How a FELA lawyer in New York can help you
To give railroad workers the right to recover damages for work-related injuries, Congress passed the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) in 1908. The FELA is designed to give railroads economic incentives to protect the health and safety of workers.
The FELA is a specialized type of compensation system for railroad workers injured on the job. FELA awards are decided by juries, and often exceed what is customary for state-run workers’ compensation. But under the FELA, the amount of damages is affected by comparative negligence, which means the percentage of negligence on the part of the employer versus the percentage of negligence by the worker.
Railroads will always look for ways to blame their workers for accidents in order to avoid paying them the full amount of their deserved compensation. This means injured workers or their surviving family members have to fight against powerful, wealthy railroad companies in order to gain their fair financial compensation.
Obtaining Fair and Just New York FELA Damages
Over the past three decades, our law firm has successfully represented many injured railroad workers who were not only put at risk on the job, but also disciplined or blamed for causing their own accidents.
For example, Metro-North Railroad blamed our client for causing an electrical explosion that resulted in severe burns. But we ultimately forced that New York-based rail company to admit that their negligence caused the accident and pay a $1.1 million cash FELA settlement.
The following are other noteworthy FELA awards and New York FELA lawsuits we obtained for our clients:
- An $8 million settlement for a contractor working at Penn Station in New York City whose leg was crushed by a runaway crane
- $1.4 million jury verdict for a Metro-North foreman whose back was injured while attempting to open a defective gate in Harmon Yard
- A $4.3 million FELA wrongful death jury verdict (reduced to $3.2 million for contributory negligence) for Diane Ard, Executrix for Estate of Robert J. Ard Jr. v. Metro-North Railroad
- A $1.45 million Connecticut state law personal injury jury verdict for a contractor injured when an Amtrak train entered his work site without warning
- A $5.5 million FELA settlement for wrongful death on behalf of Michelle Pieger, Administratrix for the Estate of Jeffrey Michael Pieger v. Metro-North Railroad Company
Contact a New York FELA lawyer today!
If you need to consult a FELA lawyer in New York, please give us a call at 800-576-0515 for a free confidential consultation. Also feel free to contact us through our online web form and a New York FELA attorney will respond within 24 hours.
