FELA, or the Federal Employment Liability Act assures railroad employees a safe work place and gives them and their families the right to recover compensation if injured in a railroad related accident. Under FELA, injured employees can seek compensation for wage loss, future wage loss, medical expenses and treatments, pain and suffering, and for partial or permanent disability. All railroad solvent exposure lawsuits have been filed under FELA.
Former railroad worker awarded $2.3 million
-April 4, 2005
A jury verdict awarding $2.3 million to a former Norfolk Southern Railway Co. worker whose knee was badly injured in a railyard accident has been upheld by the U.S. 6 th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The 2000 injury was suffered when David Rogers slipped and fell when the tried to mount several runaway railcars in hopes of preventing a crash in a Tennessee railyard. Rogers filed suit under FELA, claiming Norfolk Southern was liable because his injury was the result of negligence.
Rogers claimed the railroad accident required two knee operations and may require knee replacement surgery. The jury's determination of fault based on Norfolk's negligence under FELA was enough for the jury to rule in favor of Rogers.
Rogers said he injured his knee on Aug. 23, 2000 when he and two co-workers were collecting railcars for a customer in Norfolk Southern's Calhoun railyard in eastern Tennessee. The 6 th Circuit agreed with the jury's findings that the rail company was negligent under FELA because Norfolk Southern employees failed to exercise reasonable care, either by failing to test the security of the couplers by "stretching" the segment of railcars that rolled away or by failing to fully apply the hand brakes in order to prevent the railcars from moving.For more information on FELA lawsuits, please contact us to confer with a personal injury lawyer.