Under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, a railroad must provide its workers a reasonably safe place to work. That duty includes supplying safe tools, machinery, and equipment, and following recognized safety protocols and safe work methods. That is the law. In practice, railroads often fall short, and when an injured worker files a claim, the carrier reaches for the same small set of defenses again and again. Knowing those defenses in advance takes away much of their power, and an experienced FELA lawyer knows how to answer each one.
If you were hurt during the course and scope of your railroad job, here are the arguments you are most likely to hear, and why they often fail.
“If it was so dangerous, why hasn’t anyone else complained?”
The absence of prior complaints proves very little. Workers stay silent for all sorts of reasons: apathy, a deliberately slow or cumbersome reporting process, and, very often, fear of retaliation for speaking up. More to the point, the law does not let a railroad hide behind silence. Under FELA, a carrier’s duty to inspect its workplace and equipment is non-delegable, meaning it exists whether or not anyone ever filed a complaint. A quiet workforce does not lessen that obligation.
“We didn’t actually cause the problem.”
This is the buck-passing defense, in which the railroad tries to blame a contractor or another party on the premises. It ignores a basic FELA principle. A contractor or other third party working on the railroad’s behalf is treated as the carrier’s agent, meaning the railroad is responsible for that party’s negligence as if it were the conduct of its own employees. Pointing at someone else on the property rarely lets the carrier off the hook.
“We had no idea it was unsafe.”
Lawyers call this a lack-of-notice defense. It fails more often than railroads would like, because FELA holds a carrier responsible not only for hazards it actually knew about but for hazards it should have known about. If a reasonable, routine inspection would have revealed the danger, the railroad is liable whether or not it had actually noticed the problem. The “we didn’t know” argument collapses when the hazard was one the carrier had a duty to find.
“You caused your own injury.”
When the other defenses stumble, railroads fall back on blaming the worker. The formal term is comparative negligence, and here it is worth understanding exactly how FELA treats it, because this is where FELA is far more favorable to workers than an ordinary Virginia injury claim. In a typical Virginia case, contributory negligence is a complete bar: even slight fault can bar recovery. FELA rejects that harsh rule. Under FELA, a worker’s own negligence does not defeat the claim. It only reduces the recovery in proportion to the worker’s share of fault. If the railroad was mostly responsible, the worker still recovers most of their damages. A FELA lawyer will fight to keep the carrier’s share of the blame where it belongs.
“It wasn’t really that dangerous.”
Finally, the railroad may argue that the condition was not unsafe at all. FELA requires a reasonably safe workplace, but what counts as reasonable changes over time as tools, equipment, and industry procedures evolve. A method that once passed for acceptable may be plainly unsafe by current standards. Overcoming this defense takes a working knowledge of how other railroads perform the same task safely, which is exactly the kind of evidence an experienced attorney develops to show the carrier fell below the accepted standard.
Why Experience Makes the Difference
None of these defenses is new, and none is unbeatable. They require an attorney who has seen them before and knows how to answer each one with evidence rather than argument. Railroads defend these claims with substantial resources, and an injured worker should not face that alone.
Our attorneys bring more than 100 years of combined legal experience to FELA cases, and we have handled these claims for railroad workers throughout the eastern United States. That experience has produced significant results, including an $8.6 million jury verdict for a railroad worker, with the state’s highest court later affirming the jury’s negligence findings. Results depend on the facts of each case, but outcomes like that reflect the effort it takes to defeat the defenses railroads rely on.
Talk to a FELA Lawyer Today
If you were injured while working on the railroad, you may be entitled to file a FELA claim, and you should not let the carrier’s standard defenses discourage you. A FELA lawyer at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp can explain the legal process and fight to secure the full compensation you deserve. Contact us at 833-997-1774 for a free consultation. We have offices in Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, Norfolk, and Chesapeake, and we are ready to put our decades of railroad injury experience to work for you and your family.