$5.3 Million Verdict for Metra Engineer Disabled by Oil, Snow, and Ice Fall at Union Station

On December 17, 2013, Christopher Cravatta was 30 years old and working as a locomotive engineer for Metra, operator of the Chicago-area commuter rail system. He was moving a train from Metra's Western Avenue coach yard to Union Station for his last run of the day to Elgin when he walked through the engine compartment of the locomotive. Oil had pooled on the floor of the engine room despite the locomotive having just passed its daily inspection. The oil coated the soles of his work boots.

When Cravatta stepped down from the locomotive to the leading platform of the first passenger car, he had no way to know his boots were carrying oil onto a surface already covered with accumulated snow and ice. The step-down itself presented a 17-inch differential between the locomotive floor and the passenger car platform. The combination of oil-coated soles, the unguarded height difference, and the icy surface sent him into a fall. He came to rest on the small platform between the two cars.

Cravatta was eventually diagnosed with a tear to the annulus of his L4-5 disc. In October 2014 surgeons removed the disc and performed a spinal fusion on his lower back. The surgery did not resolve his pain. He continued to require pain medication and could not return to work. Metra medically disqualified him from service as a locomotive engineer, ending a career he had only recently begun.

Cravatta filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court (No. 2014-L-006667) against Metra and the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation under the Federal Employers Liability Act, alleging violations of the Locomotive Inspection Act and Passenger Equipment Safety Standards. Those federal rules require railroads to keep locomotives and rolling stock free from oil, snow, ice, and other slipping hazards. Attorney Brett Emison of Langdon and Emison led the trial team, joined by co-counsel Ken Barnes, Nicholas Cronauer, and Tim Ocasek.

After a five-week trial before Judge Joan E. Powell, the jury returned a unanimous verdict on March 21, 2017, finding that Metra had breached its duty to provide a safe workplace. The jury awarded $5,300,000, allocated as follows: $3,017,500 for past and future lost earnings, $2,000,000 for past and future medical expenses, $270,000 for past and future pain and suffering, and $2,500 for disfigurement. In a related post-trial proceeding reported by the Chicago Law Bulletin in April 2018, Judge Powell upheld the verdict in full while imposing a $50,000 sanction against plaintiff's attorneys for a discovery violation that came to light after trial. No publicly available appellate opinion reducing or reversing the award has been located.