A U.S. District Court Judge recently agreed with Holland, Groves, Schneller & Stolze, LLC in rejecting the Norfolk Southern Railway Company’s attempt to avoid FELA liability by calling one of its switchmen a “maritime worker.” The plaintiff was injured at an east coast coal loading facility that the railroad claimed made his exclusive remedy the federal Longshore Act, a workers’ compensation scheme for federal harbor workers. The Honorable Rodney W. Sippel issued an 8-page order rejecting this tactic and ordering that the case be tried as a FELA case.