Special Guest Speaker in May

Lonestar 139 is proud to announce a special guest speaker at the conclusion of our May 11th union meeting. Respected FELA attorney Robert (Bob) Tramuto will speak on current issues affecting the modern railroader including FELA (Federal Employees Liability Act) and cell phone usage.

In 1908 Congress passed a comprehensive statute directed at protecting rights of injured railroad workers known as the Federal Employers' Liability Act or FELA. Congress passed the law in response to appalling accident rates in the rail industry and to promote uniform rules regarding railroad equipment and practices. FELA applies to all railroads and their employees. As stated above, the Act was passed because the railroads failed to develop safety measures to protect their employees. FELA provides in part that: "Every common carrier by railroad while engaging in commerce shall be liable in damage to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in such commerce, or, in case of death of such employee,…for such injury or death resulting in whole or part from negligence of any of the officers, agents or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed or other equipment." FELA is the exclusive remedy for most claims an employee may have against his employer. A FELA case may be brought in either federal or state court.

Robert M. (Bob) Tramuto is a graduate of Texas A&M University and South Texas College of Law. He has practiced law since 1974. In 1976, he joined the law firm of Jones Granger in Houston, Texas. Since his arrival at the firm, Mr. Tramuto has been representing injured railroad workers across the nation and has tried cases in seven states. Mr. Tramuto has been an instructor in trial advocacy where he taught trial work at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He routinely gives seminars and talks on the FELA and the effect on rail labor.

Mr. Tramuto has served rail labor by serving as President of the Academy of Rail Labor Attorneys (ARLA). Mr. Tramuto is a member of the law firm of Jones Granger, which is approved and designated by railway trade labor unions.

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