Denton v. LW Vail Co., Inc.

Plaintiff appeals from a directed verdict against him in a personal injury negligence action against the state Department of Transportation and two road construction contractors. The issues on appeal are whether1 the plaintiff was a trespasser on the road then under construction, and whether defendants owed a duty to plaintiff which they breached, making them liable for his injuries.

Plaintiff was injured when he rode his motorcycle into a barbed wire fence stretched across a new section of highway that was under construction and had never been open to the public. Plaintiff, aged 45, and two…