Gordon, Elias & Seely, LLP - FELA Attorneys

The Nebraska Supreme Court will soon decide a case styled: Holsapple vs. Union Pacific. The issue in this FELA case is whether the employee [Holsapple] was "on the job" at the time of injury since he injured himself in the morning walking to the actual location where he was to commence work. This case is of extreme importance to FELA and especially maintenance of way workers that are constantly moving from area to area while working in gangs.

Gordon & Elias, L.L.P. is pleased to announce that, after years of contemplation, we have now decided to accept cumulative or repetitive trauma FELA injury claims. Like everything else we try to do, we wanted to wait to do it right. That time has come.

The Court of Special Appeals, in CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Bickerstaff, et al., -- A.2d ---, 2009 WL 2619691 (Md. App.) held that the lower court’s failure to allow the jury to apportion damages based upon non-negligent factors was a prejudicial error that resulted in a vacated judgment.

The United States Supreme Court decided on June 1, 2009, the case of CSX Transportation, Inc. v Thurston Hensley 2009 WL 1506680 (U.S. June 1, 2009)) which reversed and remanded a $5,000,000.00 verdict in favor of a FELA claimant because CSX was denied a juror instruction that the plaintiff's fear of cancer should be genuine and serious. This represents another conservative step the Roberts court has continually taken and will continue to take against injured workers.

On Friday, May 15th, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided BNSF Railway Company v. United States Department of Transportation, which determined important privacy rights for aviation, rail, motor carrier, mass transit, maritime and pipeline industries’ workers.

The legal remedies available to a person injured while working on the railroad are quiet different from an employee being injured and covered by a state workers' compensation scheme. Though there are some guarantees under workers compensation, the total potential recovery is quite limited; conversely, FELA can be more beneficial but has its pitfalls. It is essential that a worker has excellent representation and Gordon & Elias, L.L.P. knows what to do.