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Your FELA Rights
Have you been injured while working for a railroad? If that happens, what are your rights?
- The FELA is a special Federal Law governing injuries to and deaths of railroad workers which occur while they are working for a railroad. While the FELA permits the recovery of much larger damages than can be obtained, for example, under worker's compensation statues for similar injuries, successful FELA results against railroads require handling by experienced FELA trial lawyers. Railroads, with their in-house claim agents and well-trained lawyers, vigorously attempt to defeat or greatly reduce the damages in FELA cases.
- The FELA and its companion statutes, the Safety Appliance Act (for safety defects on railroad cars) and the Locomotive Inspection Act (formerly known as the Boiler Inspection Act B for safety defects on locomotive engines) provide the best legal remedies for railroad workers and their families that are available anywhere in the world. Because of the many injuries to and deaths of railroad workers before the FELA was adopted, Congress passed the FELA in 1908 to improve safety on railroads. The FELA continues to improve railroad safety in the twenty first century.
- For railroad accidents, the FELA requires "pure comparative negligence". This means that you can recover damages even if you are negligent and your negligence is more than 50%. By contrast, under most laws, you will recover nothing if your negligence is more than 50%. Moreover, the FELA provides that a railroad may be found liable if its negligence was a cause of the accident, in whole or in part, however slight.
- The Safety Appliance Act and the Locomotive Inspection Act are strict liability statutes. This means that your negligence in an FELA case is not a defense for the railroad if a safety appliance defect or a Locomotive Inspection Act defect caused the accident.
- Unlike worker's compensation statutes which cover most on-the-job accidents, the FELA allows full compensation for the injuries to a railroad worker, including past and future loss of earnings and earning capacity; past and future medical expenses; past and future physical pain; past and future mental anguish; past and future physical impairment; and disfigurement. This means that FELA verdicts and settlements can be very large.
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