The FELA attorneys at Peter Higgins Law were presented with the following repetitive trauma case, also known as a “wear-out” case. Repetitive trauma means that an injury does not occur at one moment in time, eg. where a pedestrian is hit by a car, but occurs gradually over time, the result of performing certain physical activities day after day for years. Our client was a 28-year-old woman when she started working for BNSF Railway in May 1995 as a “Hostler Helper”. This job required her to climb up and down train locomotives on a daily basis, sometimes more than 30 times a day, and often times carrying things in her left hand while she climbed using her right hand to help pull herself up.
After 11 years of doing this, her right shoulder basically just wore out, forcing our client to stop working in December 2005. Over the next three years, she underwent 2 arthroscopic surgical procedures on her right shoulder, hundreds of physical therapy visits, dozens of pain killer injections, and was seen by many different specialists to try help resolve her pain. After five years she had finally recovered sufficiently to attempt a return-to-work in her former job as a Hostler Helper.
Peter Higgins Law' FELA injury lawyers took depositions of our client’s co-workers and supervisors in order to establish the manner in which the railroad trained our client to climb up the locomotive ladder multiple times per day was not reasonably safe. We also retained an ergonomic safety expert to go to the railroad yard where our client worked, watch her perform several of her job tasks and then do an analysis of whether the tasks she performed were ergonomically safe. He concluded that that task of climbing up the locomotive ladder was dangerous, because “it was like doing a one-handed chin-up”. Peter Higgins Law' FELA injury attorneys also took depositions of the surgeons and other specialists involved in our client’s care and treatment, who all concluded that it was her work at the railroad that led to our client’s shoulder injuries.
The FELA attorneys at Peter Higgins Law made several attempts to settle the case prior to trial. However, the railroad never offered more than $125,000.00. After four days of trial, after we had submitted into evidence substantial facts showing the railroad's negligence and our client's injuries, the railroad offered $435,000.00 in settlement, a fair and satisfactory outcome of this railroad injury case.
Every railroad claim is different due to the nature of the injury and type of medical treatment required, but if you think your situation is similar, it's important to find proper representation. Peter Higgins Law has an experienced team of lawyers ready to assist.