Jury Awards $20 Million to Family of Woman Killed by Meth-Impaired Driver on Missouri Highway 43
After trial: The verdict was returned October 10, 2025. We could not confirm whether post-trial motions or an appeal followed, or whether the award has been collected.
Won by Dollar, Burns, Becker & Hershewe.
A Jasper County, Missouri jury awarded the family of 23-year-old Sevie Davison $20 million after a head-on crash on Highway 43 in February 2021. The driver, who was unlicensed and had methamphetamine in his blood, crossed the center line after forcing other vehicles off the road. He had admitted fault and the trial contested impairment. The award was $15 million in compensatory damages and $5 million for aggravating circumstances.
What happened
On the evening of February 25, 2021, 23-year-old Sevie Davison of Oronogo, Missouri, was driving on Missouri Highway 43 north of Joplin. A pickup truck coming the other way crossed the center line and struck her vehicle head-on. She was taken to a Joplin hospital and pronounced dead.
The driver was Ryan O'Neal of Liberal, Missouri. He did not hold a valid license. Police reports at the time put his speed near 84 miles per hour in a 55 zone. Evidence at the civil trial showed he had been driving erratically at high speed for about three miles before the collision and had forced several other vehicles off the road. Toxicology showed methamphetamine in his blood, though the testing did not establish how much. In the criminal case he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to ten years in prison in March 2022.
Davison's family brought a wrongful death suit in Jasper County Circuit Court (Case No. 23AO-CC00224). They were represented by Tim Dollar and Lauren Dollar of Dollar Burns Becker & Hershewe in Kansas City. Kutak Rock of Springfield, Missouri, defended, through Jeffrey Coffey and J. Taylor White. Judge David Mouton presided.
Fault for the crash was not in dispute, since the defense admitted it. The fight at trial was over impairment. Both sides retained experts from the University of Kansas. The family's expert testified that O'Neal was likely impaired by methamphetamine at the time of the crash. The defense expert said medical science could not say with certainty that he was impaired because the toxicology did not give a dosage. The case was tried over one week, and the finding on impairment mattered because it bore on whether the family could recover damages beyond compensation for the loss.
On October 10, 2025, the jury returned its verdict for the family: $15 million in compensatory damages and $5 million for aggravating circumstances, for a total of $20 million. The jury's award for aggravating circumstances reflects a finding that the defendant's conduct went beyond ordinary negligence. Before trial, the last settlement offer on the table had come to a small fraction of what the jury awarded.
Missouri Lawyers Media reported the verdict on November 21, 2025. The case was insured through Shelter. We did not find a reported ruling on post-trial motions or an appeal, and the verdict is less than a year old.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Missouri Lawyers Media, 'Family of 23-year-old killed in crash wins $20M verdict', Nov. 21, 2025·Archived copy
- 2.KZRG, 'Oronogo woman killed in crash on Highway 43', Feb. 26, 2021·Archived copy
- 3.KZRG, 'Liberal Missouri man pleads guilty to manslaughter after fatal accident', Mar. 1, 2022·Archived copy
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