[FELA - Federal Employees Liability Act.
Railroaders and Longshoremen must use it to sue
for workplace injuries, instead of collecting
without suit under Workers' Compensation.
SAA - Safety Appliance Act]

Excerpted from:
"On Track With Railway Claim Services, Inc."
rcsi@railway-claim-services.com
Volume 11 Issue 1 January, 2004

POINTS OF LEGAL INTEREST

Employee Alleged Injured on Old Handbrake Lever -
Philadelphia Federal Court
Denies Defense Motion for Summary Judgment. On
May 9, 2000, a dispatcher ordered the plaintiff
to move an observation car from the shop track to
the storage track. As plaintiff was attempting
to release the handbrake on the observation
car, the handbrake lever "kicked" back and struck
plaintiff on the hip. Plaintiff was allegedly
knocked from the car and sustained injury.
Thereafter plaintiff filed suit, asserting claims
under both FELA and the SAA. After the district
court granted summary judgment to the defense on
the SAA claim, the railroad sought summary
judgment on the FELA claim on grounds of
contributory negligence.

The district court denied summary judgment on the
FELA claim. It pointed to plaintiffs testimony
that when he called the dispatcher and inquired
as to how to operate the handbrake on the
observation car [which dated from the early
1900's], he was told to "try and find someone
around who knows how to do it; if not, just
do it; figure it out." Such testimony, the court
found, raised an issue of comparative fault which
required jury resolution. Thomas v. Reading, Blue
Mountain and Northern Railroad Co., U.S. District
Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Case No.
A01-5834.



TyburnRR@cs.com

> Thank God for Ratchet Style Brakes, those old stem-winders are nothing but trouble. I don't know how they were when new- but now its unanticipated release and constant hang ups.

superheater@rrmail.com

Kind of like them gosh darn steam locomotives. Noth'in but trouble. Don't know what they were like when they were new but now it's constant fix this and fix that. Darn things are a menace always "braking" down.

> Thank God for Ratchet Style Brakes, those old stem-winders are nothing but trouble. I don't know how they were when new- but now its unanticipated release and constant hang ups.

> Kind of like them gosh darn steam
> locomotives. Noth'in but trouble. Don't know
> what they were like when they were new but
> now it's constant fix this and fix that.
> Darn things are a menace always
> "braking" down.

Sarcasm noted.

superheater@rrmail.com