By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
A lawsuit over a fatal Interstate 40 crash has been settled in Canadian County District Court.
District Judge Jack D. McCurdy on July 28 approved an order to disburse insurance settlement proceeds in a suit filed on behalf of Natalie Rousey, whose husband Matthew was killed in a 2020 traffic collision near I-40 and Heaston Road in El Reno.
The settlement totals $50,000 for Matthew Rousey’s widow and minor children, court documents indicate. The plaintiff was represented by El Reno attorney Fletcher D. Handley Jr.
Defendant in the civil action was Melissa M. Seuffert, who was previously convicted after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in a separate criminal case.
Seuffert was represented by Oklahoma City attorney Christine B. McInnes in the lawsuit.
“The parties announce they have come to an agreement regarding distribution of defendant Seuffert’s liability insurance policy and State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Company’s UM insurance limits,” according to the judge’s order.
50-YEAR SENTENCE
Canadian County Special Judge Charles Gass in March sentenced Seuffert, 35, to serve 50 years in state prison with the last 10 years suspended. She is now housed at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud.
Yukon’s Matthew Rousey, 35, died at the scene of the May 2020 traffic collision after the 2018 Ford F-350 he was driving was struck in the left rear by a 2010 Nissan Altima driven by Seuffert.
Seuffert was intoxicated and speeding when the crash occurred, according to court testimony.
The Hinton woman admitted she was “shooting up heroin and smoking methamphetamines multiple times a day for over a year leading up” to the day of the incident, according to a pre-sentence investigation.
“She advised she was living life in a ‘fog of drugs’ in an attempt to dull the pain of her father’s passing three years ago,” the Oklahoma Department of Corrections’ report reads.
The investigation found that Seuffert was a “threat to the community” when she gets behind the wheel.
Seuffert also has a 2020 felony conviction for driving under the influence of liquor/drugs in Canadian County. She was sentenced in October 2020 to serve five years in prison in that case.
