• The Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) of 1908 is a federal law that provides for a liberalization of the tort liability rules applicable to the liability of railroads to their employees for personal injury (PI). Under ordinary tort rules, the injured party must prove negligence on the part of the defendant and no concomitant negligence or risk-taking on his or her part. Under FELA, the employee only needs to show that any negligence on the part of the employer contributed to the injury. However, employee negligence reduces compensation in proportion to the negligence attributed to the employee. The practical effect of this law, as it has been interpreted by the courts over the years, was in fact to enact a strict liability law for railways in respect of injuries caused to their workers, in a manner very similar to workers’ compensation, but without limiting the benefits provided for in workers’ compensation laws.