The switch conductor for a railroad tank car in New Orleans has filed a personal injury lawsuit alleged that the railroad is liable for injuries he suffered on the job.
The railroad worker states that he was employed by SGS Petroleum Services Corp, and on Aug. 23, 2015, while he was performing duties on a railroad tank car, he fell when the car shook due to poor track condition.
The man fell several feet to the ground and had injuries to his lower back, left side ribs, left shoulder and right foot. The right foot injury required the amputation of his right small toe. He is suing for his medical expenses, economic loss, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of earning capacity.
Our FELA lawyers in Virginia hope that this man is able to prevail in this railroad injury lawsuit. According to the 72 American Jurisprudence Trials treatise on railroad health and safety that one of our lawyers co-wrote, negligence by railroads is quite common and can lead to worker injuries.
For example, this case:
‘Evidence was sufficient to establish in FELA action brought by locomotive engineer injured when he slipped on black ice that railroad knew or should have known that based on weather conditions there could have been ice or snow on deck of engineer’s locomotive, for purposes of determining whether engineer’s injury was “foreseeable”; there was precipitation on the ground at yard from which locomotive departed, given that black ice formed from melting and re-freezing it was reasonable for jury to infer that visible ice or snow was present at some point, and there was evidence that railroad had instituted a program to equip locomotives with calcium chloride and that railroad had a rule requiring walkways to be free of slipping hazards. Federal Employers’ Liability Act, §§ 1 et seq., 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 51 et seq.Ramsey v. Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Ry. Co., 130 S.W.3d 646 (Mo. Ct. App. E.D. 2004), transfer denied, (Mar. 22, 2004) and transfer denied, (Apr. 27, 2004) and cert. denied, 125 S. Ct. 108 (U.S. 2004); West’s Key Number Digest, Employers’ Liability 236.’