Title 45 — RailroadsRelease 119-73

§52 Carriers in Territories or other possessions of United States

Title 45 › Chapter CHAPTER 2— - LIABILITY FOR INJURIES TO EMPLOYEES › § 52

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Makes every railroad company that carries people or freight in the Territories, the District of Columbia, the Panama Canal Zone, or other U.S. possessions pay damages when a worker is hurt while working in those places. If the worker dies, the company must pay the worker’s personal representative for the benefit of the surviving spouse and children; if none, then the parents; if none, then the next dependent relatives. The harm must be caused, in whole or in part, by carelessness of the company’s officers, agents, or employees, or by defects the company allowed in its cars, engines, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment.

Full Legal Text

Title 45, §52

Railroads — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Every common carrier by railroad in the Territories, the District of Columbia, the Panama Canal Zone, or other possessions of the United States shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in any of said jurisdictions, or, in case of the death of such employee, to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee; and, if none, then of such employee’s parents; and, if none, then of the next of kin dependent upon such employee, for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

45 U.S.C. § 52

Title 45 — Railroads

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73