Did you get hurt in a railroad accident and have questions about what to do when injured in a railroad accident? Call our Tampa attorneys now.
1) Damage Coverage If Injured on a Job
If you are injured on a job as a railroad worker you can collect damages for your medical bills, your wage loss and also what we call non-economic damages. Those include pain and suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience, disability, impairment or loss of the ability to enjoy life’s pleasures. Interestingly those damages, the non-economic damages are the damages that an individual not covered by the FELA cannot receive under traditional workers compensation, under the FELA you are allowed to recover a much broader class of damages. If you’re injured as a railroad worker on the job please seek out our law firm to represent you in your FELA claims.
2) Injury Caused by Someone Else
If one of your co-workers plays a part in your injury and they are negligent however slight, it doesn’t matter because you have a claim under the FELA and against your railroad employer. They are responsible for the negligence or the carelessness of you co-worker.
3) Rights You Have As a Railroad Worker
If you are a railroad worker injured on the job you have the right to file a claim against the railroad for injuries suffered while on the job as a result of the negligence of the railroad or even of a co-employee, and that negligence need not be overwhelming. The way the federal employer’s liability act reads is that any negligence however slight brings about a claim against the railroad under the FELA.
4) Not Covered with Workers’ Compensation
As a railroad worker injured on the job you are not eligible for worker’s compensation because there is a federal statute that has been in effect since approximately 1905 called the federal employer’s liability act. This actually provides more benefits to you than workers compensation. Under worker’s compensation an injured individual is normally entitled to recover 2/3 of their wage loss and all of their medical bills. They are not entitled to recover pain and suffering or non-economic damages.
Under the FELA, an injured railroad worker is entitled to receive all of his wage loss, have all of his medical bills paid and have a claim for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience, disability, impairment and loss of the ability to enjoy life’s pleasures. Under the FELA you have much more extensive protection and can file much larger claims than can an individual entitled to worker’s compensation.
Have you or a loved one been involved in a railroad accident and have questions about what to do when injured in a railroad accident? Contact our Tampa Railroad Accident Attorneys for a free legal consultation and case evaluation to get started on your claim.
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