Daniel Hassing and Anne Marie O’Brien recently won a motion for summary judgment in the Southern District of Texas.  This success came in an action under the Federal Employer’s Liability Act, a federal statute granting a cause of action to railroaders working in furtherance of interstate commerce.

The case involved a widow who alleged that her late husband developed colon cancer as a result of occupational exposures while working for the railroad.  She alleged that the colon cancer ultimately led to her husband’s death.

Relying on a case decided by the United States Supreme Court in 1931, Mr. Hassing and Ms. O’Brien convinced the court that the action was barred by the statute of limitations.  Mr. Hassing and Ms. O’Brien persuaded the Court that the evidence left no room for dispute that the decedent had the requisite knowledge for his claim to accrue and the statute to begin running more than three years before he passed away.