Typically, federal statutes govern a claim for workers' compensation. Under the Federal Employer’s Liability Act (FELA), any railroad that engages in interstate commerce or commerce between a state and any foreign nation is liable for recovery for the wrongful death of the decedent who is killed while employed in the transporting of commodities by the carrier. Liability under the FELA arises, if the death results in whole or in part from either of the following conduct:
• the negligence of the carrier’s officers, agents, or employees; or
• any defect or insufficiency, due to the carrier’s negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment.

The FELA will expressly impose liability and award damages for injury or death against a railroad employer, if the employer was either wholly or partially negligent in decedent’s death. The FELA considers any person as an employee, if the duties of the person were in furtherance of interstate or foreign commerce or if the employee in any way directly or closely and substantially affects the transportation of commodities between states or between a state and a foreign nation. However, the FELA provides no exclusive remedy for the survivors in an action of a negligent injury or death of an employee who is working in furtherance of the interstate business of a railroad. There are three classes of beneficiaries under FELA. Damages may be recovered by a decedent’s surviving spouse and children, but if there are none, then damages are paid to the employee’s parents. However, if the decedent had no surviving parents, then the damages are paid to the next of kin who were dependent on the decedent. The employer may only be liable to one of these three classes of relatives under the FELA. On the other hand, an adult child of the decedent will be entitled to recover as a next of kin, but only upon a showing of dependency on the decedent.

If your cause of action arises from a claim covered by the FELA, you need a West Palm Beach attorney that can handle the complexities of your case. Call Sharmin & Sharmin P.A. 1-800-74-trial.