Title 45, RailroadsRelease 119-102

§52 Carriers in Territories or Other Possessions of United States

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

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Railroads in the Territories, the District of Columbia, the Panama Canal Zone, or other U.S. possessions must pay money to employees hurt while working there. If the employee dies, payment goes through the employee’s personal representative for the surviving spouse and children; if none, then the parents; if none, then the next dependent relatives. The railroad must pay when the injury or death was wholly or partly caused by its carelessness or by defects it caused in equipment like cars, engines, tracks, boats, wharves, or similar items.

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

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102