After crash, blame game and legal questions start

By MIKE BRASSFIELD and JESSICA VANDER VELDE, Times Staff Writer
Published January 12, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT [Rick Runion | The Ledger] Attorney William McBride speaks during a press conference Friday with members of the Gomez family who all where injured in the I-4 crash on Wednesday. Another member of the family is still in the Lakeland Regional Medical Center with injuries from the I-4 crash.

Now that Interstate 4 has reopened, the finger pointing has begun.

Who was at fault for a horrific 70-vehicle pileup that killed four people and injured 38 more? Was it Mother Nature, drivers speeding through fog, or state officials who started a smoky fire?

Three separate state investigations are under way. Crash victims are hiring lawyers and talking about suing the state. Many of the issues surrounding Wednesday's disaster may well end up in courtrooms.

Here are the latest developments on I-4:

• Fog shouldn't be a problem on the road this weekend. "We think some patchy areas of fog will develop after midnight early today, but nowhere near to the extent it was over the last few days," said Tom Dougherty of the National Weather Service in Ruskin. "We expect none at all on Sunday."
• The Florida Highway Patrol on Friday cited eight drivers for careless driving in eight minor collisions that occurred on westbound I-4 an hour to 90 minutes after the biggest, deadliest crash happened in sudden fog on eastbound I-4. "These drivers had been out there the whole time and were aware of the foggy conditions, and a few of them drove in a careless manner," said FHP Trooper Larry Coggins.
• Authorities still haven't positively identified three of the four people who were killed in that first crash. Medical examiners will try to use dental records to identify some who were burned beyond recognition.
• Contractors finished their cleanup work on the reopened highway Friday afternoon, hauling away the last of about 300 tons of dirt from the median that was contaminated with oil spilled from a wrecked tanker.

Legal issues

Even a regular auto accident can become a lengthy legal matter, so a chain reaction of 10 crashes that injured nearly 40 people is enough to keep a small army of attorneys, insurance agents and chiropractors busy.

On Friday, a personal injury attorney called a news conference in Lakeland regarding eight members of the same family injured in the pileup -- three of whom remain hospitalized, one in critical condition.

The Gomez family say they were traveling in two vans from their Lakeland homes to construction jobs in Osceola County. They say they smelled smoke on I-4 before they were rear-ended, and they think the people who started a nearby brush fire are responsible.

Now they're all out of work and "they don't know how they're going to pay their bills," said attorney William McBride, who added that his law firm would investigate whether state agencies are responsible.

In the meantime, three state investigations are ongoing.

The main questions at stake: Did a controlled burn set by state officials lead to a 400-acre wildfire, and did smoke from that wildfire contribute to the crashes?

The Highway Patrol is investigating the crashes. The state Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Division of Forestry, is investigating both of the fires.

"We hope to have it concluded in about a week, but it could be longer," said department spokesman Terence McElroy.

Mike Brassfield can be reached at brassfield@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3435.

[Last modified January 12, 2008, 00:08:25]