Norfolk Southern injury lawyers for railroaders hurt on the job.

Can you sue Norfolk Southern for an on-the-job injury?

Yes. If you work for Norfolk Southern Railway, the Atlanta-based freight railroad, and you were hurt on the job, your claim falls under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA), not state workers' compensation. Norfolk Southern’s annual report says that "job-related personal injury and occupational claims are subject to the Federal Employer’s Liability Act (FELA)." In most cases you have three years to file suit, and 180 days to file a complaint if the railroad retaliates against you for reporting the injury.

FELA holds a railroad liable for an employee’s injury that results "in whole or in part" from the negligence of its officers, agents or employees, or from a negligent defect in its cars, engines, track or other equipment (45 U.S.C. § 51). You must prove negligence, but the standard of causation is relaxed. Under CSX Transportation v. McBride (2011), it is enough that the railroad’s negligence played a part, no matter how small, in bringing about the injury. Your own share of fault reduces damages without barring the claim, and does not reduce them at all where the railroad’s violation of a safety statute contributed (45 U.S.C. § 53).

Two more rules work in your favor. Norfolk Southern 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).

Norfolk Southern runs about 19,100 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, with 19,300 employees at the end of 2025, about 80 percent of them covered by collective bargaining. Its heaviest corridors include New York to Chicago and Chicago to Macon, Georgia. Its crafts range from maintenance of way, signals and bridges and buildings to carmen, electricians, machinists, laborers, engineers and conductors, and FELA protects every one of them. Our FELA railroad injury page explains the law in full.

Which Supreme Court cases involve Norfolk Southern?

Two of them shape FELA cases today, one about fault and one about where you can sue.

Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Sorrell (2007)

Sorrell was injured working for Norfolk Southern and sued under FELA in Missouri state court, where a jury awarded him $1.5 million. Missouri’s jury instructions used different causation tests for each side. The railroad’s negligence counted if it contributed "in whole or in part," but the worker’s own negligence counted only if it "directly contributed to cause" the injury. Norfolk Southern objected, and the Supreme Court held that the same causation standard applies to the railroad’s negligence and to the employee’s contributory negligence. The Court declined to decide what that standard is, a question it took up four years later in McBride. For you, Sorrell means a jury weighs your share of fault on the same scale it uses for the railroad.

Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. (2023)

Robert Mallory worked for Norfolk Southern as a freight-car mechanic for nearly 20 years in Ohio and Virginia and later developed cancer he attributed to his work. He sued under FELA in Pennsylvania state court. Norfolk Southern, then incorporated and headquartered in Virginia, argued that Pennsylvania could not hear the case. But it had registered to do business in Pennsylvania, where it managed over 2,000 miles of track, 11 rail yards and 3 locomotive repair shops, and Pennsylvania law treats that registration as consent to be sued there on any claim. The Supreme Court held that this consent-by-registration law does not violate due process, and sent the case back. It left open a separate challenge under the dormant Commerce Clause.

Mallory matters because BNSF Railway Co. v. Tyrrell (2017) had limited suits against railroads to states where the claim arose or where the railroad is at home. Where a state has a registration law like Pennsylvania’s, Mallory may give a railroader another place to file.

What happens after you report an injury to Norfolk Southern?

Railroad rules generally require a prompt injury report, and federal law protects you for making one. Then the railroad’s process starts.

• The injury report. Record what happened, every part of your body that hurts, the equipment, the location and the witnesses. Keep a copy.
• The investigation. An injury can be followed by a notice of investigation. In Larry Koger’s case, below, NS charged and fired an injured conductor even after the engineer admitted the derailment was his own fault.
• The claim agent. A Norfolk Southern claim representative may ask for a recorded statement, medical authorizations or a quick settlement. The claim agent works for the railroad. In most cases you can ask to speak with a lawyer first, and you should not sign a release until you understand your injury. See the lies railroad claim agents tell.
• The company doctor. The railroad’s medical staff work for the railroad. Under the Federal Railroad Safety Act, NS may not deny, delay or interfere with your treatment, and may not discipline you for following your treating physician’s orders (49 U.S.C. § 20109(c)).

In the first days after an injury on Norfolk Southern, 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 Norfolk Southern discipline you for reporting it?

No. The FRSA bars 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)), or for reporting a hazardous safety condition. If discipline follows your report, a complaint must be filed 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 and ask for a jury. See our FRSA railroad whistleblower page and Hurt, Broke and Fired.

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 Norfolk Southern?

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 can hear FELA cases too (45 U.S.C. § 56). After Tyrrell, a state’s courts can hear a claim that arose elsewhere only if the railroad is at home there, or, after Mallory, if a registration law makes doing business there consent to suit. In practice the usual choices are the place of injury, the states where Norfolk Southern is incorporated or headquartered, and any consent-by-registration state. We will walk through them with you before anything is filed.

How long do you have to file against Norfolk Southern?

Three years from the day the claim accrued (45 U.S.C. § 56). For a single accident, that is usually the accident date. For an occupational illness like Mallory’s, or for cumulative trauma, the clock generally starts when you knew or should have known of the injury and its work-related cause. Our guide to the FELA statute of limitations explains the rules. FRSA retaliation complaints must be filed within 180 days.

Does the Union Pacific merger change anything?

Not yet. Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern have applied to the Surface Transportation Board to merge, in Docket FD 36873. The Board accepted the revised application for consideration on May 28, 2026, and adopted a procedural schedule on August 18, 2026, but it has not approved the merger. Until a merger is approved and closes, the two remain separate railroads, and a FELA claim is brought against the railroad that employed you when you were hurt.

What is our record against Norfolk Southern?

Larry Koger was a 32-year-old conductor riding in a locomotive in Eckman Yard in Keystone, West Virginia, when it derailed on July 29, 2007. He suffered a back injury that required surgery and left him unable to return to work as a conductor. Right after the derailment the engineer admitted to supervisors that he had misread a signal and run a red. Norfolk Southern still charged Mr. Koger, held an investigation and fired him. The railroad staged a re-creation to show he could have seen the signal, but the conductor in that re-creation confirmed he could not.

Up to three weeks before trial, Norfolk Southern offered $100,000. At the start of trial it offered $700,000. James L. Farina tried the case under FELA, and the jury returned a verdict of $3,431,026. Read the full case story. A past result does not predict the outcome of your case, but it shows what happens when a railroad’s version of events is tested in front of a jury.