Can you sue CSX for an on-the-job injury?
Yes. If you work for CSX Transportation and were hurt on the job, your claim is brought under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA), not a state workers' compensation system. CSX’s annual report says that "work-related injuries for CSXT employees are primarily subject to the Federal Employers' Liability Act." In most cases you have three years from the injury to file suit, and 180 days to file a complaint if CSX retaliates against you for reporting it.
FELA makes a railroad liable when an employee’s injury results "in whole or in part" from the negligence of its officers, agents or employees, or from a defect in its cars, engines, appliances, track or other equipment due to its negligence (45 U.S.C. § 51). Unlike workers' compensation, it requires proof of negligence, and a jury decides the damages. If you share some of the fault, your recovery is reduced by your share but not barred, and there is no reduction where CSX’s violation of a safety statute contributed to the injury (45 U.S.C. § 53).
Two more rules work in your favor. CSX cannot defend by arguing you assumed the risks of a dangerous job when its negligence played a part in the injury (45 U.S.C. § 54). And any contract, rule or device meant to exempt the railroad from FELA liability is void, although the railroad may set off certain amounts it paid toward insurance or benefits for the same injury (45 U.S.C. § 55).
CSX runs about 20,000 route miles in 26 states, the District of Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, with about 23,000 employees, some 16,900 of them union members. That includes about 698 route miles in Illinois and two of its busiest intermodal terminals in Chicago. Bedford Park Intermodal Terminal handled 894,084 units in 2025, more than any CSX terminal but one, and the Chicago 59th Street terminal handled 321,303. CSX is also Amtrak’s third-largest host railroad, so Amtrak trains run on CSX track every day. Our FELA railroad injury page explains how these claims work.
Why does CSX v. McBride matter to every railroader?
Because it is the case that keeps FELA’s causation standard low, and CSX is the railroad that tried to raise it. McBride was a CSX locomotive engineer who suffered a debilitating hand injury while switching cars. He alleged that CSX required him to use unsafe switching equipment and failed to train him to operate it. The trial judge told the jury that CSX caused or contributed to the injury if its negligence played a part, no matter how small, in bringing it about. The jury found for McBride.
CSX appealed. It argued that the jury should have been told McBride had to prove "proximate cause," the stricter standard used in ordinary injury lawsuits, which CSX defined as a direct relation between the negligence and the injury. In 2011 the Supreme Court rejected that argument. It held that FELA does not incorporate common-law proximate cause, and that the proper instruction simply tracks the words Congress used. The railroad caused or contributed to the injury if its negligence played any part, even a small one. The Court tied this to FELA’s "humanitarian" and remedial purpose and to its 1957 decision in Rogers v. Missouri Pacific.
That standard now applies in every FELA case against every railroad. It does not make causation automatic. You still have to prove the railroad was negligent, and courts still require evidence connecting your specific injury to the work, as the Fifth Circuit held in reversing a verdict in Huffman v. Union Pacific (2012). But it means a railroad cannot escape responsibility because something else also contributed. Our article on FRA regulations in railroad injury claims looks at how McBride plays out alongside federal safety rules.
What happens after you report an injury to CSX?
Railroad rules generally require a prompt injury report, and federal law protects you for making it. The report, the claim agent and the medical department are where the railroad begins building its file on your claim.
The injury report
Write down what happened and every part of your body that hurts. Name the equipment, the location and anyone who saw it, and keep a copy. An incomplete report can be used later to suggest the injury came from somewhere else.
The claim agent
A CSX claim representative may reach out within days, asking for a recorded statement, medical authorizations or an early settlement. The claim agent works for CSX. In most cases you can ask to speak with a lawyer before giving a recorded statement, and you should never sign a release before you know how badly you are hurt. A release generally ends the claim. Our article on the lies railroad claim agents tell shows why.
The company doctor
CSX’s medical staff work for CSX. The Federal Railroad Safety Act bars the railroad from denying, delaying or interfering with your medical or first aid treatment, requires it to promptly arrange transport to the nearest appropriate hospital if you ask, and bars discipline for following your treating physician’s orders (49 U.S.C. § 20109(c)). Coworkers who witnessed the accident may also speak with you freely. A railroad rule meant to stop them is void, and disciplining them for it is a crime (45 U.S.C. § 60).
In the first days after an injury on CSX, a few steps protect your claim.
- Get medical care, and tell every provider that the injury happened at work.
- Write down the names of everyone who saw it or came to the scene.
- If you can do it safely, photograph the location, the equipment and its car or unit numbers, and your injuries.
- Keep copies of the injury report, medical records, pay stubs and any discipline notice.
- Do not sign a release or accept a settlement before you have talked to a lawyer.
Can CSX discipline you for reporting it?
No. The FRSA prohibits a railroad from discharging, demoting, suspending, reprimanding or otherwise discriminating against an employee for notifying it of a work-related injury or illness (49 U.S.C. § 20109(a)(4)). It also protects reporting a hazardous safety condition and refusing to violate a federal safety rule. If you are charged or pulled out of service after an injury report, file a complaint with the Secretary of Labor, through OSHA, within 180 days (49 U.S.C. § 20109(d)(2)(A)(ii)). If there is no final decision within 210 days and the delay is not your fault, you can take the case to federal court before a jury. See our FRSA railroad whistleblower page, and Hurt, Broke and Fired for how discipline is used after injuries.
If you win an FRSA case, the law provides reinstatement with the seniority you would have had, back pay with interest, and compensatory damages including litigation costs and reasonable attorney fees. It also allows punitive damages of up to $250,000 (49 U.S.C. § 20109(e)).
Where can you file a FELA case against CSX?
Usually in the state or federal district where you were hurt, or where CSX is at home. FELA allows suit in federal court where the railroad resides, where the injury happened, or where it is doing business when suit is filed, and state courts share jurisdiction (45 U.S.C. § 56). After BNSF Railway Co. v. Tyrrell (2017), doing business in a state is not enough by itself for that state’s courts to hear a claim that arose elsewhere. The railroad must be at home there, meaning its state of incorporation or principal place of business. For CSX, headquartered in Jacksonville, that points to Florida and its state of incorporation. Mallory v. Norfolk Southern (2023) may add states whose registration laws treat doing business as consent to suit. We will review your options with you before anything is filed. If you were hurt at Bedford Park or 59th Street, the federal court in Chicago or an Illinois state court is usually open to you.
How long do you have to file against CSX?
Three years from the day the claim accrued (45 U.S.C. § 56). For a single accident, that is usually the day it happened. For hearing loss, cumulative trauma or an exposure illness, the clock generally starts when you knew, or should have known, that you were hurt and that work was a cause, even before a formal diagnosis. Talks with a claim agent generally do not stop the clock, so a claim that is still being discussed as the deadline nears needs a lawyer’s attention right away. Our guide to the FELA statute of limitations covers the details. FRSA retaliation complaints carry a separate 180-day limit.
