The Montana Supreme Court has ruled that injured railroad workers can file lawsuits against their employers in the state, even if their injuries did not occur here and they are not residents.The justices, in a 6-1 ruling on Tuesday, said Congress granted railroad workers special protections nearly a century ago under the Federal Employers' Liability Act. They say the law allows injured workers to sue BNSF Railway wherever the Texas company does business.
The opinion written by Justice James Shea says a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court decision rejecting a lawsuit filed in California by plaintiffs from Argentina against the German corporation Daimler does not undo those protections Congress granted to railroad workers in 1908.
Justice Laurie McKinnon dissented with the majority opinion. She says the Daimler case should apply to BNSF.
