144
Opinion of the Court
body shops, id., at 274-275. In awarding damages, the trial court charged, the jury was "not to make a deduction for the contribution of non-railroad exposures," so long as it found that Norfolk was negligent and that "dust exposures at [Nor-folk] contributed, however slightly, to the plaintiff's injuries." Id., at 570.6
The jury returned total damages awards for each asbestosis claimant, ranging from $770,000 to $1.2 million. Id., at 578-589. After reduction for three claimants' comparative negligence from smoking and for settlements with nonFELA entities, the final judgments amounted to approximately $4.9 million. Id., at 590-613. It is impossible to look behind those judgments to determine the amount the jury awarded for any particular element of damages. Norfolk, although it could have done so, see W. Va. Rule Civ. Proc. 49 (1998), did not endeavor to clarify the jury's damages determinations; it did not seek a special verdict or interrogatory calling upon the jury to report, separately, its assessments, if any, for fear-of-cancer damages.
The trial court denied Norfolk's motion for a new trial, App. to Pet. for Cert. 4a, and the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia denied Norfolk's request for discretionary review, id., at 1a-2a. We granted certiorari, 535 U. S. 969 (2002), and now affirm.
II
Section 1 of the FELA renders common carrier railroads "liable in damages to any person suffering injury while . . . employed by [the] carrier" if the "injury or death result-[ed] in whole or in part from the [carrier's] negligence."
6 As required by the FELA, the trial court directed the jury to determine whether negligence by any of the asbestosis claimants contributed to their injuries and to compare any such negligence with that of Norfolk "in terms of percentages." Id., at 570-571; see 45 U. S. C. § 53 ("contributory negligence shall not bar a recovery, but the damages shall be diminished by the jury in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to such employee").
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