Member and Co-Chair of the Transportation Group T.H. Lyda and Associate Christine R. Hardy successfully obtained a defense verdict for a major Class I railroad client in a week-long jury trial held in Philadelphia. The claim, brought under the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA), involved a machinist welder plaintiff claiming that our client’s negligence caused the onset of arthritis in his lumbar spine and left hand which led to surgery and his ultimate disability. The jury, which only took about an hour to deliberate, dismissed all claims concluding that the railroad provided the plaintiff with a reasonably safe place to work.
Note: The results obtained in a particular case are, of course, always heavily dependent on the facts and the law specific to that case.