Double murder leads to civil jury awards totaling $738 million

Parker Law Group recently litigated a wrongful death case that led to a phenomenal jury verdict: $738 million. The firm believes it is one of the largest personal injury verdicts ever in South Carolina.

The case is complex, but it all started with a good man named Robert Marion Ford Jr., who trusted his daughter. That trust led to his death, and that of his son, Robbie Stetson Ford.

Robert Ford’s obituary described him as:

“…a member of Good Hope Baptist Church on Privetts Road in Conway, where he was the Choir Director for over 30 years, a former Deacon, Sunday School Teacher, Bible Drill Leader, and a member of the Good Hope Quartet. Robert was employed by Spectrum for over 20 years and was formerly employed by Grove Manufacturing and Pepsi Cola Bottling Company. He enjoyed spending time with his family and was very active in many areas of the church. Robert was a former member of the Calvarymen Quartet. He was known as ‘Pappy’ by his grandchildren.”

Robert Ford suffered from a heart condition that necessitated surgery in 2017. In preparation for his surgery, Mr. Ford turned to his daughter, Samantha Rabon, to help him get his affairs in order. Robert Ford was a widower. His wife, Melda, died in 2016. Melda Ford was Robbie Ford’s mother and Samantha Rabon’s stepmother. Robert Ford received Melda Ford’s assets upon her death. He intended to leave the assets of Melda Ford’s Estate to Robbie Ford. If his estate was distributed according to his wishes, Robbie Ford would have received the majority of his father’s estate.

Samantha Rabon was in financial difficulty in 2018. She did not want to wait on her inheritance and did not want the majority of her father’s estate to go to her brother. So, in August of 2018, Samantha Rabon decided to kill them both.

Through an intermediary, Teresa Martin, she hired Randy Dean Grainger to commit the murders. She offered Grainger $20,000.00 to kill her father and brother and provided him with a pistol she had stolen from her father the year before. She gave Grainger a date and time when Robert and Robbie would be arriving home together in the same car. When the time came, Grainger was waiting for them.

While Robbie was still in the car, Robert got out and headed toward the front door. Grainger came up behind him and gained his attention. Robert turned, and Grainger shot him. As he fell, wounded, Grainger turned toward the car. Seeing what had happened, Robbie got out and tried to run away. Grainger shot him in the back. As Robbie fell, Grainger went up and shot him in the head, killing him. He then went back and killed Robert with a shot to the head.

It was estimated that 30 seconds passed from the time Grainger drew Robert’s attention to the instant that he fired the final shot.

In the absence of a will, Samantha became the personal representative of her father’s estate, and, with her brother dead, the sole beneficiary of his estate, life insurance policies, and retirement benefits.

Eventually, charges were brought against her, the killer, and the intermediary. The intermediary testified against the killer, and the killer – in a bid for a break on his sentence – testified against Samantha. By the end of February this year, she had been convicted of two counts each of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder. She received two life sentences plus thirty years, all to run consecutively.

Grainger was initially sentenced to two consecutive life sentences with no chance for parole, but after he testified against the woman who’d hired him, that was reduced to two concurrent life terms. Teresa Martin got three years.

In June of 2020, two of Robert Ford’s family members hired Steve Murdaugh (Murdaugh Law Group) and Grahame E. Holmes of the Parker Law Group to ensure that no one involved in Robert Ford’s murder benefitted from his death. The attorneys instituted an action in Probate Court which resulted in Samantha Rabon being restrained from performing any acts under her authority as Personal Representative, and appointing Jonathan F. Krell to serve as special administrator of the estate for purpose of pursuing any legal actions available. On behalf of Mr. Krell, the attorneys filed a wrongful death and survival action seeking actual and punitive damages for Mr. Ford’s estate as well as a declaratory judgment action pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-803, South Carolina’s “Slayer Statute.”

Mr. Holmes tried the wrongful death lawsuit in Horry County before 12 jurors in October. Eight witnesses testified, including Randy Grainger and Teresa Martin. It was a very emotional trial. Jurors were visibly shocked and disturbed by Randy Grainger’s testimony detailing the murders, and saddened by the testimony of friends and family who described what an incredible person Robert was, and the loss suffered by his friends, family, community and church.

In the end, on Oct. 8, 2024, the jury reached its verdict. How did they arrive at the amazing total? No one has spoken with the jurors and we do not know for sure. However, Mr. Holmes has a theory. In closing, regarding survival damages, Mr. Holmes asked the jury to think about the last thirty seconds of Robert Ford’s life – the time that elapsed from when he saw Grainger pointing the gun at him and the time he died. He talked about the fear he felt for himself, but, more importantly, for his son, Robbie. He asked them to think about the horror of hearing the gunshots of his son’s murder. He asked them to consider whether each second was worth a hundred thousand dollars. Or a million dollars, or more, or less. As for wrongful death damages, at the time of his death, Mr. Ford had a 21-year life expectancy. Mr. Holmes told the jury Mr. Ford’s life was worth $1.5 million, what Samantha Rabon stood to gain from his death. He asked the jury to award $1.5 million for each year of Mr. Ford’s life expectancy.

The jury awarded $90 million in survival damages and $94.5 million in wrongful death damages. Mr. Ford was survived by his three grandchildren, whom he loved dearly. Mr. Holmes believes the jury decided to take the $1 million per second he suggested for survival damages and the $1.5 million per year for wrongful death and triple them to reflect the damage suffered by each grandchild. He believes the jury then added the actual damages numbers and then tripled them again to arrive at punitive damages of $553.5 million.

Altogether, that amounts to $738,000,000.

Mr. Holmes says there are not sufficient assets to satisfy the jury award. However, in a separate suit in federal district court, he and Steve Murdaugh were successful in prohibiting Samantha Rabon from receiving benefits under a life insurance policy and having those benefits paid to Robert Ford’s family members. He has also identified substantial assets that he is actively working to return to the estate.