FELA Lawsuit Lawyer

FELA and the Statute of Limitations

When a railroad worker is injured on the job, they are protected by the provisions of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) of 1908 and allowed to claim compensation for any injuries caused by their employer’s negligence. Like many other legal actions, however, the act of filing a FELA lawsuit is subject to the statute of limitations.

A Legal Time Limit

A statute of limitations is a law which determines how much time may pass between the occurrence of an event and any legal action resulting from that event. After the prescribed time period has elapsed, further legal action cannot be introduced. For example, if Mr. Smith is injured in an accident where the statute of limitations is two years, he has that amount of time in which to file suit over his injuries. If Mr. Smith decides not to pursue legal action, but changes his mind three years later, he’s out of luck – the statute of limitations has expired and he can no longer file that lawsuit.

Applying it to FELA

The statute of limitations for FELA is three years. As explained above, this allows an injured railroad employee up to three years to initiate legal action against his or her employer under FELA. For serious and immediate injuries – a broken leg sustained in a fall from a railcar, for example, gauging the statute of limitations is easy. Simply calculate three years from the date that the injury was sustained.

The issue becomes less clear when different types of injury are involved. Assume that Mr. Smith worked for a railroad company for 20 years before retiring. Ten years after his retirement, Mr. Smith is diagnosed with respiratory problems due to breathing in fumes during his job. If we were to calculate the statute of limitations based on when Mr. Smith received the injury – that is, when he was exposed to the harmful fumes, he would be unable to take any legal action, since the time limit has already passed. Luckily for Mr. Smith, the FELA statute of limitations is activated when two conditions are met:

1. The worker knows or should have known about the injury, and
2. The worker knows or should have known that his job was to blame for his injury.

What this means, is that, for Mr. Smith, the statute of limitations only starts ticking when his doctor diagnoses his health problems and he determines that harmful railway fumes were the cause. He still has a chance to take legal action.

Are you a railroad worker who has been injured on the job? Do you need legal counsel to protect your rights? If so, call 800-220-9341 right away to speak with a FELA lawyer from Williams Kherkher and discuss your case.