintiff named Shirley Gunn is seeking a new trial after Price allegedly delivered jury instructions in a civil case that ran counter to “black-letter law.”
“As everyone but judge Price (now former judge Price) knows, the burden of proving affirmative defenses falls on the defendant asserting them,” the motion (.pdf) filed by Gunn’s attorneys noted. “But that is not what judge Price instructed the jury. Instead he instructed the jury exactly backwards… that Plaintiff bore the burden of disproving affirmative defenses (emphasis original).”
“Even after (Gunn’s attorneys) advised judge Price of the correct law, (he) refused to correct his mistake and properly instruct the jury,” the complaint continued.
Not only that, Price allegedly interrupted Gunn’s attorneys during their closing argument “to give the same backwards recitation of the law to the jury.”
“There is no cure for such a fundamental and egregious error as former judge Price committed but to order a new trial,” Gunn’s attorneys argued.
“Everyone deserves a fair day in court,” noted Victoria Smith, a prominent Lowcountry attorney. “If courts do not consistently rule on what information can be presented to a jury in conformity with the law and the rules of civil procedure, all justice is jeopardized.”
***
***
Smith is not an attorney of record in the Gunn case – and has no personal or professional involvement with any of its parties – but she does have extensive knowledge of the legal issues at play in the motion for a new trial.
According to her, if Price indeed “misinstructed the jury” then Gunn should receive a new trial.
“If those things occurred, that is improper and it is very likely that such errors would have robbed the plaintiff of a fair day in court,” Smith continued.
Smith also noted that the trial should have never taken place – at least not under Price’s purview.
“It is my opinion that once the JMSC finds that a judge is unqualified to serve, that unqualified judge should be immediately removed from the bench and should not be allowed to continue issuing orders and presiding over hearings and trials even if their term of court has not concluded,” she said. “Since the JMSC found former judge Price to be unqualified back in or around October or November of 2023, I do not believe that he should have been presiding over Ms. Gunn’s trial in June of this year.”
Indeed… in fact, there are several violent crime victims who would agree Price shouldn’t have been anywhere near a gavel after being found unqualified as a judge.
Will these scandals cause a shift in policy regarding unqualified judges in the future? Let’s hope so…
Last week, John Kittredge was sworn in as chief justice of the supreme court – a position which also functions as the chief executive of the judiciary. Hopefully his ascension – along with rumblings of trouble for several status quo lawyer-legislators – could move the needle in the direction of fairness.
Certainly the various Price scandals – and the disappointing aftermath of the Murdaugh trial – have done little to instill confidence in the integrity of our court system.
***
THE PLEADING…
(S.C. Ninth Circuit)
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
2 comments
Kittredge is going to clean house at the Judicial Department. He fired the chief administrator on day one and appointed an interim who is no nonsense. Had Kittredge been Chief Justice at the time, he would have sidelined Price as soon as JMSC found him unqualified to be a candidate.
Hey FITS why has my last comment still awaiting review?