You may already be frustrated that you were involved in a workplace accident that left you seriously injured. But this feeling may intensify when your railroad company employer belittles your experience by saying you were acting “clumsily,” and their insurer sides with them so that they can reduce or avoid paying your compensation. While nobody is perfect, and it may be natural to lose your footing and trip sometimes, you may know for certain that this excuse is irrelevant to this specific event you are referring to. With all that being said, please continue reading to learn how to prove that your railroad accident did not come about due to your sheer clumsiness and how one of the experienced railroad slip and fall lawyers from Hildebrand McLeod & Nelson LLP can help you still recover something from your case.
How do I prove my railroad accident was not just my own clumsiness?
Simply put, to dismiss the idea that your railroad accident was due to you being careless, you must show that your railroad company employer was acting negligently. This can likely be established by exposing the railroad’s unsafe working conditions.
For example, as a conductor, you may commonly move between train cars. But despite paying careful attention to your walking at this time, your judgment may be inhibited by external factors like uneven surfaces and poor lighting.
In another example, as an engineer or brake operator, you may frequently climb on and off locomotive cabs. You may be conscious about where you place your footing, but you may not be able to detect a slippery step or platform that compromises your balance.
Or, you may not have been administered adequate footwear with proper gripping to prevent such slipping. Lastly, you may not have been provided enough training sessions to understand how to climb these structures safely.
Does FELA allow me to recover anything, even if I was partially clumsy?
You may admit to yourself that you could have better navigated around an uneven or wet surface, for instance. Even still, you may believe that this potentially hazardous condition should not have existed in your workplace in the first place. This may be enough confidence to carry you through filing your FELA claim.
Of note, FELA uses a comparative negligence system. This means that, as an injured railroad worker, you may still be eligible to recover damages even if you were deemed partially clumsy in your accident event. In this case, though, your total financial payout may be reduced by your proportion of assigned fault.
Of course, you may want to do everything in your power to prove that your railroad company employer’s negligence outweighed your clumsiness. This may be accomplished through your coworker’s witness statements that confirm the existence of the dangerous condition. And also, past reported safety violations and prior complaints regarding the hazard.
There is no shame in asking for help, especially when you are dealing with something as serious as a legal matter that could affect your physical, emotional, and financial well-being. So please retain legal assistance from one of the skilled FELA lawyers from Hildebrand McLeod & Nelson LLP. We will happily lend a hand.
