Rail Workers & Federal Employers Liability Act Cases
His job with a traveling work crew sometimes took “Dominic” (not his real name) away from home for days or even weeks at a time, but his family accepted that. The railroad paid well and had a competitive benefits package. Some weeks were harder for the family than others, of course, but Dominic was home most weekends. Most of the time, that was enough. Until the week that Dominic didn’t come home at all.
His wife’s first hint of trouble came when he failed to respond to any of the text messages she’d sent him that afternoon. Dominic sometimes was out of touch while he was in rail transit through a remote area, but that day he was on an urban job site. He’d texted her that morning.
When the caller ID showed the corporate office of the railroad, her blood turned to cold: something had happened.
They told her that Dominic had been helping to unload stacked construction materials from a train car that was stopped on a siding near the city rail yard. As he and his colleagues worked, a train on a neighboring track passed through. It wasn’t traveling fast: only about 20 miles per hour. But that was fast enough to be deadly when the train brushed against the stack of materials.
There was barely time for one of the men to cry out in alarm before Dominic and two of his coworkers were buried under tons of concrete and metal. The other two men were hospitalized; Dominic was pronounced dead at the scene from what the coroner would later call “multiple blunt force trauma injuries.”
Before she could even begin to process her grief, Dominic’s widow had more pressing concerns: rent, insurance, utilities, and food. Her husband’s paycheck had covered most of that. Now it was gone. After reviewing the facts of her case, a personal injury attorney told her she would likely get a substantial settlement under the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA), but that it could be months away. How was she to survive while the FELA claim was in process? The attorney advised her to call USClaims.
With pre-settlement funding from USClaims, injured railroad workers and their families will never be at financial risk of having to pay back a high-cost loan if settlement on their FELA claim is delayed for any reason. USClaims gets paid only when the FELA settlement arrives.
Working as a railroad employee is much safer today than it was when FELA was enacted more than a century ago. Dangers do still exist, though, and when they impact you or your family’s ability to make a living, the FELA settlement doesn’t always arrive quickly enough to keep you afloat.
At USClaims, we offer pre-settlement funding, if a case is qualified for pre-settlement funding then we would purchase a portion of the proceeds of the anticipated court judgment or settlement for some cash now. USClaims only gets paid if a case is won or has reached a settlement! Apply now or call us today at 1-877-USCLAIMS to learn more.
