FELA Lawyer

FELA Damages - How They're Figured

FELA, which stands for "Federal Employers Liability Act" is actually a bit of a misnomer if you look at just the name of the federal law that was passed by Congress in 1908. The title may make it seem as though the law applies to federal employers of all types, but in reality, FELA only applies to railroad workers who are injured on the job. There are several particularities to keep in mind when it comes to applying FELA to specific situations, and below we'll discuss a few of them.

Juries

When a railroad worker is injured and brings suit under the standards put in place by FELA, he or she is entitled to have his or her day in court. That's not unlike a claim brought under that state's workers' compensation statutes, as those claims are also sometimes necessarily adjudicated by an impartial third party. However, FELA claims are generally brought in front of a full-blown jury instead of an Administrative Law Judge, which is typically how workers' compensation claims are decided. FELA claims work almost like traditional personal injury claims.

Evidentiary Fault Standard

When bringing a claim under a workers' compensation statute, the injured employee typically presents the facts to the Administrative Law Judge, who in turn determines fault and if appropriate awards damages based on a pre-set equation that's used to determine what's fair in those situations.

However, FELA claims are decided differently not only in form (see above) but in substance as well. FELA claims, and their resulting damages awards, are determined by a comparative negligence standard. Comparative negligence is a somewhat complicated standard to apply, which is why we'll present a hypothetical situation below to illustrate its typical application.

A worker is working on a railroad, and his leg is seriously injured when a box car backs into him while he is working between cars. He is unable to work for three months and incurs significant medical costs and lost wages as a result of this incident, and the driver of the box car was negligent in backing the car into him without first looking to make sure it was safe to do so.

If it's determined that the total amount of damages incurred is $100,000, and it's decided that the employer (or box car driver) was at fault by a factor of 80% for backing the car up but the worker was 20% negligent for having his leg in a precarious position, then the jury's award will be set at $80,000 for the injured worker.

As you see, coming to this conclusion can be quite complicated, which is why if you've been injured working on a railroad, you need to contact a FELA lawyer at Williams Kherkher as soon as possible in order to schedule a free initial consultation.