VALPARAISO -- A lawsuit filed by the parents of a Chesterton teen-ager killed
in a crash March 3 seeks $50 million in punitive damages against a Wisconsin
trucking company.
Tony Dovichi, 13, Billy Jean Donovan, 48, and Joey Donovan, 13, died after a
semi-tractor trailer owned by Kowalski Trucking Company broadsided the car at
Indian Boundary Road and Ind. 49. A passenger in the truck, driven by Kenneth
Piantino, 62, of Lake Geneva, Wis., was injured in the crash.
Attorney Kenneth J. Allen, who is representing the family, said the Indiana
State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division determined the truck had
safety defects, including broken, inadequate and misadjusted brake components.
He said in his release the report also said the truck had not been properly
inspected.
"This is yet another instance of a preventable crash involving a truck which
according to state and federal laws should not even have been on the road,"
Allen said in his press release. "Instead of taking it out of service for
repair, or having the driver properly rested, this semi was put on the road
with an over-tired truck driver behind the wheel.
"This is a familiar recipe for an increasingly familiar tragedy and it is a
scenario which promises to re-occur unless clear and effective measures are
taken," Allen said in a press release.
He said adequate enforcement measures are lacking in Northwest Indiana. With
more than one million trucks traveling through the area each day, there aren't
enough Indiana State Police personnel trained to inspect semis or enforce the
motor carrier safety regulations, he said.
"Given the inadequate resources our state devotes to the enforcement of federal
and state truck safety laws, a jury verdict is apparently the only way to
convince trucking companies and truckers that we care about truck safety in
Northwest Indiana," Allen said in his release.
He said in his release that he wants to send a message to trucking companies
and drivers, "whether they be traveling I-80/94, I-65, U.S. 30, S.R. 49 or U.S.
6, that we are not going to tolerate a callous disregard for safety any
longer."
