Conley v. Burlington Northern Railroad

KENNEDY, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff Billy J. Conley appeals from a judgment of the trial court by which he was awarded $200,000 damages in a Federal Employers Liability Act claim against his employer Burlington Northern. His injuries consisted of aggravation of an earlier ankle sprain, the aggravation resulting from defendant’s alleged negligence in (quoting from his verdict-directing instruction) “assign(ing) plaintiff to work which defendant in the exercise of ordinary care should have known would aggravate plaintiff’s ankle condition”.

Conley claims that the trial court erred in submitting to…