Opinion ID: 556426
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: summary judgment standard under fela

Text: 18 This case differs from Paoli because Hines sued under FELA which has a more lenient standard for determining negligence and causation. Under FELA, every railroad engaging in interstate commerce is liable in damages to any employee injured during his employment when 19 such injury ... result[ed] in whole or in part from the [railroad's] negligence ... 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. 20 45 U.S.C. Sec. 51 (1988). 21 FELA was passed in 1908 in an effort to provide a tort compensation system for railroad workers who, at that time, experienced among the highest accident rates in United States history. Schwartz & Mahshigian, The Federal Employers' Liability Act, a Bane for Workers, a Bust for Railroads, a Boon for Lawyers, 23 San Diego L.Rev. 1, 3 (1986). In a series of decisions starting with Rogers v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Co., 352 U.S. 500, 77 S.Ct. 443, 1 L.Ed.2d 493 (1957) and then followed, most notably, by Gallick v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 372 U.S. 108, 83 S.Ct. 659, 9 L.Ed.2d 618 (1963), the Supreme Court broadened FELA's standards of fault and proximate cause. See Phillips, An Evaluation of the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 25 San Diego L.Rev. 49, 51 (1988). In Rogers, the Court held that the test of a [FELA] 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. Rogers, 352 U.S. at 506, 77 S.Ct. at 448. Moreover, the Court held that it was irrelevant whether the jury could also with reason, on grounds of probability, attribute the result to other causes, including the employee's contributory negligence. Id. (footnote omitted). Similarly, in Gallick, the Court stated that there can be a jury question of causation when there is evidence that any employer negligence caused the harm, or, more precisely, enough to justify a jury's determination that employer negligence had played any role in producing the harm. Gallick, 372 U.S. at 116, 83 S.Ct. at 664. 22 Reasonable foreseeability of harm is an essential ingredient of FELA cases. Gallick, 372 U.S. at 117, 83 S.Ct. at 665. However, the Gallick Court adopted a broad interpretation. The Court held that regardless of whether the railroad could have foreseen the employee's injury (amputation of both legs) that appeared to result from an infectious insect bite, the jury's finding that the railroad was negligent in maintaining a stagnant and infested pool of water that attracted insects was sufficient to satisfy the foreseeability requirement. Id. at 109-13, 83 S.Ct. at 661-63. In turn, the question of whether or not the insect was from or had been attracted by the pool of stagnant water was answered by plaintiff's testimony that he had seen similar types of insects in the pool. Id. at 113, 83 S.Ct. at 663. 23 Medical witnesses in Gallick also testified that such pools attracted and breed insects. Id. However, none of the doctors who treated the plaintiff could explain the etiology of his amputation, although some of them said that it was secondary to an insect bite. Id. at 109-10, 83 S.Ct. at 661-62. This kind of circumstantial evidence was held to be sufficient to support a causal inference. Id. at 117-22, 83 S.Ct. at 665-68. The results of Rogers, Gallick, and subsequent decisions, then, have led to the conclusion that the Supreme Court has applied a broad interpretation of causation under FELA. 24 Similarly, in Pehowic v. Erie Lackawanna R.R., 430 F.2d 697 (3d Cir.1970), we stated that a FELA plaintiff need only present a minimum amount of evidence in order to defeat a summary judgment motion. [A] trial court is justified in withdrawing ... issue[s] from the jury's consideration only in those extremely rare instances where there is a zero probability either of employer negligence or that any such negligence contributed to the injury of an employee. Id. at 699-700. See also Eckert v. Aliquippa & Southern R.R., 828 F.2d 183, 187 (3d Cir.1987) (holding that, under Pehowic 's zero probability test, the district court judgment should be reversed and remanded so that the Jones Act plaintiff could introduce evidence); Gans v. Mundy, 762 F.2d 338, 343-44 (3d Cir.1985) (citing Pehowic test for determining liability under FELA); Southard v. Independent Towing Co., 453 F.2d 1115, 1118 (3d Cir.1971) (citing Pehowic test for determining liability in a Jones Act case). Notably, in Conrail's reference to our perspective on excluding evidence under FELA, Conrail refers only to Third Circuit cases that preceded the Pehowic zero probability test. See Brief for Appellee at 37. 25 The concept of causation under FELA is also broadly interpreted. For example, the injury need not be an immediate result of an accident. See, e.g., Urie v. Thompson, 337 U.S. 163, 187, 69 S.Ct. 1018, 1033, 93 L.Ed. 1282 (1949) (allowing silicosis, caused by the inhalation of silica dust over a period of thirty years, to be compensable under FELA). 26 Moreover, a medical expert can testify that there was more than one potential cause of a plaintiff's condition. In Sentilles v. Inter-Caribbean Shipping Corp., 361 U.S. 107, 80 S.Ct. 173, 4 L.Ed.2d 142 (1959), for example, a seaman brought suit under the Jones Act (which specifically incorporates FELA) seeking damages for a tubercular illness that he claimed was caused by an accident that activated or aggravated a latent tubercular condition. None of the three medical witnesses testified that the accident in fact caused the illness. The first witness testified that the tuberculosis might be a consequence of the accident. The second witness stated that the accident and the plaintiff's pre-existing diabetic condition most likely aggravated the tuberculosis, although he could not determine which of the two was more responsible. The third witness, who had not personally examined the plaintiff, suggested that the accident probably aggravated the plaintiff's condition, although he would not say definitely. Id. at 109, 80 S.Ct. at 174. 27 Despite this lack of medical unanimity over the particular cause of the illness, the Court concluded that the differences in testimony did not impair the jury's ability to draw causal inferences. Furthermore, the Court recognized the general reluctance among experts to state that a trauma was the cause of a disease. Id. at 109 & n. 2, 80 S.Ct. at 175 & n. 2. As the Court explained, [t]he matter does not turn on the use of a particular form of words by the physicians in giving their testimony, since it is the task of the jury and not the medical witnesses to make a legal determination regarding causation. Id. at 109, 80 S.Ct. at 175. 28 We agree with Hines that the standard under FELA can significantly influence a determination of the admissibility of Shubin's testimony. By enacting FELA, Congress desired to secure jury determinations in a larger proportion of cases than would be true of ordinary common law actions. Boeing Co. v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365, 371 (5th Cir.1969) (en banc). Indeed, jury determinations were intended to be part of the FELA remedy. Atlantic & Gulf Stevedores, Inc. v. Ellerman Lines, 369 U.S. 355, 360, 82 S.Ct. 780, 7, 7 L.Ed.2d 798 (1962).