Railroad Workplace Injuries • Lack of Ergonomics Program • FELA
Buttaccio v. Am. Premier Underwriters Inc., PICS Case No. 16-1059 (C.P. Philadelphia July 26, 2016) Butchart, J. (13 pages).
A jury found in favor of a railroad employee who suffered injury as a result of physical workplace stressors. In the context of a plentitude of similar injuries, the employer should have known there was a problem and moved to address it, but did not. Defendants’ attempts to compel a new trial on the basis of error in allowing plaintiff’s expert to testify, denial of their expert’s testimony on hereditary factors, and the existence of “inflammatory statements” preventing a fair trial all failed. The court found no error or abuse of discretion in the trial court’s ruling, and recommended the judgment be affirmed.
