Billings, MontanaBillings Railroad & FELA
Billings Railroad & FELA Lawyers: BNSF Worker Injuries, Laurel Yard Accidents and Train Crossing Crashes in Yellowstone County
Boland Aarab PLLP.
If you were hurt working for BNSF in Billings or Laurel, your claim is usually a FELA case, not workers’ compensation. You can sue the railroad if its negligence played any part in your injury, you generally have 3 years to file, and if you file in Yellowstone County the railroad cannot move the case to federal court.
Hurt on the railroad, or lost a family member to a railroad injury? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
What does railroad work look like around Billings?
Billings sits on the old Northern Pacific main line, and the railroad still shapes the city. For more than thirty years, Montana Rail Link operated that line through southern Montana under a lease from BNSF. That ended on January 1, 2024, when BNSF took back operation of the line and offered MRL’s employees jobs with BNSF (KPAX). For workers in Yellowstone County, that change matters. Many people who spent their careers at MRL are now BNSF employees, and older injuries may involve either company.
The work is concentrated in a few places:
- Laurel. Laurel’s yard was MRL’s main classification yard. Switching, car inspection and yard work there involve the moving equipment, coupling and walking hazards that produce many FELA claims.
- Billings yards and the downtown corridor. Trains run through the middle of the city, past the refinery district and the warehouses along the tracks.
- Refinery and industrial service. The Phillips 66 refinery in Billings, the Par Pacific refinery in Lockwood and the CHS refinery in Laurel all ship and receive by rail, so crews switch tank cars into industrial tracks where the footing, lighting and clearances may be controlled by someone other than the railroad.
- Maintenance of way. Track, bridge and signal crews work the line through the Yellowstone Valley in every season, including winter nights when ballast is frozen and walkways are icy.
What happens after a railroad injury in Billings?
The railroad’s process starts immediately. You will be asked to fill out an injury report, and a claim agent may contact you soon after. Describe what happened accurately and completely, name the cause if you know it (a bad step, a defective hand brake, a short crew), and list every part of your body that hurts. You do not have to give a recorded statement to the claims department before talking with a lawyer.
A FELA case can be filed in state or federal court. If it is filed in state court in Yellowstone County, it goes to the Thirteenth Judicial District Court at the Yellowstone County Courthouse, 217 North 27th Street in downtown Billings. The district serves Yellowstone County only (§ 3-5-101, MCA), so the jury comes from Yellowstone County. Federal law bars the railroad from removing a FELA case filed in state court (28 U.S.C. § 1445(a)). If you choose federal court, the case is heard in the Billings Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, at the James F. Battin Federal Courthouse, 2601 2nd Avenue North (District of Montana).
If the railroad disciplines you for reporting the injury or a safety hazard, the retaliation deadline is short: 180 days to file a complaint with OSHA (49 U.S.C. § 20109(d)). OSHA’s Billings Area Office is at 2900 4th Avenue North (OSHA).
What about train crashes at Billings crossings?
People who are not railroad employees, such as drivers, passengers and pedestrians hit at a crossing, have ordinary Montana negligence claims, not FELA claims. Downtown Billings has several at-grade crossings where the tracks cross city streets. The Montana Department of Transportation has identified the 27th Street crossing as “a high priority” and is studying short- and long-term fixes (MDT).
In a crossing case, the evidence is the locomotive event recorder, which federal rules require on most lead locomotives (49 C.F.R. § 229.135), forward-facing video, the crossing signal’s records and inspections (49 C.F.R. part 234), and the sight lines at the crossing itself. Railroads collect that evidence quickly. So should you.
Montana law that applies
The key rules, in brief:
- FELA, not workers’ comp. Most interstate railroad employment is excluded from Montana workers’ compensation (§ 39-71-401(2), MCA).
- A light causation standard. The railroad is liable if its negligence played any part, “even the slightest,” in the injury (45 U.S.C. § 51; CSX Transp., Inc. v. McBride, 564 U.S. 685 (2011)).
- Your fault reduces, but never bars, recovery, and it does not count at all where a safety-statute violation contributed (45 U.S.C. § 53).
- 3 years to file (45 U.S.C. § 56). For cumulative injuries, the Montana Supreme Court looks at when the worker discovered the work-related injury (Anderson v. BNSF Ry. Co., 2015 MT 240).
- Crossing crashes follow Montana’s 3-year injury deadline (§ 27-2-204, MCA) and comparative-fault rule (§ 27-1-702, MCA).
Our Montana FELA and railroad injury page covers the Safety Appliance Act, the Locomotive Inspection Act, occupational disease and retaliation in depth.
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Billings case?
We are based in Great Falls and handle railroad cases statewide. BNSF runs through both cities, and its claims department works the same way in each. What matters in a FELA case is knowing the federal statute, preserving the railroad’s evidence, and being ready to try the case where you choose to file it. Our attorneys travel to Billings and Laurel for interviews, depositions, hearings and trial, and our firm has tried jury trials in Yellowstone County. We do not have a Billings office, and you will not need to come to ours. We can meet you where you are.
The Boland Aarab Way
- We try cases. Our firm has tried more than a dozen jury trials, in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties, and our attorneys have spent more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
- We know both courthouses. Our attorneys have handled more than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over nine years. In a FELA case, you choose the forum, and we can try it in either.
- We protect verdicts. When a Phillips County jury’s $168,500 verdict was thrown out, we took it to the Montana Supreme Court and had it reinstated (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137). Samir Aarab has also argued twice before the Ninth Circuit.
- You work with the lawyers. The attorneys you meet on the first call are the ones who handle your case.
Related Billings pages: workplace injury · wrongful death · all Billings personal injury cases
Frequently Asked Questions
Can BNSF move my Billings FELA case to federal court? No. If you file a FELA case in the Thirteenth Judicial District Court in Billings, federal law bars removal (28 U.S.C. § 1445(a)). You can also choose to file in the Billings Division of federal court.
I worked for Montana Rail Link before 2024. Who do I make a claim against? It depends on when and where you were hurt. BNSF took back operation of the line on January 1, 2024. An injury before then, or a cumulative injury spanning both periods, may involve MRL, BNSF or both, and the answer affects the deadline.
Do I have to talk to the claim agent after an injury at the Laurel yard? You must follow your railroad’s injury-reporting rules, but a recorded interview with the claims department is not the injury report. Talk to a lawyer first.
My car was hit by a train at a downtown Billings crossing. Is that a FELA case? No. FELA covers railroad employees. A driver, passenger or pedestrian brings an ordinary Montana negligence claim, generally within 3 years (§ 27-2-204, MCA).
Where do I file a retaliation complaint in Billings? With OSHA, within 180 days (49 U.S.C. § 20109(d)). OSHA’s Billings Area Office is on 4th Avenue North, and a complaint can be made orally or in writing.
Talk to a Billings Railroad Injury Lawyer
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
