Vegich v. McDougal Hartmann Co.

The question McDougal Hartmann Company, the defendant in these consolidated cases, presents in its appeal is whether contributory negligence is a defense to an action brought under the statute referred to in this opinion as the Road Construction Injuries Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 121, par. 314.1 et seq.). Both cases arose from the same incident, a one-car accident in which a pickup truck driven by Frank Kawolsky, with Joseph Vegich as his passenger, smashed into a flatbed trailer parked on a section of highway closed for repairs. The cab of the pickup was sheared off; Kawolsky was killed…