Reconsidering Rogers: Re-Examining Causation Under the Federal Employers' Liability Act

Jonathan Keim

Abstract

The Supreme Court will soon determine whether the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), which provides railroad employees with quasi-common law remedies for injuries suffered on the job, requires a plaintiff to show that her injury was proximately caused by railroad negligence. In 1957, in Rogers v. Missouri Pacific R. Co., the Supreme Court reversed almost 50 years of case law requiring proof of proximate causation. Now, more than 50 years after that, the question has returned to the Supreme Court. This article summarizes the history of railroad injuries and recovery under the FELA, reviews the pre- and post-Rogers case law, and proposes an alternative causation standard tailored to the railroad environment. The standard, dubbed “foreseeable control,” focuses the inquiry on the railroad’s ability to provide a safe environment, promoting worker safety and limiting liability to situations where a railroad’s careful attention could have prevented the injury.