U.S. SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW F.E.L.A. CAUSATION STANDARD
The causation standard in Federal Employers’ Liability Act (F.E.L.A.) cases has been known to be liberal since Congress enacted the Act in the early 1900s. Soon, the United States Supreme Court will review whether that standard is too lax when it considers McBride v. CSX Transp. Inc., 589 F.3d 388 (7th Cir. 2010). Specifically, the Supreme Court will address whether the FELA requires proof of proximate causation similar to the common law. Oral arguments and a Supreme Court decision on the issue are expected later this term.
In Rogers v. Missouri Pacific R. Co., 352 U.S. 500, 506 (1957), the U.S. Supreme Court held "the test of a jury case [under the F.E.L.A.] is simply whether the proofs justify with reason the conclusion that employer negligence played any part, even the slightest, in producing the injury or death for which damages are sought." Citing Rogers, the Seventh Circuit reiterated in McBride that a relaxed standard of causation applies under the F.E.L.A.
Unlike workers compensations laws, the F.E.L.A. requires that the railroad worker prove that the railroad’s negligence played a slight part in producing the railroad worker’s injury. As it stands, F.E.L.A. plaintiffs are not required to prove common law proximate causation. The F.E.L.A. plaintiff must only prove that his injury or death resulted in whole or in part from the railroad's negligence. To require railroad workers to provide proof of common law-like proximate causation will severely impact the otherwise broad remedial framework that the F.E.L.A. is meant to provide railroad workers.
Having recently secured a $1.5 settlement on behalf of an injured railroad worker, I am very interested to see how the Supreme Court will resolve this issue. According to the Federal Railroad Association, in 2010, there were nearly 4000 accidents involving on-duty railroad employees, which resulted in either injury or death. Raising the standard of causation in F.E.L.A. cases would conflict with the original intent of the F.E.L.A. – to eliminate common law barriers of recovery for railroad workers – and negatively impact railroad workers' safety and rights.
