45 U.S.C. § 53
Section 53 · Contributory negligence; diminution of damages
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 404 court decisions — leading case Urie v. Thompson (1949)
Most recently applied in Ojeda v. MTA (July 2022)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 45 U.S.C. § 51 · 45 U.S.C. § 54 · 45 U.S.C. § 56
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
In all actions on and after April 22, 1908 brought against any such common carrier by railroad under or by virtue of any of the provisions of this chapter to recover damages for personal injuries to an employee, or where such injuries have resulted in his death, the fact that the employee may have been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar a recovery, but the damages shall be diminished by the jury in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to such employee: Provided, That no such employee who may be injured or killed shall be held to have been guilty of contributory negligence in any case where the violation by such common carrier of any statute enacted for the safety of employees contributed to the injury or death of such employee.