Opinion ID: 230
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Recent FELA cases

Text: Rogers stopped short of explicitly overruling earlier FELA cases that had spoken in terms of common-law proximate cause. Since Rogers, the Supreme Court has not explained in detail how broadly or narrowly Rogers should be read by the lower federal courts. Indeed, the Court has discussed Rogers infrequently and, in most cases, without elaboration. In Sinkler v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Co., 356 U.S. 326, 78 S.Ct. 758, 2 L.Ed.2d 799 (1958), for instance, the Court cited Rogers for the proposition that the FELA is an avowed departure from the rules of the common law. Id. at 329, 78 S.Ct. 758. However, other cases have attributed to Rogers the idea that the FELA incorporates a causation standard less stringent than proximate cause. In Crane v. Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway Co., 395 U.S. 164, 89 S.Ct. 1706, 23 L.Ed.2d 176 (1969), in the course of determining whether the defense of contributory negligence was available to a railroad sued by a nonemployee, the Court observed that a FELA plaintiff is not required to prove common-law proximate causation but only that his injury resulted `in whole or in part' from the railroad's violation of the Act. Id. at 166, 89 S.Ct. 1706 (quoting 45 U.S.C. § 51 and citing Rogers ). More recently, in Consolidated Rail Corp. v. Gottshall, 512 U.S. 532, 114 S.Ct. 2396, 129 L.Ed.2d 427 (1994), the Court referenced Rogers in addressing the question whether recovery for negligent infliction of emotional distress is available under the FELA. In conducting its analysis of the statutory language and purpose, the Court observed that: In order to further FELA's humanitarian purposes, Congress did away with several common-law tort defenses that had effectively barred recovery by injured workers. Specifically, the statute abolished the fellow servant rule, rejected the doctrine of contributory negligence in favor of that of comparative negligence, and prohibited employers from exempting themselves from FELA through contract; a 1939 amendment abolished the assumption of risk defense. See 45 U.S.C. §§ 51, 53-55. We have liberally construed FELA to further Congress' remedial goal. For example, we held in Rogers v. Missouri Pacific R. Co., 352 U.S. 500, 77 S.Ct. 443, 1 L.Ed.2d 493 (1957), that a relaxed standard of causation applies under FELA. We stated that [u]nder this statute the test of a jury case is simply whether the proofs justify with reason the conclusion that employer negligence played any part, even the slightest, in producing the injury or death for which damages are sought. Id. at 506, 77 S.Ct. 443. In Kernan [v. American Dredging Co., 355 U.S. 426, 78 S.Ct. 394, 2 L.Ed.2d 382 (1958)], we extended the reach of the principle of negligence per se to cover injuries suffered by employees as a result of their employers' statutory violations, even if the injuries sustained were not of a type that the relevant statute sought to prevent. See id., 355 U.S. at 432-436, 78 S.Ct. 394. And in Urie [v. Thompson, 337 U.S. 163, 69 S.Ct. 1018, 93 L.Ed. 1282 (1949)], we held that occupational diseases such as silicosis constitute compensable physical injuries under FELA, thereby rejecting the argument that the statute covered only injuries and deaths caused by accidents. See id., 337 U.S. at 181, 69 S.Ct. 1018. Gottshall, 512 U.S. at 542-43, 114 S.Ct. 2396. Although Gottshall characterizes Rogers as holding that a relaxed causation standard applies, Gottshall also reiterates the importance of common-law principles in interpreting the FELA. The Court explained that: [T]he Federal Employers' Liability Act is founded on common-law concepts of negligence and injury, subject to such qualifications as Congress has imported into those terms, [ Urie v. Thompson, 337 U.S. 163, 182, 69 S.Ct. 1018, 93 L.Ed. 1282 (1949)]. Those qualifications, discussed above, are the modification or abrogation of several common-law defenses to liability, including contributory negligence and assumption of risk. See 45 U.S.C. §§ 51, 53-55. Only to the extent of these explicit statutory alterations is FELA an avowed departure from the rules of the common law. Sinkler v. Missouri Pacific R. Co., 356 U.S. 326, 78 S.Ct. 758, 2 L.Ed.2d 799 (1958). Thus, although common-law principles are not necessarily dispositive of questions arising under FELA, unless they are expressly rejected in the text of the statute, they are entitled to great weight in our analysis. Cf. [ Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. Co. v.] Buell , 480 U.S. [557, 568, 107 S.Ct. 1410, 94 L.Ed.2d 563 (1987)]. Because FELA is silent on the issue of negligent infliction of emotional distress, common-law principles must play a significant role in our decision. Gottshall, 512 U.S. at 543-44, 114 S.Ct. 2396 (emphasis added). Thus, in addition to reaffirming explicitly the common law as an important source in interpreting the Act, the Court stopped short of listing proximate causation among those commonlaw principles that the FELA had abrogated. Similarly, our own court never has held, in the wake of Rogers, that the concept of proximate cause has been abandoned in its entirety. Nevertheless, we have employed language that strongly suggests that traditional formulations of proximate cause have no role in FELA cases. [4] For instance, in Lisek v. Norfolk & Western Railway Co., 30 F.3d 823 (7th Cir.1994), we reviewed whether the district court had erred in entering summary judgment for the employer in a FELA case. We stated: The FELA is meant to provide a broad remedial framework for railroad workers and, in light of that purpose, is to be liberally construed in their favor. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. v. Buell, 480 U.S. 557, 562, 107 S.Ct. 1410, 94 L.Ed.2d 563 (1987); Kulavic v. Chicago & Illinois Midland Ry. Co., 1 F.3d 507, 512 (7th Cir.1993). Plaintiffs' burden in a FELA action is therefore significantly lighter than it would be in an ordinary negligence case. In a FELA action, the railroad is liable if the proofs justify with reason the conclusion that employer negligence played any part, even the slightest, in producing the injury .... Harbin v. Burlington N. R.R. Co., 921 F.2d 129, 131 (7th Cir.1990) (quoting Rogers v. Missouri Pac. R.R. Co., 352 U.S. 500, 506, 77 S.Ct. 443, 1 L.Ed.2d 493 (1957)).... Id. at 831-32 (parallel citations omitted; emphasis added). We repeated this language under similar circumstances in Holbrook v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., 414 F.3d 739 (7th Cir.2005): Because it is meant to offer broad remedial relief to railroad workers, a plaintiff's burden when suing under the FELA is significantly lighter than in an ordinary negligence case. Lisek v. Norfolk & Western Ry. Co., 30 F.3d 823, 832 (7th Cir.1994); Harbin v. Burlington Northern R.R., 921 F.2d 129, 131 (7th Cir.1990). Indeed, a railroad will be held liable where employer negligence played any part, even the slightest, in producing the injury. Rogers v. Missouri Pac. R.R. Co., 352 U.S. 500, 506, 77 S.Ct. 443, 1 L.Ed.2d 493 (1957). Holbrook, 414 F.3d at 741-42 (parallel citations omitted). The idea that Rogers relaxed the proximate cause requirement has been echoed by every other court of appeals. Richards v. Consol. Rail Corp., 330 F.3d 428, 433 (6th Cir.2003) (observing that the Supreme Court announced a relaxed test for establishing causation in FELA cases in its landmark decision, Rogers v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Co . ); Hernandez v. Trawler Miss Vertie Mae, Inc., 187 F.3d 432, 436 (4th Cir.1999) (quoting Rogers and noting the relaxed standard of causation under FELA); Nordgren v. Burlington N. R.R. Co., 101 F.3d 1246, 1249 (8th Cir. 1996) (citing Rogers for the proposition that the Court has held that relaxed standards apply under FELA ... for causation); Mullahon v. Union Pac. R.R., 64 F.3d 1358, 1363-64 (9th Cir.1995) (quoting Rogers and describing a relaxed standard of negligence and causation in FELA cases); Hines v. Consol. Rail Corp., 926 F.2d 262, 267 (3d Cir.1991) (distinguishing the case before it from a common-law tort case on the ground that FELA ... has a more lenient standard for determining negligence and causation); Moody v. Maine Cent. R.R. Co., 823 F.2d 693, 695 (1st Cir.1987) (We recognize the considerably relaxed standard of proof in FELA cases.); [5] Brooks v. Washington Terminal Co., 593 F.2d 1285, 1288 (D.C.Cir.1979) (noting the liberality of the FELA causation standard). [6] Some courts of appeals have been more explicit and have stated that the FELA modified or abandoned common-law proximate cause. See Nicholson v. Erie R.R. Co., 253 F.2d 939, 940 (2d Cir.1958) (quoting Rogers and stating that [i]t is true that, to impose liability on the defendant, the negligence need not be the proximate cause of the injury because the FELA has its own rule of causation); Nivens v. St. Louis Sw. Ry. Co., 425 F.2d 114, 118 (5th Cir.1970) (quoting Rogers and holding that the common-law proximate cause standard is modified, and the employee has a less demanding burden of proving causal relationship); Summers v. Missouri Pac. R.R. Sys., 132 F.3d 599, 606 (10th Cir.1997) (During the first half of this century, it was customary for courts to analyze liability under the FELA in terms of proximate causation. However, the Supreme Court definitively abandoned this approach in [ Rogers ]. (internal citations omitted)).