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Kera Morgan, as Administrator and Personal Representative of the Estate of Phillip Raymond Morgan v. Union Pacific Railroad Company, a Delaware Corporation

Paid petition · Supreme Court of Iowa, No. 2023-1154 · judgment April 25, 2025


Certiorari denied · October 6, 2025
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

  1. Whether the “zone of danger” test articulated in Consolidated Rail Corp. v. Gottshall, 512 U.S. 532 (1994), applies to wrongful death claims premised on suicide under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), 45 U.S.C. 5?

  2. Whether the suicide of a railroad employee caused by workplace harassment and stress creating an unsafe workplace constitutes a compensable claim for death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of the employer under FELA?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Paul Timothy Slocomb
Blunt Slocomb, Ltd.

For respondent
Jonathan Benjamin Amarilio
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 06 2025
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Aug 20 2025
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2025.
  3. Aug 12 2025
    Waiver of right of respondent Union Pacific Railroad Company to respond filed.
  4. Jul 23 2025
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 2, 2025)