160
Opinion of the Court
portionment of damages between railroad and nonrailroad causes. Section 1 of the Act, to which we earlier referred, see supra, at 144-145, provides:
"Every common carrier by railroad while engaging in [interstate commerce], shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in such commerce . . . for such injury . . . resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of . . . such carrier . . . ." 45 U. S. C. §51.
The claimants here suffer from asbestosis (an "injury"), which is linked to their employment with Norfolk and "result[ed] in whole or in part from . . . negligence" by Norfolk. Norfolk is therefore "liable in damages . . . for such injury." Ibid. (emphasis added). Nothing in the statutory text instructs that the amount of damages payable by a liable employer bears reduction when the negligence of a third party also contributed in part to the injury-in-suit.
Resisting this reading, Norfolk trains on the statutory language conveying that a railroad is liable only for injuries an employee sustains "while he is employed by such carrier." Ibid. That language, Norfolk maintains, "makes clear that railroads are not liable for employee injuries that result from outside causes." Brief for Petitioner 32. Norfolk's argument uncouples the statutory language from its context, and thereby obscures its meaning.
The FELA applies to railroads only "while [they are] engaging in" interstate commerce. 45 U. S. C. § 51. The clause on which Norfolk relies clarifies that the statute's reach is correspondingly limited to injuries sustained by railroad employees while the employees are themselves engaged "in such commerce." Ibid. (emphasis added); cf. The Employers' Liability Cases, 207 U. S. 463, 504 (1908) (predecessor statute declared unconstitutional because it regulated employee injuries not sufficiently related to interstate commerce). Placed in context, the clause does not speak to
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