Cite as: 538 U. S. 135 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
velopment of common-law principles, see id., § B18, Reporters' Note. Congress, however, has not amended the FELA. Cf. Edmonds, 443 U. S., at 273 ("Once Congress has relied upon conditions that the courts have created, we are not as free as we would otherwise be to change them.").22
Finally, reading the FELA to require apportionment would handicap plaintiffs and could vastly complicate adjudications, all the more so if, as Norfolk sometimes suggests, see Brief for Petitioner 50, Reply Brief 20, manufacturers and suppliers, as well as other employers, should come within the apportionment pool. See Sinkler, 356 U. S., at 329 ("The cost of human injury, an inescapable expense of railroading, must be borne by someone, and the FELA seeks to adjust that expense equitably between the worker and the carrier."). Once an employer has been adjudged negligent with respect to a given injury, it accords with the FELA's overarching purpose to require the employer to bear the burden of identifying other responsible parties and demonstrating that some of the costs of the injury should be spread to them.23
Under the FELA, an employee who suffers an "injury" caused "in whole or in part" by a railroad's negligence may
22 Norfolk also suggests an analogy between the FELA and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), 42 U. S. C. § 9601 et seq., under which many courts have held that apportionment is available in some circumstances. Brief for Petitioner 44-45. But CERCLA's structure, purpose, and more recent vintage may differentiate that measure from the FELA in ways relevant to the question presented. See Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 6, n. 1. We need not and do not express any view on apportionment in the CERCLA context.
23 Norfolk submits that requiring employers to sue for contribution will be "wasteful," Brief for Petitioner 47, but FELA defendants may be able to implead third parties and thus secure resolution of their contribution actions in the same forum as the underlying FELA actions. See, e. g., Ellison v. Shell Oil Co., 882 F. 2d, at 350 (railroad sued by employee under the FELA filed a third-party complaint against another party); Engvall v. Soo Line R. Co., 632 N. W. 2d, at 563 (same).
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