Gallick v. Baltimore & Ohio R.R. Co.

Gallick (plaintiff), a railroad employee for Baltimore & Ohio (defendant), was bitten by an insect drawn to a known, standing pool of stagnant water filled with decomposing animals at his worksite, and the resulting infection led to the amputation of both his legs; he sued under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, and the jury's special verdict, answering two dozen interrogatories, found the railroad knew of the stagnant water, that it caused Gallick's injuries, and that the injuries resulted from the railroad's act or omission -- yet also found the injury was not "reasonably foreseeable" to the railroad. The trial court entered judgment for Gallick based on the consistent findings, and the court of appeals reversed based on the foreseeability finding; the Supreme Court granted certiorari.