Eastern Railroad Discussion > Employee sues CSX over run-in with goose

http://www.wvrecord.com/news/207858-employee-sues-csx-over-run-in-with-goose

Give me a break. I've had a goose give me chase before. $75,000 is a lot to ask for to being bit in the @$$ by a goose. But only one side of the story is told. Did the employee provoke the goose, etc?

The lawyer is the real goose in that suit, looking for a golden egg.

Read the article, while it may sound funny, geese are
territorial creatures, especially around their nests and
young. Very unpredictable and mean, and I wouldn't want
to find out what being "beaked" feels like.

I found that out the hard way while working as an OSP
telecom installer, two chased me back to my company
vehicle when I walked too close to their nest which was
near a customer's office. I was outta there fast!

When I was working the service truck once I had a flock of them attack my truck because I drove too close to where they and their goslings were eating spilled grain.

ernie

Should've taken along a dog. I used to walk my beagle on the Towpath from Bethlehem to Allentown, PA and back, and the geese were freaked out by a little 25lb animal half their size. If I would ride my bike on the same route without my dog, the geese would chase and hiss at my 200lb butt without fear.

Actually, the story sounds like it's been glorified. I'd say the Goose attacked him and he tripped or fell onto some yard equipment and is unable to work due to injuries received... Most likely he was fired as "accident prone" and the company refuses to pay his medical bills, so he's going back at them.

Again, everytime this kind of report is posted, everyone needs a refresher course on FELA law.
There is no "workers comp" on the railroad. You either accept their offer for the injury & lost time, or you have to file the FELA suit. There is no other choice. The nature and extent of the injuries are not noted, and you have to think of how serious things could be, as you are working in an industrial environment with very large objects moving around you.

What does FELA stand for. I know what FMLA is, but I haven't heard of FELA.

After reading the article, it does sound like he might have a case against the employer. Depending on the injuries 75K may or may not be excessive. If he suffered a serious injury as a result of the incident and missed a substantial amount of work then 75K is not really that far out of the the realm of reasonable.

I'm sorry, but $75k for being "goosed" seems a little silly unless he sustained major injuries in the fall. I've been bitten in the several times by geese (usually out 'fanning and getting too close to the nests, as it would seem happened here), and once by a trumpter swan. The geese merely hurt or caused minor tears in the jeans - the swan took out the back of my pants and a chunk of my butt as well. Sure it hurts, but $75k?

One thing is for sure, he'd be constantly harassed by local management should he ever decide to return to work. All of a sudden his record would reflect a career-spanning history of rules violations.

CSX will do anything just to win that damned Harriman Award, that's why Tony 'Vader' Ingram was hired on after being disgraced from the Nazi Southern.


Geese are mean enough, but not after you put a 30.06 round through them ;)

I think that an article mentioning "goose" and "CSX" falls into
the "don't go there" category....

chapmaja Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What does FELA stand for. I know what FMLA is, but
> I haven't heard of FELA.
>
> After reading the article, it does sound like he
> might have a case against the employer. Depending
> on the injuries 75K may or may not be excessive.
> If he suffered a serious injury as a result of the
> incident and missed a substantial amount of work
> then 75K is not really that far out of the the
> realm of reasonable.


FELA stands for the Federal Employees Liability Act. As a previous poster said, it is the substitute for workers' compensation on the railroad. With workers' compensation you get relatively limited benefits (generally only medical care, time loss, and something if you're permanently disabled, partially or totally) simply by showing that you were injured while at work (it's not always quite that simple, but that's the idea). Under FELA your recovery is not limited but you have to show that the railroad was somehow at fault. The statute does deprive the railroad of some defenses that, before FELA, made it very difficult for the employee to win. As with any other non-workers' comp injury, if you don't like what the other side offers you have to sue; when you sue you need to ask for enough to make the other side take notice and get serious about it. In that context a claim for $75 thousand isn't all that big; the likelihood of getting the full amount is relatively limited--and what matters is what you actually get, not what you ask for.

30.06 .....Give me a &@#%ing break!

cpcon

A goose, swan or even a Turkey Vulture is a big bird and they are not only kind of stupid but they
can be mean as hell. I remember a trip on the Conrail River Line in the Iona Island area late at
night when there was a Turkey Vulture in the gauge of the rail and that bird was not going to move
in the face of a moving train, I shut the headlight off and eventually it flew away but not until
we were almost on top of it.
If the railroad was aware or had been notified that there were geese in that yard, they were very
negligent and are responsible for the injuries suffered by the conductor. I do not think $75,000
is very much in a case like this one.
Sometimes smaller birds than this can also be quite mean, the state bird of Florida is the
Mockinbird which although not particularly big can be quite fierce if you happen to get too close
to its nest. I had one of these things dive bomb me at my condo here and the only thing that drove
it away was a folded newspaper that I used to defend myself. Lucky for me the bird had second
thoughts.
It is the responsibility of the railroad to make that yard a safe place to work and if that means
getting ride of the birds, they should have done it.
Noel Weaver

LOL. Yeah, I had a Turkey Vulture like that one time. I took him to New Castle as sort of a muffler for the knuckle. I really should have sawed the foot off as a charm.

retengr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> If the railroad was aware or had been notified
> that there were geese in that yard, they were
> very > negligent and are responsible for the injuries
> suffered by the conductor. I do not think
> $75,000 is very much in a case like this one.

That right there is the tale of the tape, your employer is responsible to ensure you have a safe working environment. The railroads spend so much time harassing employees about the littlest B/S safety issues, such as holding your pencil safely, not backing into parking spaces, etc.

If they were notified about the geese encroaching on the area this guy was working, and they blew it off, they deserve to pay for that negligence. 75,000 is chump change compared to what this guy may have lost while he was out of work recuperating from injuries, if he even went back to work. The 5,000 the railroad could have paid to have professional animal control experts come out and relocate the nest will now seem like chump change to the FELA suit.

Spend a dollar to save a dime. . . .

Goose attacks? I thought that's what steel-toe boots were for. Punt the darn thing next time!

Absolutely...I'm not a cruel person, but isn't this him or me? Punting is a good option and by the way, how did a goose nest in an active rail yard? THAT part seems a little suspicious. More likely under a car looking for grain from a leaking car.

The article states that the plaintiff knew the goose was in the area, but doesn't make mention that it had been reported to CSX.

I've never been bit by a goose, but I somehow doubt that I would be off for any extended period of time if I had. I'd probably be too ashamed to admit that I couldn't stop a stupid goose from attacking.

Practice Safe CSX