Irene MURPHY, Personal Representative of Alton Murphy, Deceased, Appellant
v.
UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, Appellee
Rehearing Denied April 24, 2019
Page 677
APPEAL
FROM THE JEFFERSON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 35CV-16-111],
HONORABLE JODI RAINES DENNIS, JUDGE
Law
Offices of Patrick S. OBrien, LLC, Saint Louis, by: Patrick
S. OBrien; and McKissic & Associates, PLLC, by: Gene S.
McKissic, Sr., for appellant.
Friday,
Eldredge & Clark, LLP, Little Rock, by: Martin A. Kasten, for
appellee.
OPINION
DAVID
M. GLOVER, Judge
Irene
Murphy filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of Jefferson
County, alleging that Union Pacific Railroad Company (Union
Pacific) negligently failed to protect her husband, Alton
Murphy, from exposure to toxic chemicals during his
employment with the railroad. The complaint alleged that the
railroads negligence caused Mr. Murphy to develop multiple
myeloma, a rare form of blood cancer, leading to his death in
2014. Union Pacific filed a motion for summary judgment,
arguing that Mr. and Mrs. Murphy previously released the
railroad from any further liability for toxic exposure as
part of a negotiated settlement of another claim for a lung
injury in 2007. The circuit court agreed and granted Union
Pacifics motion.
Irene
now appeals the judgment, arguing that it should be reversed
because the prior release is void under section 5 of the
Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA), which prohibits
contracts that enable railroads "to exempt [themselves]
from any liability[.]" 45 U.S.C. § 55. According to
Irene, the release is void under FELA because it goes beyond
the injury and risk of future injury that were known to her
and Mr. Murphy at the time they negotiated the release.
I.
Facts and Procedural History
Alton
Murphy worked for Union Pacific for thirty years. He worked
as a manual laborer, then as a machine operator, before his
retirement in 2002. In 2006, Mr. Murphy pursued a claim
against the railroad, presumably alleging that his exposure
to toxic substances during his employment caused him to
suffer from pneumoconiosis, a lung disease that caused him
shortness of breath. The claim apparently never went to suit.
Mr. Murphy and Irene settled the claim with Union Pacific in
2007. In exchange for $ 20,000 the Murphys both signed a
release that, in pertinent part, provided as follows:
DEFINITIONS
3. "Occupational Exposures," as used herein, shall
mean and include any and all exposures to which ALTON MURPHY
was exposed as an employee of Union Pacific. Occupational
Exposures includes any and all exposures by any method,
including exposures by breathing, touching, ingesting, or
otherwise. Occupational Exposures includes any and all
exposures to toxic materials, metals, or chemicals, including
without limitation asbestos, dusts, fumes, vapors, smells,
gases, fuels, combustion products and by-products, exhausts,
solvents, cleaners, benzene, vinyl chloride, toluene,
pesticides, herbicides, weed defoliants, lubricants, paints,
paint thinners, silica and/or any other cancer causing
agents, whether alleged or not alleged, caused by or
contributed by or in any
Page 678
way the legal responsibility of [Union Pacific].
RECITALS
1. ALTON MURPHY filed a claim against Union Pacific seeking
compensation as a result of ALTON MURPHYs alleged diseases
... from Occupational Exposures while he was employed by
Union Pacific.
2. Union Pacific, without in any way admitting liability with
reference to the claim asserted by MURPHY, desire[s] to reach
full and final compromise of all claims arising from ALTON
MURPHYs alleged injury from Occupational Exposures,
including any cancers, lung-related ...