Opinion ID: 1598843
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Heading: federal employers' liability act

Text: The Federal Employers' Liability Act provides in pertinent part: Every common carrier by railroad while engaging in commerce between any of the several States or Territories, or between any of the States and Territories, or between the District of Columbia and any of the States or Territories, or between the District of Columbia or any of the States or Territories and any foreign nation or nations, shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in commerce, [that is, liability] for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment. Any employee of a carrier, any part of whose duties as such employee shall be the furtherance of interstate or foreign commerce; or shall, in any way directly or closely and substantially, affect such commerce as above set forth shall, for the purposes of this chapter, be considered as being employed by such carrier in such commerce and shall be considered as entitled to the benefits of this chapter. 45 U.S.C. § 51. We assume that a motor vehicle may be characterized as equipment for the purpose of the preceding provision in the Federal Employers' Liability Act. See, e.g., Mortensen v. Southern Pacific Co., 245 Cal.App.2d 241, 53 Cal.Rptr. 851 (1966) (absence of vehicular seatbelts; actionable negligence under the Federal Employers' Liability Act). The Federal Employers' Liability Act was enacted pursuant to the power granted to Congress for regulation of interstate commerce under the commerce clause of U.S. Const. art. I, § 8. Second Employers' Liability Cases, 223 U.S. 1, 32 S.Ct. 169, 56 L.Ed. 327 (1912); Parden v. Terminal R. Co., 377 U.S. 184, 84 S.Ct. 1207, 12 L.Ed.2d 233 (1964). As a statute of the United States, the Federal Employers' Liability Act, enacted pursuant to the U.S. Constitution, is a part of the supreme Law of the Land. U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2. See, also, State ex rel. Douglas v. Karnes, 216 Neb. 750, 346 N.W.2d 231 (1984) (the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution binds the several states, subordinates state law, including legislation, to a congressional enactment, and supersedes state law which conflicts with federal law). The Federal Employers' Liability Act preempts state law and statutorily supplies uniform law controlling a railroad employee's claim for damages caused by negligence of the employer railroad while the employee is engaged in the railroad's interstate commerce activity. Second Employers' Liability Cases, supra ; Dice v. Akron, C. & Y.R. Co., 342 U.S. 359, 72 S.Ct. 312, 96 L.Ed. 398 (1952). Among objectives of the Federal Employers' Liability Act are protection of railroad employees' safety and health and promotion of measures to prevent injury to railroad employees. Parden, supra; Urie v. Thompson, 337 U.S. 163, 69 S.Ct. 1018, 93 L.Ed. 1282 (1949); Jamison v. Encarnacion, 281 U.S. 635, 50 S.Ct. 440, 74 L.Ed. 1082 (1930); Minneapolis &c. R. Co. v. Rock, 279 U.S. 410, 49 S.Ct. 363, 73 L.Ed. 766 (1929). The U.S. Supreme Court stated in Sinkler v. Missouri Pacific R. Co., 356 U.S. 326, 329-30, 78 S.Ct. 758, 761-62, 2 L.Ed.2d 799 (1958): [I]n interpreting the FELA, we need not depend upon common-law principles of liability. This statute, an avowed departure from the rules of the common law [citation omitted], 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. [Citation omitted.] The cost of human injury, an inescapable expense of railroading, must be borne by someone, and the FELA seeks to adjust that expense equitably between the worker and the carrier. [Citation omitted.] The Senate Committee which reported the Act stated that it was designed to achieve the broad purpose of promoting the welfare of both employer and employee, by adjusting the losses and injuries inseparable from industry and commerce to the strength of those who in the nature of the case ought to share the burden. The Federal Employers' Liability Act is a broad remedial statute and should be interpreted liberally to fulfill the intent of Congress. Atchison, T. & S.F.R. Co. v. Buell, 480 U.S. 557, 107 S.Ct. 1410, 94 L.Ed.2d 563 (1987). Courts of the United States and courts of the several states have concurrent jurisdiction over claims controlled by the Federal Employers' Liability Act. 45 U.S.C. § 56. In disposing of a claim controlled by the Federal Employees' Liability Act, a state court may use procedural rules applicable to civil actions in the state court unless otherwise directed by the act, St. Louis Southwestern R. Co. v. Dickerson, 470 U.S. 409, 105 S.Ct. 1347, 84 L.Ed.2d 303 (1985), and Geris v. Burlington Northern, Inc., 277 Or. 381, 561 P.2d 174 (1977), but substantive issues concerning a claim under the Federal Employers' Liability Act are determined by the provisions of the act and interpretative decisions of federal courts construing the Federal Employers' Liability Act, see, Monessen Southwestern R. Co. v. Morgan, 486 U.S. 330, 108 S.Ct. 1837, 100 L.Ed.2d 349 (1988); Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. v. Kuhn, 284 U.S. 44, 52 S.Ct. 45, 76 L.Ed. 157 (1931); Southern Ry. v. Gray, 241 U.S. 333, 36 S.Ct. 558, 60 L.Ed. 1030 (1916); Seaboard Air Line v. Horton, 233 U.S. 492, 34 S.Ct. 635, 58 L.Ed. 1062 (1914). See, also, McDermott v. Chicago & N.W.R. Co., 124 Neb. 727, 730, 248 N.W. 59, 60 (1933): The state courts are bound by the interpretation of the federal act [Federal Employers' Liability Act] given by the federal courts. Thus, if the Federal Employers' Liability Act applies to an employee's negligence claim, the act supersedes a state's common and statutory law, even though the employee seeks relief in a state court. Erie R.R. Co. v. Winfield, 244 U.S. 170, 37 S.Ct. 556, 61 L.Ed. 1057 (1917). Thus, when the Federal Employers' Liability Act applies to a railroad employee's negligence claim, the cause of action against the railroad employer and recovery for negligent injury to a railroad employee are exclusively controlled by the Federal Employers' Liability Act. See, Second Employers' Liability Cases, 223 U.S. 1, 32 S.Ct. 169, 56 L.Ed. 327 (1912); Janelle v. Seaboard Coast Line R. Co., 524 F.2d 1259 (5th Cir.1975); Geris v. Burlington Northern, Inc., supra .