Cite as: 538 U. S. 135 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
been unnecessary had the FELA itself authorized apportionment. Norfolk identifies only one FELA decision supporting its position: Dale v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 520 Pa. 96, 105-107, 552 A. 2d 1037, 1041-1042 (1989). But Dale cited no previous decisions on point and has not been followed by any other court. It is therefore a reed too slim to overcome the statutory language and the otherwise consistent historical practice in the lower courts.
The conclusion that the FELA does not mandate apportionment is also in harmony with this Court's repeated statements that joint and several liability is the traditional rule. In an 1876 admiralty case, for example, we wrote:
"Nothing is more clear than the right of a plaintiff, having suffered . . . a loss [of cargo], to sue in a common-law action all the wrong-doers, or any one of them, at his election; and it is equally clear, that, if he did not contribute to the disaster, he is entitled to judgment in either case for the full amount of his loss." The "Atlas," 93 U. S. 302, 315 (1876) (emphasis added).
See 42 Cong. Rec. 4536 (1908) (remarks of Sen. Dolliver) (the FELA was intended to "brin[g] our jurisprudence up to the liberal interpretations that . . . now prevail in the admiralty courts of the United States"). See also Miller v. Union Pacific R. Co., 290 U. S. 227, 236 (1933) (describing joint and several liability as "settled by innumerable authorities" and
(EDNY 1956); Engvall v. Soo Line R. Co., 632 N. W. 2d 560, 568 (Minn. 2001); Freeman v. Norfolk Southern R. Co., 97-2013 (La. App. 5/13/98), 714 So. 2d 832, 835; In re Bean, 171 Ill. App. 3d 620, 623, 525 N. E. 2d 1231, 1234 (1988); Narcise v. Illinois Central Gulf R. Co., 427 So. 2d 1192, 1195 (La. 1983); Walter v. Dow Chemical Co., 37 Mich. App. 728, 729-732, 195 N. W. 2d 323, 324-325 (1972); Gulf, Mobile & Ohio R. Co. v. Arthur Dixon Transfer Co., 343 Ill. App. 148, 153-155, 98 N. E. 2d 783, 785-786 (1951); Seaboard Air Line R. Co. v. American Dist. Elec. Protective Co., 106 Fla. 330, 333, 143 So. 316, 317 (1932); Lewter, Right of Railroad, Charged with Liability for Injury to or Death of Employee Under Federal Employers' Liability Act, to Claim Indemnity or Contribution from Other Tortfeasor, 19 A. L. R. 3d 928 (1968 and Supp. 2002).
163
Page: Index Previous 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007