Burlington Northern Railroad v. Hood

The question in this case is whether the trial court, during a jury trial on a personal injury claim brought under the Federal Employer’s Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 51-60 (1989), erred in prohibiting the defendant from questioning the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s wife about a purported conversation in which the plaintiff allegedly admitted to his wife, who repeated the conversation to several other persons, that he had staged a work-related accident and had feigned the injuries for which he sought damages against the defendant-employer. The trial court ruled that such evidence was…