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Alachua Police Department and Three Motorists Found Negligent in a Fatal Crash

On September 4, 2009, a jury found the Alachua Police Department and three motorists negligent in a crash that took place on I-75 at the US 441 exit on October 12, 2007.

Earlier on the morning of October 12, police had closed down a section of I-75 near exit 399 due to a fatal traffic accident and was directing traffic off the highway. Steve R. Bogue, an employee of the FL Transportation Inc., was driving a company's truck back from Georgia. He did not slow down or brake as he approached the road closure.  His truck rear-ended another truck with such force that it, in turn, slammed into a commuter van with the employees of the Gainesville Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Bogue died from his injuries. Claudette, DeRosett, a passenger in the van received permanent bodily injury and traumatic brain injury from the crash, and sued Fl Transportation Inc., since Bogue was driving in his capacity as an employee of the company on the day of the accident.

Florida is a pure comparative negligence state, allowing the jury to assign blame to each person who was responsible for the accident. The attorney for FL Transportation Inc. argued before the jurors that they must consider many factors in deciding who was negligent: the decision to close the highway, the actions of the police department, whether there was advance warning of the detour given to the drivers, actions of other drivers, slow speed of the commuter van etc.

The jury found that the Alachua Police Department was 35% at fault, the driver of the commuter van was also 35% at fault, and Bogue and the driver of the second truck were each 15% negligent. Florida Transportation Inc. was not found negligent at all.

For more information, see:

Comparative Negligence - Do You Know What it Means For Floridians?

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Accident attorney, Jeffrey Meldon, strongly believes that public education is the first step in the prevention and/or recovery from a serious accident. 

He and his Office also take pride in their work, and in results they get for their clients.  

The Law Office of Jeffrey Meldon and Associates is a regional law firm that is located in Gainesville, Florida. We are personal injury lawyers, litigators and trial lawyers that have been working to get accident victims the justice they deserve for over 37 years throughout North Florida and all over Florida. Accidents involving a car crash, truck wreck, and motorcycle, bicycle, or pedestrian accidents, dog bites, slip and falls and medical malpractice are all included in our practice as accident attorneys.

We have been proudly representing injured victims in Gainesville, Ocala, Lake City, Inverness, Daytona Beach, Dunnellon, Palatka, The Villages, and the counties of Alachua, Marion, Columbia, Citrus, Volusia, Sumter, Putnam  and the entire North and Central Florida since 1971.

For more information on how we can help you, or any other question you may have, feel free to contact our office at 1 800 373 8000

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