Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is currently accepting cases for injured Amtrak workers to bring under the Federal Employees Liability Act, or FELA.
What is FELA and how are Amtrak employees covered?
FELA permits Amtrak employees who are injured on the job, or the families of Amtrak employees who are killed or incapacitated from on-the-job injuries, to petition for compensation. For an employee or family to bring a claim under FELA, some prerequisites must be met:
- Negligence on the part of the employer must be established;
- The statue of limitations must not have passed.
To establish negligence, the plaintiff (the injured party) must prove that an accident would not have occurred if the railroad had acted as a reasonable or prudent person would have under the same circumstances; if the railroad acted in such a way that a reasonable or prudent person would not have acted under the same circumstance; or if the railroad had shown appropriate due care under the circumstance in question. It is important for employees to identify negligence and/or defective equipment that resulted in their accident or injury since just the occurrence of an accident or injury is not enough to bring a claim under FELA.
It is also important for employees who have suffered injury to report the accident immediately, as the statute of limitations ends three years from the day the claim occurred. If the claim involves an occupational disease with an unknown date of injury, the statute begins to run from the moment symptoms of the disease are discovered.
Where could you bring a FELA case?
A recent Supreme Court decision has narrowed where a suit against railroad companies can be brought, thus limiting where FELA cases can be litigated. In BNSF Railway v. Tyrell, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal statute supplants state statutes when deciding whether personal jurisdiction over a corporation is valid. Personal jurisdiction over a railroad defendant will be established if the corporation is:
- in its principal place of business;
- in its state of incorporation; or
- in states where the corporation has substantial and frequent dealings “so continuous and systematic as to render [the corporation] essentially at home.”
Considering that Amtrak is headquartered in Washington D.C., our firm is well-situated to handle FELA cases brought by Amtrak employees who may have worked at locations across the country.
Have You Suffered Injuries While Under the Employment of Amtrak?
If you are an Amtrak worker and have been injured on the job, or if you were employed by Amtrak and sustained an injury within the past three years, we would like to speak with you. Please give us a call at (202) 470-3520, email us at [email protected], or complete the contact form to the right of this page.
Attorneys Committed to Injured Workers’ Rights
The lawyers at Migliaccio & Rathod LLP have years of experience in litigation against large corporations, and have secured sizeable settlements and verdicts on behalf of our clients. More information about our current cases and investigations is available on our blog.