railroad worker injury claim<\/a> is essentially a hybrid between a state workers\u2019 compensation claim and a negligence-based injury claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBecause of this complexity, only the most experienced lawyers should handle these matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trauma Injury<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Many railroad workers slip and fall on ballast, which is the name for the rocky material surrounding railroad tracks. Ballast is extremely slippery and falls are common, especially at night when visibility is limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Making matters worse, many railroad workers are alone when they fall. Additionally, they often fall in remote areas that are far from the nearest hospital. So, no one may find them for several hours, and the distance to the nearest hospital delays treatment even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Falls are, by far, the most common railroad worker trauma injuries. Others include electrocutions, caught-between injuries (the worker is caught between a moving train and a fixed object), and worker assaults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Occupational Disease<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Ballast produces silica dust which can lead to occupational diseases inside the lungs, inflammation and scarring. Silica dust inhalation also leads to silicosis (reduced lung capacity), a condition that\u2019s normally disabling and sometimes fatal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Railroad workers are also at risk of noise-related hearing loss which is a form of repetitive stress disorder. These injuries often affect railroad workers who repeatedly bend, stoop, and reach. Human joints can only take so much such motion. The fact that these repetitive motions occur on a moving and vibrating train makes the effects even worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Victims Must Prove?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Job injury victims must prove their injuries were work-related to receive workers\u2019 compensation benefits. Other injury victims must prove negligence, or a lack of care, substantially caused their injuries to receive compensation for those injuries in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FELA is a combination of these two things. Injured railroad workers must prove their injuries occurred at work and that employer negligence contributed to their injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Silicosis and other silica dust injuries are good examples. Assume Sam\u2019s employer told him to wear a mask to protect him against dust, but Sam\u2019s employer didn\u2019t tell him about the possible health consequences. The employer\u2019s failure to tell Sam all the facts didn\u2019t cause Sam\u2019s injury, but it certainly contributed to his injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If injured railroad workers prove negligence contributed to their injuries, an attorney can obtain compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Insurance companies usually contest liability and\/or damages in these situations. In Sam\u2019s case, the defendant might point out that he signed a waiver that, in very small print, explained the risk of silicosis. The defendant might also contest Sam\u2019s medical bills, usually by presenting a medical \u201cexpert\u201d who tries to undermine Sam\u2019s doctor\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such defenses usually don\u2019t hold up in court, if an attorney thoroughly prepared the case and anticipated these defenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced attorney, contact Napoli Shkolnik. We handle these matters on a nationwide basis.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By the 1870s, railroad construction was in full swing, with approximately 170,000 miles of track being laid between 1871 and 1900. Much of this growth was related to transcontinental railroads….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[778],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-workers-compensation"],"acf":[],"page_builder_type":"gutenberg","gutenberg_data":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18080,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15029\/revisions\/18080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}