Christopher Cole v. the Kansas City Southern Railway Company

Summary

The Court held that testimony from KCSR's employee about her pretrial communications with KCSR's attorneys was not protected by attorney-client privilege because neither an attorney-client relationship with the employee nor the required basis for corporate privilege was established. It further held that an Illinois close-clearance regulation did not qualify as a safety statute under FELA, so KCSR was entitled to have Cole's contributory negligence considered on the negligence per se theory. The Court also held that the circuit court lacked authority to add post-judgment interest after its judgment became final, and remanded for reduction of the damages award to reflect Cole's 21 percent fault.