Kentucky Children Receive $5.4 Million Judgment for Death Of Mother in Trucking Accident

By Jim Greene

Published on January 31, 2006

Heather McNay, 25, and her 10-month-old son, Evan Embry, were killed June 6, 2002, along with Norma Young, 58, who was McNay's mother and Embry's grandmother. A truck driven by Kenneth Chandler stuck the their car after crossing the center meridian. Chandler, who was not charged in the incident, told deputies he choked on coffee and passed out, losing control.

Named in the lawsuit were Chandler, GEO Transportation of Springfield, Mo., and Dairy Farmers of America, a co-operative. Due to a complicated lease agreement between GEO and DFA, the two are in a dispute over which was Chandler's employer and, therefore, responsible for paying the settlements.

The beneficiaries of the $5.4 million award are McNay's two older children, now 10 ½ and 7 years old. The $1.475 million award will go to Edmond Embry, Evan Embry's father.

The only decision for the jury in the case was the amount of the awards, since U.S. Senior Judge William O. Bertelsman ruled that Chandler was at fault in the crash.

In his closing arguments, Defense attorney David Dial warned the jury not too award the children an amount that might destroy their ambition to become productive members of society.

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