Wrongful death lawsuit over Grand Traverse County boy’s death refiled

The school-bus stop in King’s Court Mobile Home Park where 8-year-old Jayson “JJ” Hoogeveen was killed is back at the center of a wrongful death case in Grand Traverse County. Hoogeveen was struck by a vehicle while waiting for the bus on Sept. 3, 2024, at Ray Boulevard and Charles Place in Garfield Township, a crash reported at 7:24 a.m. that left a family and a neighborhood still facing questions about safety around the stop.

Jayson’s mother, Kimberly Gilbert, refiled the lawsuit in Grand Traverse County Circuit Court in March 2026 after the federal case was dismissed that same month. The case is now moving toward discovery, the stage when lawyers can begin pressing for records, testimony and other evidence about how the bus stop was set up and what responsibility each defendant may have had.

The lawsuit names Traverse City Area Public Schools, Superintendent John VanWagoner, school officials, Sun Communities, Northern Michigan Water, LLC, and the driver, who had been described in earlier reporting as a 63-year-old Traverse City man. TCAPS said it had no comment because of pending litigation.

The original federal filing in December 2024 said the bus stop was unsafe because it was located in the middle of a parking lot, an allegation that put school transportation practices and the layout of King’s Court Mobile Home Park under a spotlight after the boy’s death. Reporting at the time also said neighborhood concerns about bus-stop safety surfaced after the tragedy, underscoring how the crash raised broader worries beyond one family’s loss.

Hoogeveen’s obituary says he was born Jan. 30, 2016, in Grand Rapids. His death at age 8 on the first day of school left a fixed point in Grand Traverse County’s memory: a child waiting for a bus in a mobile home park, a morning commute that turned deadly, and a legal fight now testing whether the risks around that stop were ever addressed.