Seven years before the multi-million-dollar Satterfield heist, Alex Murdaugh filed a lawsuit against Cory Fleming’s wife.
As Fleming faces a slew of charges between state and federal court, it’s important to look back at Fleming’s history with his longtime best friend Alex Murdaugh.
How much did Fleming know?
Is it possible he was duped in the Satterfield settlement?
Did they test the waters with other cases?
In this 2012 case. Alex Murdaugh sued Cory Fleming’s wife on behalf of Cory Fleming’s son who was injured in an automobile accident in 2010.
Click here for full Fowlkes Lawsuit.pdf
According to Alex’s brief lawsuit, Cory’s son — who is also Alex’s godson — was a passenger in a vehicle being driven by his wife Eve when she “caused the minor child to exit the vehicle of the SUV. The minor child slipped on the wet bumper rack and fell to the ground severely breaking his arm….”
How does that happen exactly? The lawsuit doesn’t say.
Specifically, the lawsuit accuses Eve Fleming of ”careless and reckless acts including “directing the minor child to exit the vehicle from the read, in failing to warn the minor child of the wet condition of the bumper rack, in failing to exercise the degree of care as required by the circumstances then and there existing and in violating the statutes and rules of the road which are a violation of the law and negligence per say.”
According to the lawsuit, Cory’s son broke his forearm in the accident and developed osteomyelitis, which means inflammation or swelling of the bone – and that required multiple surgeries.
The lawsuit doesn’t say if the vehicle was moving or not… but the scenario described in this lawsuit doesn’t make sense to me. How was she violating the rules of the law by telling her kid to get out of the back of the SUV? How exactly did he fall?
It reminds me a lot of the Satterfield settlement that I found in 2019. Few details. Few documents – a total of 8 filings over two years.
Click here for full first Satterfield Settlement.pdf
Like Satterfield, this 2012 lawsuit essentially has Cory on one side and Alex on another.
In fact, the summons in the case is signed by Alex Murdaugh and oddly says Cory’s law firm Moss Kuhn and Fleming above his signature. It looks like they were sloppy and forgot to scratch off Cory’s law firm in the template. So it was sloppy – like the Satterfield case and so many others.
Like the Satterfield settlement, in this case, a good amount of money was paid by the insurance company and Cory and Alex both benefited.
Cory’s cousin Jean Fowkles was approved by the court to be Cory’s son Guardian Ad Litem – meaning his cousin served as his son’s legal representative. So Cory didn’t have to put his name on the lawsuit, he had a family member do that for him.
Click here for full Guardian Ad Litem.pdf
South Carolina Attorney Barrett Brewer was assigned to represent Eve on behalf of her insurance company USAA. He field a 3-page answer to the complaint that essentially said Alex’s lawsuit failed to state facts that would require a cause of action and the complaint should be dismissed.
And POOF – like magic – More than a year later, USAA offered to settle the case for… get this…
$120,000 – FOR A BROKEN ARM.
Click here for full Fowlkes Settlement.pdf
And Alex got a whopping $48,000 of that settlement – for essentially telling an insurance company that a kid broke his arm and the mom is at fault.
Eve is an attorney too, by the way, still licensed in South Carolina.
And guess which judge approved it?
CARMEN MULLEN.
So five years later, when Cory was suing Alex in Gloria Satterfield’s death for a suspicious amount of insurance money, shouldn’t Carmen Mullen have said.. Wait a minute… y’all just sued each other a few years ago.. And y’all are bffs. What is going on here exactly? And is this insurance fraud?
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Mandy Matney
Mandy Matney is an award-winning journalist from Kansas who has worked for newspapers in Missouri, Illinois, and South Carolina and now lives on Hilton Head Island where she pursues mission-based investigative journalism.
Mandy is Co-Founder of Luna Shark Media, Host of Murdaugh Murders Podcast – now True Sunlight Podcast – and Cup of Justice Podcast.
Mandy is a KU grad with deep roots in the Sunflower State, but currently lives on Hilton Head Island with her husband David and pups Luna and Joe Pesky where she enjoys beach life.
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