Client: New York Susquehanna & Western Railway
Court: Appellate Division
Trial Attorney: Christopher J. Hoare, Esq. and Laura M. Danks, Esq.
**Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances**
Matter Caption: Stephans v. New York, Susquehanna & Western Rwy.
This matter involved a rail worker who was diagnosed with bladder cancer. As rail workers are not subject to workers’ compensation, claims for workplace injuries are adjudicated under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), which provides a three-year statute of limitations commencing when the worker “knows or has reason to know of a connection between his railroad employment and his injury.”
Plaintiff’s treating cancer doctors told him that his cancer was probably related to his 26 years working on the railroad. Plaintiff immediately hired a lawyer to sue our client for his bladder cancer, but his attorney did not file his initial FELA complaint until a year after the three-year statute of limitations expired.
After the plaintiff’s deposition, our firm filed a Motion for Summary Judgment which the trial court granted. Plaintiff appealed the dismissal to the Appellate Court, which affirmed the grant of our original Motion for Summary Judgment.
