Charles A. Ries, III v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation, A/K/A Amtrak National Railroad Passenger Corporation

960 F.2d 1156
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedApril 27, 1992
Docket91-1495
StatusPublished
Cited by83 cases

This text of 960 F.2d 1156 (Charles A. Ries, III v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation, A/K/A Amtrak National Railroad Passenger Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Charles A. Ries, III v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation, A/K/A Amtrak National Railroad Passenger Corporation, 960 F.2d 1156 (3d Cir. 1992).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

COWEN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal arises from a suit by Charles Ries against the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) for damages resulting from an injury to his ankle. This case involves a modest amount of money, but an important issue of law. Specifically, we are asked to consider whether a violation of an Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) regulation establishes negligence per se and bars consideration of an employee’s contributory negligence under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA). Amtrak appeals from an adverse judgment in the district court. We will reverse.

I.

On July 2, 1989, Charles Ries severely injured his right ankle at home, requiring an emergency trip to the hospital. He was discharged on crutches that same day for this non-work-related injury. Ries was employed as a machinist for Amtrak, and he reported to work on July 6, 1989 at Amtrak’s main service building, which is adjacent to the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. On the morning of July 6, Ries was descending a seven-step concrete stairway from a loading platform to the ground at the service building, when he slipped on the bottom step,1 which was six inches off the ground, and turned his foot on a stone. The metal slip-resistant tread on the bottom step of the stairway was missing, the metal nosing had been chipped away, and the remaining concrete was deteriorated and rounded off three inches. In the course of his fall, Ries injured his right ankle — the same ankle he had hurt four days earlier at home.

A subsequent x-ray revealed no break and an air cast was applied to his right ankle. The doctor who treated Ries later testified that, in his opinion, the ankle injury was “an aggravation of a preexisting calcaneal fracture.” App. at 161 (emphasis added). Ries also suffered minor injuries to his right shoulder and lower back. He was unable to return to work until June 6, 1990, eleven months after the injury. Ries’ injuries required fourteen visits to the doctor and thirty-five physical therapy treatments between July 1989 and January 1991.

Ries brought suit in federal district court under the FELA, 45 U.S.C. §§ 51-60 (1988). As evidence of Amtrak’s negligence, he introduced over Amtrak’s objection an administrative regulation promulgated under OSHA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 651-78 (1988). The regulation in existence at the time of Ries’ fall provided the following specifications for fixed industrial stairs:

Stair treads. [Tjread and the top landing of a stairway, where risers are used, should have a nose which extends one-half inch to 1 inch beyond the face of the lower riser. Noses should have an even leading edge. All treads shall be reason[1158]*1158ably slip-resistant and the nosings shall be of non-slip finish.

29 C.F.R. § 1910.24(f) (1990). No witness testified about the OSHA regulation, nor was there any evidence that Amtrak had been cited administratively for violating the regulation. However, the district court charged the jury that if this OSHA regulation was violated, Amtrak would be liable under the FELA, even if the violation of the regulation was only slightly responsible for Ries’ injury. In other words, Amtrak’s violation of the OSHA regulation would constitute negligence per se under the FELA. The district court also instructed the jury that Ries’ contributory negligence would not bar a full recovery of damages if the regulation was violated.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of Ries for $37,130. Although the jury found Ries to be seventy-five percent responsible for injury and Amtrak only twenty-five percent responsible, Amtrak was required to pay not merely its share of the damages ($9,282.50) but the entire amount of the verdict, since the jury found that Amtrak had violated the OSHA regulation pertaining to stair treads. Amtrak appeals to this court under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1988).

II.

Amtrak does not dispute its violation of the OSHA regulation pertaining to stair treads, nor does it dispute the admission of the OSHA violation as evidence of its negligence. Rather, Amtrak contests the district court’s instructions that an employer’s violation of an OSHA regulation constitutes negligence per se and bars contributory negligence under the FELA. To resolve this issue, we must first examine the scope of the FELA and OSHA, respectively. Then we will examine the interaction of the two statutes. Because this appeal involves the construction of federal statutes, our review is plenary. Dawson v. United States, 894 F.2d 70, 72 (3d Cir.1990).

A.

The Federal Employers’ Liability Act was enacted in 19082 to address the growing number of work-related injuries in the railroad industry, which even today is one of the most dangerous industries in this country. Jerry J. Phillips, An Evaluation of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 25 San Diego L.Rev. 49, 50-52 (1988). The FELA, like other industrial safety statutes, was an attempt to require the railroad industry to bear the costs for the inevitable deaths and injuries of employees which comprised the “human overhead” of business. Kernan v. American Dredging Co., 355 U.S. 426, 431, 78 S.Ct. 394, 397, 2 L.Ed.2d 382 (1958). See also Wilkerson v. McCarthy, 336 U.S. 53, 68, 69 S.Ct. 413, 420, 93 L.Ed. 497 (1949) (Douglas, J., concurring) (“The Federal Employers’ Liability Act was designed to put on the railroad industry some of the cost for the legs, eyes, arms and lives which it consumed in its operations.”). Congress intended to establish a dependable tort remedy for railroad workers which would not only compensate them for their injuries but also encourage safety within the industry. Phillips, supra, at 50-51. In enacting the FELA, “Congress intended the creation of no static remedy, but one which would be developed and enlarged to meet changing conditions and changing concepts of industry’s duty toward its workers.” Kernan, 355 U.S. at 432, 78 S.Ct. at 398. See also Rogers v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 948 F.2d 858, 862 (2d Cir.1991); Lewy v. Southern Pacific Transp. Co., 799 F.2d 1281, 1287-88 (9th Cir.1986); Green v. River Terminal Ry. Co., 763 F.2d 805, 806 (6th Cir.1985) (all suggesting liberal construction of the FELA in order to facilitate recovery).

Liability under the FELA is predicated on the negligence of the employer. Under traditional principles of tort law, “[t]he unexcused violation of a legislative enactment or an administrative regulation which is adopted by the court as defining the standard of conduct of a reasonable man, is negligence in itself,” or in more common [1159]*1159usage, negligence per se.3 Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 288B(1) (1965).

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960 F.2d 1156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/charles-a-ries-iii-v-national-railroad-passenger-corporation-aka-ca3-1992.