Opinion ID: 437310
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Person in Interest under Sec. 60

Text: 5 BN claims the court erred as a matter of law in concluding that an unretained attorney was a person of interest to whom accident information could be provided under Sec. 60. According to BN, a person in interest only includes employees with first hand knowledge of the accident, the injured employee's dependants and his duly authorized representatives. Considering the legislative language, purpose, and history, we conclude that a person in interest includes not only retained attorneys but also those unretained attorneys whom the injured employee seeks to consult for the purpose of possible retention in an FELA suit. 6 Section 60 should be interpreted in the context of the broad remedial purpose behind the Federal Employers' Liability Act (45 U.S.C. Sec. 51 et seq.) The FELA makes an employer liable in damages for injuries negligently inflicted in whole or in part on its employees by its officers, agents, or employees. 45 U.S.C. Sec. 51; Rogers v. Missouri Pacific R. Co., 352 U.S. 500, 507-08, 77 S.Ct. 443, 448-449, 1 L.Ed.2d 493 (1957); Hopson v. Texaco, 383 U.S. 262, 263, 86 S.Ct. 765, 766, 15 L.Ed.2d 740 (1966) (per curiam). By giving the negligently injured employee this legal remedy, Congress sought to achieve the broad purpose of promoting 'the welfare of both employer and employee, by adjusting the losses and injuries from industry and commerce to the strength of those who in the nature of the case ought to share the burden.'  Sinkler v. Missouri Pacific R. Co., 356 U.S. 326, 329-30, 78 S.Ct. 758, 761, 2 L.Ed.2d 799 (1958), quoting S.Rep. No. 460, 60th Cong., 1st Sess. 3. As the Supreme Court emphasized in Sinkler, 356 U.S. at 329, 78 S.Ct. at 761-62: 7 [the FELA] was a response to the special needs of railroad workers who are daily exposed to the risks inherent in railroad work and are helpless to provide adequately for their own safety .... The cost of human injury, an inescapable expense of railroading, must be borne by someone, and the FELA seeks to adjust the expense equitably between the worker and the carrier. 8 See also Hopson v. Texaco, 383 U.S. 262, 263-64, 86 S.Ct. 765, 766, 15 L.Ed.2d 740 (1966) (per curiam); Wilkerson v. McCarthy, 336 U.S. 53, 68-69, 69 S.Ct. 413, 420-21, 93 L.Ed. 497 (1949). (Douglas, J. concurring) 9 To assure the adequacy of FELA's legal remedy, Congress believed it was necessary to equalize the access to accident information available to highly efficient claims departments and to individual FELA claimants. Senate Report No. 661, 76th Cong. 1st Sess. 2, 5 (1939); see also Stark v. Burlington Northern, Inc., 538 F.Supp. 1061, 1062 (D.C.Col.1982). Accordingly, Sec. 60 was designed to prohibit the enforcement of company rules inhibiting the free flow of accident information and permit those who have information concerning the facts and circumstances of a personal injury to give statements to the injured employee or his dependants, or to someone authorized to represent him or them. Senate Report No. 611 at 5. 10 It is thus undisputed that an attorney retained by an injured worker for the purpose of pursuing an FELA claim is a person of interest to whom accident information may be properly passed. 1 We can discern no logical basis for distinguishing between an injured employee's communication with an attorney he has retained and his communication with an attorney he consults for the purpose of possible retention. It is well understood that in many cases an injured worker is unable to determine whether an attorney is even willing to take his FELA case without first conveying information regarding the facts and circumstances of the injury. To interpret Sec. 60 to exclude such information flow would effectively thwart the FELA's broad remedial purposes of providing an effective legal remedy for negligence related injuries. 11 We are cognizant of Congress' concern that Sec. 60 not be interpreted to foster or condone ambulance chasing. See supra note 1. However, this is not a case where unretained attorneys have attempted to seek out and question railroad employees about possible accidents for the purpose of landing a lucrative FELA case. Rather, this suit was brought by the union on behalf of injured workers seeking to consult and possibly retain attorneys for FELA suits. As such, no ambulance chasing problem is posed here.