WCSC, ex-owner must pay $3.95M

Murphy was target of smear campaign

A jury on Friday ordered WCSC-TV and its former owner to pay nearly $4 million to Charleston lawyers Elizabeth and Christopher Murphy to compensate them for a smear campaign orchestrated by the station's former news director.

The Charleston County jury deliberated for three hours before announcing its decision to hold Channel 5 and Jefferson-Pilot Communications responsible for the actions of former News Director Donald Feldman.

The Murphys had argued that Feldman was an acting as an agent of WCSC and its then-parent corporation when he falsely accused Elizabeth Murphy of slandering fellow attorney and Channel 5 regular panelist Sandra Senn eight years ago.

Elizabeth Murphy let out a deep sigh as the verdict was read, her eyes welling with tears. She smiled at the jury and said, "Thank you."

The jury of nine women and three men awarded about $3.7 million to Elizabeth Murphy and $250,000 to her husband. The couple said the verdict was "very fair."

"We feel vindicated that WCSC and Jefferson-Pilot Communications have finally been held liable, although we still have not received an apology from them," she said.

Attorneys for Channel 5 and Jefferson-Pilot declined to comment on the verdict as they left the room. Later, the station released a joint statement from Vice

President and General Manager Rita Scott and Leon Porter, general counsel for Jefferson Pilot, saying:

"We were all victims of Don Feldman, and we feel for Elizabeth Murphy and her family. We wanted the jury to determine all the damages caused by Don Feldman. The jury has spoken and we wish Mrs. Murphy the best in the future."

Earlier in the day, Channel 5's attorneys had argued that Feldman worked for the station but not its parent. If the argument had succeeded, it would have protected the deeper corporate pocket. The jury decided that Feldman served both masters, opening the way for both to be held liable for his actions.

The verdict came after eight days of bruising testimony laced with tales of conspiracy, innuendo and deceit.

Feldman claimed Murphy loudly and drunkenly bad-mouthed Senn's love life and integrity while traveling on a July 1999 flight from Charleston to Atlanta. Feldman blasted Murphy's alleged behavior in a letter on company stationery and drafted a bogus civil agreement in which she supposedly apologized for her actions. Murphy claimed the allegations plunged her into a nervous breakdown and destroyed her law career.

She and her husband won a verdict of $9 million against Feldman during a trial in 2003, but they have collected nothing from him. He was penniless when the judgment was levied, imprisoned for embezzling $2.5 million from his former station.

In his closing argument, Murphy's lawyer, John E. Parker, suggested that the jury award the couple about $8.7 million to compensate them for medical costs, lost income and other damages. He said Feldman's portrayal of Elizabeth Murphy as a "drunken wench" and a loose woman put an indelible stigma on her reputation and derailed her dream of becoming a promising trial lawyer.

Parker said Feldman waged his campaign of lies on company time, with company resources and using the clout his position carried.

Parker said WCSC and Jefferson-Pilot stood by Feldman even after questions surfaced about his honesty and integrity because he was pulling in high ratings and making them money. During the trial, they continued to attack Murphy's reputation and tried to distance themselves from Feldman to escape responsibility for the harm he caused, he said.

"Elizabeth Murphy has true courage," Parker said. "For eight years, she has been subjected to relentless attacks because she dared to seek vindication for being defamed."

John Kerr, WCSC's attorney, argued that Feldman acted alone and without authority from his employers when he went after Murphy to curry favor with Senn, with whom he had become infatuated. Senn had a falling-out with Murphy after leaving the Stuckey law firm, where she had been a partner of Murphy's father.

Kerr told the jury that Feldman inserted himself in a private spat between the two women that had nothing to do with his job or responsibilities at Channel 5.

Kerr said Elizabeth Murphy could have stopped the lies early on by furnishing the station with proof that she had been at a soccer game on the night Feldman claimed Murphy was slandering Senn. She opted to withhold that proof for months because "she was out to get her nemesis Sandy Senn," he said.

Kerr said the station diligently tried to investigate the episode but Murphy, Senn and Feldman would not cooperate with them.

"We were not defending Don Feldman. We were trying to get to the bottom of who was telling the truth," he said. "But we had no proof he was lying."

Reach Glenn Smith at 937-5556 or gsmith@postandcourier.com.