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The Supreme Court granted certiorari 5/15/06 to determine whether the causation standard for employee contributory negligence under the Federal Employers Liability Act (“FELA”) differs from the causation standard for railroad negligence. Under FELA, 45 U.S.C. §§ 51-60, state courts have jurisdiction over personal injury claims brought by railroad employees against their employer, but those courts must apply the common law “as established and applied in the federal courts.” The trial court in the case below applied the jury instructions approved by the Missouri Supreme Court, which provide different substantive standards of causation for determining a defendant-railroad’s negligence than a plaintiff-employee’s contributory negligence. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed solely on the ground that the jury instructions approved by the Missouri Supreme Court were binding. In contrast, the Third, Fifth, and Sixth Circuits and the Oregon Supreme Court all have held that FELA’s causation standards for negligence and contributory negligence are the same. Likewise, the model jury instructions in the Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits also employ the same standard for negligence and contributory negligence. This case is important to any individual or business that may be subject to litigation under FELA.

On Jan. 10, 2007, the Court unanimously decided that FELA requires Missouri to use the same causation standards for negligence and contributory negligence. Since there is no express statutory basis for applying different standards, the common law rule of a uniform causation standard applies. What that standard is has been left to further litigation.