« Supreme Court takes on FLSA case | Main | Union dues and the 1st amendment »
Norfolk Southern v. Sorrell
January 10, 2007 by Ross Runkel at LawMemo
In a FELA case the employer's negligence and the employee's contributory negligence are judged by the same causation standard. The Supreme Court said so today.
Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Sorrell (US Supreme Court 01/10/2007)
And what is that standard? The Court refused to say.
In an otherwise boring case, the Court spent three pages explaining that Norfolk Railway tried to "smuggle" in a new issue that was not covered by the grant of certiorari.
Norfolk petitioned the Court to decide whether the same standard of negligence must apply to both plaintiffs and defendants. Once at the Court, Norfolk pushed for a decision on what that standard should be.
Unimpressed, the Court said "Norfolk is not only enlarging the question presented, but taking a position on that enlarged question that is contrary to the position it litigated below." Ouch. Don't do that.
The certiorari petition presented a more limited question, and that is the question the Court decided. No more.
Four Justices wrote two concurring opinions expressing the view that the standard is well settled by previous decisions.
My view: Correct decision. As I said elsewhere, "I can't see why any of the Justices would disagree" that the standards are the same. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Sorrell - preview and prediction.
EEOC | NLRB | Supreme Court | Employment Law Blog | Arbitration Blog | Employment Law 101
