Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA)
What is FELA?
In 1908 Congress passed the Federal Employers Liability Act (known as "FELA") to protect the thousands of railroad workers employed nationwide. FELA was established to provide financial recovery for injuries suffered by railroad workers while on the job or to compensate their families for their death. Almost all workers employed by a railroad company will be protected under FELA if they are injured on the job, including those whose primary duties are not performed in or around trains.
Unlike the Workers' Compensation Law in each individual state, compensation under the FELA is not awarded automatically. The FELA requires that the injured railroad employee prove that the railroad's negligence was responsible for causing the injury, including pain and suffering.
What about Compensation?
The damages that may be recovered under the FELA vary from case to case. Some of the damages available for compensation include:
- The injured railroad worker's past and future wage loss;
- The injured railroad worker's past and future medical treatment;
- The injured railroad employee's past and future pain, suffering, and mental distress;
- The injured railroad worker's value of a lost limb or organ;
- Economic loss to the railroad employee's dependents in the event of death.
How long will it take to process my FELA Claim?
The amount of time it takes to process a claim is dependent upon several factors. One factor is the severity of the railway injury. A serious neck injury that requires surgery and a possibility of your inability to return to your railroad career needs more time than a strained muscle to determine the degree of permanency. Another factor is if the case is settled outside of court or if it goes to trial.
An FELA claim cannot be evaluated until the extent of the injury is known and questions can be answered--has your treating physician released you? do you have medical restrictions and/or a permanent impairment rating? can you return to work for the railroad? will you have to find work at a lesser paying job or are you totally disabled from all gainful employment? Regardless of the extent and duration of the injury, the lawsuit can and will be filed in court prior to the final determination of your damages.
The availability of the trial court also affects the time it takes to process an FELA claim. Many factors including both state and federal laws will be considered in making the decision of where your lawsuit will be filed. Our attorneys will rely on their trial experience with the court's judges, the jury pools and the speed in which a lawsuit can be reached for trial to determine whether your case will be filed in state court or federal court. In other words, if your case can be filed in a state county court which has only 15 weeks of jury trials a year, a determination may be made that your case will be better handled by filing the lawsuit in federal court.
No matter how big or small the railroad injury, the sooner you make the claim the better. Even though an injured railroad employee has up to 3 years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit, it could be detrimental to your case if you wait that long to hire an FELA lawyer. The witnesses' memory, as well as evidence, may not be as strong later as it was right after the accident. Hiring the attorneys at Burge & Burge who are familiar with FELA is vital to your case in order to gather evidence as soon as possible.
Our FELA lawyers at Burge & Burge have helped hundreds of injured railroad workers and their families throughout the southeastern United States including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina. Contact our office today for a free initial consultation.
Our law firm, located in Birmingham, Alabama, provides FELA and personal injury legal services throughout the Southeastern U.S., including the cities of Birmingham, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, Dothan, Gadsden, Mobile, Anniston and Decatur. We bring FELA claims in many states, including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio and Florida.
