The father of 27-year-old Meighan Cordie -- the woman prosecutors say died while tumbling out of her mother’s moving car in Yamhill County -- has filed a $500,000 lawsuit against Cordie’s mother.

The lawsuit faults Jennifer Jaeger, previously known as Jennifer Weathers, for driving while drunk on the evening of Aug. 18, 2018, when she and Cordie traveled back toward Jaeger’s home in King City after attending a country wedding.

The lawsuit says Jaeger and Cordie began to argue while walking from the wedding to Jaeger’s parked car and that at some point during the drive Cordie “determined that she did not want to continue arguing with her mother and demanded to be let out of the vehicle.” Among several other things, the suit faults Jaeger for allegedly failing to completely stop the car.

Cordie’s father, Anton Stanley Cordie of Newberg, filed the lawsuit Thursday. Court records show he and Jaeger divorced in 2005.

He is listed as an heir to Meighan Cordie’s estate. Her adult brother and her daughter, who was 3 at the time of her death, also are listed as heirs.

The girl was in the car when her mother tumbled out. Court papers say the girl is living with her father in Salem.

Jaeger, 51, didn’t face charges for Meighan Cordie’s death after Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry said that an investigation over more than a month came up with insufficient evidence to support homicide charges. The state medical examiner’s office ruled Cordie’s death was accidental.

Jaeger pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of intoxicants and was sentenced to five days in jail. At the time, her defense attorney, Walter Todd, said she completed an outpatient treatment program and had “accepted full responsibility for driving while intoxicated. That had nothing to do with Meighan‘s tragic death.”

Jaeger changed her last name from Weathers days later.

Jaeger didn’t immediately return a call Friday seeking comment about the lawsuit.

Jaeger originally was investigated after she called a non-emergency dispatcher the day after the wedding, on Aug. 19, to report that she was “kind of worried” about Cordie. In a recording of the call, Jaeger wasn’t forthcoming with all that she knew -- explaining that after the wedding her daughter “was upset and got out of the car, and I haven’t heard anything since.”

Cordie’s body was found down an embankment on Aug. 23 by joggers along Southeast Foster Road in Dayton. An autopsy showed that she suffered two broken or severed vertebrae and died instantly upon hitting a guardrail or the roadway.

In the call to dispatchers, Jaeger said she checked hospitals and jails for her daughter, to no avail. She said she drove around for two hours that morning looking for her daughter but couldn’t find her.

Jaeger didn’t tell the dispatcher that she and her daughter had gotten into an argument and physical fight -- with Cordie pulling out a clump of Jaeger's hair, according to a memo written by the prosecution.

Prosecutors believe Cordie, who had been drinking earlier, then tumbled barefoot out of the car. Jaeger later said her daughter actually jumped out as Jaeger drove less than 5 mph, according to memo written by the prosecution. But prosecutors said they believe the car was moving much faster.

Thursday’s lawsuit was filed in Marion County Circuit Court, with Salem attorney William Brandt representing Cordie’s estate.

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

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