You can recover a wide range of compensation for a brain injury under FELA, including for your medical bills, lost work income, pain and suffering, and more. A railworker FELA claim will allow you to recover a significantly wider range of damages than workers’ compensation would allow.
Brain injuries can have long-term financial and personal consequences. You can discuss your case with a railroad traumatic brain injury lawyer to learn more about your options for financial compensation.
How Does FELA Protect Railworkers With Brain Injuries?
Normally, when a worker is injured while on the job, they file a workers’ compensation claim to pay for their medical bills and lost work income. The downside of workers’ compensation is that employees generally cannot sue their employers for negligence, outside of limited extreme circumstances.
However, there are exceptions for rail workers. The Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) is a federal law that specifically allows rail workers to sue their employers for negligence. If you suffered a brain injury while working on the rail, you can sue your employer for negligence instead of making a workers’ compensation claim.
The benefit of a FELA brain injury claim is that you can recover a wider range of compensation than workers’ compensation alone would allow. You can also recover non-economic damages for pain and suffering under FELA, which workers’ compensation won’t cover.
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Brain Injuries Can Cause Tremendous Losses
A traumatic brain injury can irrevocably change your life, leading to motor, cognitive, and emotional difficulties that pervade every aspect of your existence. Victims with brain injuries may have to make major modifications to their daily routine and can face a lifetime of invasive medical treatment or in-home care.
Brain Injury Compensation You Can Recover Under FELA
If you have suffered a brain injury as a railworker, a lawyer can pursue an injury claim under FELA to recover the following types of financial and non-financial losses.
Medical Expenses
Most importantly, a settlement will cover the cost of medical treatment for your injuries. It will pay for any emergency medical treatment, like stabilization, hospital stays, and surgeries. It will also pay for reasonable future medical expenses, like prescription medication, rehabilitative therapy, specialized medical care, or medical devices.
To recover money for medical expenses, you need to keep a meticulous track of your medical bills. A lawyer can help you organize your medical expenses to ensure you demand an adequate amount.
Lost Work Income
A brain injury settlement can also compensate you for any income you missed out on from being absent from work. This includes your hourly pay/salary, bonuses, tips, commissions, and other types of employee benefits, like vacation, PTO, and sick days.
If your injuries require you to switch careers or work less/stop working entirely, we can pursue compensation for the differences in your pre- and post-injury expected lifetime earnings.
Miscellaneous Injury Expenses
Aside from your medical bills and lost work income, a settlement will cover any other incidental expenses associated with your injuries. This could include the cost of alternative transportation, childcare, and other housekeeping expenses that you incurred as a direct result of your medical condition.
Pain and Suffering
One of the defining features of a FELA railroad brain injury claim is that you can pursue non-economic damages in addition to economic damages. Non-economic damages are compensation for the intangible, psychological losses you sustained, like physical pain and conscious suffering, emotional distress, and mental anguish.
Quality of Life Reductions
A brain injury may limit daily activities or prevent participation in hobbies you once enjoyed. A settlement can compensate you for these differences in life quality and lack of enjoyment.
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How Much Compensation Can I Recover for a Brain Injury Under FELA?
FELA doesn’t place any statutory caps on damages for rail workers, so there is no legal limit to how much money you can recover. Brain injuries cause catastrophic losses, so it’s not unheard of for claims to be valued in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.
However, in practical terms, your compensation will be limited based on several factors, including:
- The severity of your injuries
- The impact on your functioning and quality of life
- Amount of necessary medical treatment
- The degree of pain and suffering you experienced
Your choice of lawyer can also impact the amount of compensation you receive. An experienced lawyer can gather the necessary evidence and work with medical and vocational experts to fully express the scope and severity of your injuries.
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Contact a Railroad Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer at Poolson Oden
Do you have any more questions about compensation you can recover for a brain injury under FELA? If so, contact Poolson Oden online or call today to schedule a free case consultation with a railroad FELA lawyer.
