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Jury awards $8 million verdict in suit over 2005 smashup Saturday, July 14, 2007 By Tim Woods Tribune-Herald staff writer A Waco jury on Friday handed down an $8 million verdict against Charles Lay, of Waco, and Kansas-based National Carriers Inc., for the 2005 wrongful death of 20-year-old Round Rock resident Ellen Esther Deunsing, killed when her car was hit from behind by an 18-wheeler driven by Lay on U.S. Interstate 35. Rob Ammons, the Houston-based lawyer representing Deunsing’s father, Ron Deunsing, said local attorney John Mabry, who assisted Ammons with the case, told him “this might be the largest verdict for compensatory damages in a death case for one claimant awarded in McLennan County.” The trial was held in Waco because of Lay’s residence here. On Nov. 27, 2005, Deunsing, of Round Rock, was stopped in a traffic jam while traveling south on I-35 West, just north of the east/west split in Hillsboro, when her car was struck from behind by an 18-wheeler driven by Lay, killing her instantly. The impact severed Deunsing’s left arm and leg and knocked her car more than 400 feet. Ammons said the jury found gross negligence on the part of National Carriers, saying that Lay knowingly falsified his driver logs to conceal speeds and distances he had driven and that National Carriers failed to properly monitor its drivers. The jury in Judge Jim Meyer’s 170th District Court deliberated for about three hours Friday following the week-long trial before returning its verdict. “I think the verdict honors the life of Ellen Deunsing and sends a message to truck drivers that folks here in Central Texas value life and the safety of their highways,” Ammons said. A message left for Jim Stanton, the Dallas attorney representing Lay and National Carriers, was not returned Friday evening.
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