Doran & Murphy, PLLC

Doran & Murphy has a great deal of legal and trial experience representing workers hurt on the railroad during the course of their employment.  We have won verdicts and settlements for our clients who suffered traumatic injuries in the following situations:

•           A conductor fell from a snow bank during an air brake inspection, herniating a lumbar disc

•           A machinist suffered a knee injury when he tripped on a locomotive

•           A conductor injured his lower back while setting the handbrake on a railroad car

•           An engineer suffered a head injury during a derailment

•           An engineer sustained soft tissue cervical damage when a gondola car struck his locomotive

•           A conductor suffered a knee injury when he slipped on iron ore pellets in the railroad yard

•           A conductor injured after he fell on some oil that was spilled on the locomotive steps

•           A conductor injured his knee during an accident on a locomotive

•           A conductor suffered a knee injury when ballast shifted under his foot

•           A conductor injured while operating a railroad switch

For details on these verdicts and settlement, including amounts, see our Verdicts & Settlements page.

The law is on your side.

For almost 20 years, the law firm of Doran & Murphy, PLLC has been fighting for the rights of the injured.  We have used several statutes in advocating for our railroad worker clients.  Some of the applicable laws protecting railroad workers include:

Federal Employers Liability Act: Congress enacted the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) to help railroad workers seek compensation for injuries sustained by the negligence of their employers.  The FELA requires that railroads provide employees with a reasonably safe place to work.   They must also provide safe equipment, proper tools, adequate training and assistance.  If a railroad fails to take these safety measures, or if an employee is injured through the carelessness of another employee, the railroad is held responsible and an injured worker is entitled to recover not only time or wages lost but is entitled to be paid for all of his medical expenses, pain and suffering and for any permanent injuries.  If a railroad worker is killed, his survivors are entitled to recover all damages which have been suffered.

The FELA is not an absolute liability law.  The fact that you are injured while employed by the railroad does not guarantee recovery either through settlement or through the courts.  However, if you can prove a FELA claim, you are then entitled to compensation.

A railroader is entitled to recover damages from his company under the FELA if the following exists:

1.         The railroad is engaged in any activity in interstate commerce (i.e. it either crosses state lines or handles interstate freight).

2.         The worker is injured as a result of the negligence or carelessness, even in the slightest, of the railroad or any employee of the railroad, or the injury is caused by any defect in the engines, cars, machinery, track or any other equipment of the railroad.

Generally, recovery is available under the FELA for an on-the-job injury of a railroad employee during the course of his duties, including dead-heading or traveling on behalf of the railroad, so long as the railroad failed to provide a safe place to work.

Federal Safety Appliance Act: This law requires railroads to equip their railcars and locomotives with properly working safety appliances, including handbrakes, automatic couplers, secure grab irons, safe sill steps, and efficient power brakes.

Locomotive Inspection Act: This law was created in order to ensure that all locomotives being used are safe without unnecessary danger of personal injury.  When an unsafe locomotive is not immediately removed from usage on the railroad, the results can be catastrophic.  Doran & Murphy is familiar with this law and the destruction that can occur when it is not adhered to.

Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Regulations: The FRA was created in order to issue safety regulations to promote railroad safety.    Doran & Murphy is familiar with the FRA and what regulations they have enacted to ensure the safety of all railroad workers.

Doran & Murphy, PLLC has earned an outstanding reputation for railroad injuries of all types, as well as occupational diseases including cancer and pulmonary diseases from exposure to toxic substances, dusts and fumes (asbestos, sand, coal, diesel exhausts, solvents and welding fumes).

A link has been made between diesel fumes, asbestos, sand dust (silica), solvents and welding fumes exposure and many diseases of the lungs and respiratory system.  In addition, these exposures have been linked to certain types of cancer (i.e. mesothelioma, lung, throat, etc.)  Railroad companies knew of these dangers to their workers at least as far back as the 1930′s but failed to take any action to protect their employees.  The firm has compiled extensive proof of the railroad companies’ negligence by not protecting employees from the known dangers of these exposures.  Doran & Murphy’s “position of strength” negotiation ability is a result of our vast experience.

In fact, other FELA law firms often refer these types of cases to Doran & Murphy because of our stellar reputation at resolving these complicated cases.