Toll Free: 1 800 752 0042

Practice Areas

Firm News

View all

Library

Railroad Accidents, Occupational injuries/diseases

Our ties with the railroad date back to the very founding of the firm. Our founder was Eddie Wilson, who served as a trainman for the Norfolk and Western Railway Company and a UTU union official before receiving his law degree. His experience in the railroads allowed him to bring unique perspectives to his legal practice, including the safety and wage concerns of those who are in the vital business of keeping the trains moving. We have immense trial experience in railroad worker injury, disease, and death claims (including occupational disorders/diseases such as lung, hearing or repetitive stress injuries), train/railroad derailments and wrecks, railroad crossing crashes and Amtrak passenger injuries, and railroad toxic chemical spills. Richard N. Shapiro, one of our attorneys, is the co-author of “Railroad Health & Safety-A Litigator’s Guide,” one of leading treatises on railroad injury law, found in the nation’s law libraries (72 Am. Jur. Trials 1). Also, Richard N. Shapiro and John M. Cooper have served as officers of the American Association for Justice Railroad Section, the largest group of the nation’s trial attorneys. Our firm has collected and indexed over 1,000 depositions in railroad and similar injury cases, hundreds of specific research files, as well as numerous railroad manuals and videos relating specifically to railroad issues.

Our staff includes attorneys that have been selected by the BLET as designated legal counsel, and our lawyer's are well known authorities in the field of railroad FELA and railroad crossing law--several have been and are currently officers of the America Association For Justice, Railroad section.

Our investigators provide valuable assistance in many of our cases, and we credit that to the years of rail experience that they bring to the table. Most have had past employment in the railroad industry, and as a result they not only know how to find crucial pertinent information, but they also are able to relate with our railroad clients in ways that simply wouldn’t occur to an investigator with no prior knowledge of railroading.

It has been our privilege to represent trainmen, brakeman/conductors, engineers, carmen, signalmen, maintenance-of-way-workers, as well as their families and friends on railroad cases or even injury cases unrelated to the rail industry. As a result of our efforts, our firm is well known to thousands of rail workers throughout the southeastern region of the United States.

Should you or a loved one suffer from an injury during the course of your work on the railroad, having an attorney with a unique and thorough understanding of the rail industry can make all the difference. Contact our law offices for a free case assessment today.

Library for Railroad Accidents, Occupational injuries/diseases:

What Not To Do In A Railroad Accident
Description: A list of things not to do in a railroad accident.
NEW PROTECTIONS FROM HARASSMENT AND INTIMIDATION FOR INJURED RAILROAD WORKERS
Description: Congress passed an amendment to the Federal Rail Safety Act in August 2007, intended to protect railroad workers who suffer on-duty injuries from harassment and intimidation when filing accident reports. The law appears at 49 U.S.C. 20109 and covers railroads “engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, a contractor or subcontractor of such a rail carrier, or an officer or employee of such a railroad carrier.”
What Every Railroad Worker Should Know About Diesel Fume Lung Disease and Lung Cancer
Description: Long Term Railroad Diesel Exhaust Fume Exposure Linked to Asthma Lung Disease and Lung Cancers, discussion of regulations, EPA actions, how diesel exhaust harms the lungs.
Practice Tips for F.E.L.A Cumulative Trauma Cases
Prevention of Railroad Lifting and Repetitive Stress Injuries Using Ergonomic Analysis
Description: Railroad injury attorneys explain how ergonomic analysis of lifting, slip, trip and fall injuries helps prevent railroad injuries.
Railroad Personal Injury Lawyer Rebuttal Provides Injured Worker Reality Check–Read Here What Norfolk Southern Does Not Want Injured Railroad Workers To Know
Description: Norfolk Southern Issues “Injured at Work” Brochure
On Railroad Injuries Loaded With Misleading “Advice”

Railroad Personal Injury Lawyer Rebuttal Provides Injured Worker Reality Check–Read Here What Norfolk Southern Does Not Want Injured Railroad Workers To Know
Cumulative Trauma FELA Cases
Description: One of the hot areas in F.E.L.A. occupational illness claims is for worn out parts of the musculoskeletal system caused by railroad workers' exposure over time to the difficult working conditions on the railroad.
Expert Testimony In FELA Cases
Description: A recent settlement by another law firm of a Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) claim in California demonstrates the complicated nature of these railroad worker injury claims as well as the necessity for qualified expert testimony in career ending claims.
Virginia railroad injury lawyers--A short history of railroad injury law in Virginia
Description: Virginia has rich history in railroading and it is historically an area where there are also many railroad injury lawyers. Norfolk & Western Railway Company, now Norfolk Southern, has been based in Norfolk, Virginia for many years and our law office is a mere 20 minutes away.
FELA lawyers challenge Norfolk Southern Safety Award
Description: Every year for the past 18 years the owners of the U.S. Railroads congratulate Norfolk Southern Corporation for injuring, maiming, and killing less of its employees than the other major freight carriers.
Railroad Injury or Diseases, Like Asbestos Disease, Can Fall Under Various Laws
Description: Railroad Injury Or Disease Claims Against Railroads Can Fall Under Various Laws (Including Claims for Cancers, Mesothelioma, Lung Diseases)
What Does the Phrase “Intimidator” Have to Do With Injuries to CSX, Norfolk Southern (NS) & Amtrak Railroad Workers?
Description: The Phrase “Intimidator” and its relationship with Injuries to CSX, Norfolk Southern (NS) & Amtrak Railroad Workers
FELA back injuries to rail workers
Description: A railroad worker with a bad back can’t do his job safely. Many of the FELA cases that I have worked on as a FELA lawyer in Portsmouth, Virginia (VA) involve this central fact.
Railroad worker intimidation and FELA injury claims
Top 10 reasons railroaders and their families should use SCL & A for their automobile accident cases.
Description: Although there are probably more than 10, here are the key reasons that any railroad employee or family member who has a car wreck injury should contact Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis and Appleton, not just any lawyer who claims to do personal injury:
Federal Work Safety Information Useful For F.E.L.A. Cases
A GENERAL REVIEW OF ASBESTOS CLAIMS AFFECTING RAILROAD WORKERS
Description: A General Review Of Railroad Worker Suits Against Railroads for asbestos lung diseases, Including Mesothelioma
Repetitive Stress Claims, How Railroad Injury Law Firm Handles These
Description: What Railroads Knew About Repetitive Stress Injuries That You Didn't
Remote Control Devices Should Come Under the Locomotive Inspection Act
Description: I was recently working on a F.E.L.A. case where a railroad worker got hurt while wearing a remote control device.
Toxic Chlorine Gas Used in Recent Attack in Iraq is the Same Substance Norfolk Southern Spilled in Graniteville, South Carolina.
Description: When doctors treated the injured after Norfolk Southern had a chemical spill after a train derailment in South Carolina, they did not have much experience seeing chlorine injuries because it does not happen that often.
How the Federal Employer's Liability Act (FELA) Protects Railroad Workers
Description: How the Federal Employer's Liability Act (FELA) Protects Railroad Workers is explained by experienced railroad injury lawyers.
Do's & Don'ts if Railroad injury or catastrophe occurs (for spouses):

Case Results for Railroad Accidents, Occupational injuries/diseases:

Railroad-Roadway Crossing Accident - Car Passengers Injured - The firm settled the claims against State Farm/driver for $50,000.00 and $29,000.00 and settled the claims against Norfolk Southern for $32,000.00 and $22,000.00. Each settlement was approved under the infant settlement provisions of Virginia law.
FELA - Confidential Sum
AMTRAK ENGINEER SETTLES WITH AMTRAK AND CSX OVER DERAILMENT - Amtrak Engineer Settles His Injury Claims With Trucking company, Amtrak and CSX Arising From Amtrak Derailment
Locomotive Engine Fire causes Rail Engineer right arm and wrist surgery - The case was settled at mediation for $700,000.00
Shoulder Injury requiring surgery for Locomotive Engineer - The Jacksonville, Florida State Court jury returned a $978,000.00 verdict in favor of TA against the railroad.
Knee Injuries and Low Back Injuries to Railroad Engineer - On the morning of trial, the passenger railroad settled with MM for $350,000.00. The case proceeded to jury verdict against the trucking defendant and a $564,000.00 verdict was returned. (Under Virginia law, a credit in favor of the trucking company was then applied, so that MM's gross recovery as to all parties was $564,000.00).
Rail yard injury - rotator cuff surgeries on conductor - After a five-day trial, the jury reached a verdict of $600,000.00 in favor of B.C.
Locomotive Engineer with Shoulder and Knee Injuries - Several days before court-ordered mediation, the parties arrived at a settlement of $950,000.00.
Heavy lifting injury - ticket agent-clerk - $450,000 settlement (Settlement monies will be used by WG and his family to allow him to retrain for a lighter type of job outside the railroad industry)
Back and Neck Injuries to Rail Conductor due to Derailment, faulty switch - The case was settled during suit for $370,000.00
Railroad Conductor gets back injury due to fall in ballast depression - The case was settled for $900,000
Railroad Conductor Neck Injury and Surgery from a Motor Vehicle Accident - Confidential Settlement Satisfactory to Client.
Rail Conductor receives back injuries as a result of Train-Truck Crossing Collision - A $650,000.00 jury verdict. (Note: the jury verdict was twenty times larger than what the insurer offered just before trial).
Rail Conductor gets Career Ending Injury due to Bad "Drawhead" - Settled for $367,000.00 before trial.
Back Injury to rail conductor operating a "derailler" - The case settled for $333,000.00.

Web Resources for Railroad Accidents, Occupational injuries/diseases:

National Transportation Safety Board
Description: The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent Federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant accidents in the other modes of transportation -- railroad, highway, marine and pipeline -- and issuing safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents.
Mesothelioma Treatment
Description: Useful information on treatment options for mesothelioma.
United Transportation Union
Description: UTU news online.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
Description: Represents railroad engineers and operating employees in the US and Canada.
American Train Dispatchers Department
Description: The American Train Dispatchers Association participates in most of the programs offered through the Union Privilege Benefits Department, AFL-CIO.
Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees
Description: Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen
Description: Labor organization representing 10000 railroad signalmen throughout the United States and into Canada. Headquartered in Mount Prospect, Illinois.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Transportation Communications Union
Description: TCU news online.
Railroad Retirement Board
Description: U.S. Agency in charge of rail workers pension and social security benefits.
Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA)
Description: What every railroad employee and spouse should know about the Federal Employers' Liability Act.
Federal Railroad Administration
Description: A division of the U.S. Department of Transportation the FRA promotes rail transportation and safety.
SEPTA
Description: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
RailServe
Description: Railserve is North America's leading authority on contract rail services.
Railway Productions
Description: Railway Productions features railroad videos dvds books software train collectibles t-shirts hats mugs signs clocks mousepads.
National Cancer Institute
Description: Information about mesothelioma
Radiation and Radioactive Exposures May Have Impacted Railroad Workers
Description: Article
Derailed By Genetic Testing for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Description: Article

Quick Contact

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton, P.C.
1294 Diamond Springs Road
Virginia Beach, VA 23455

Toll Free: (800) 752.0042
Phone: (757) 460-7776
Fax: (757) 460.3428

Directions