Maine Revised Statutes Title 39-A. Workers' Compensation § 901. Definition of employer's liability; rights of employee

1. Defects in ways, works or machinery. A defect in the condition of the ways, works or machinery connected with or used in the business of the employer, which arose from, or had not been discovered or remedied in consequence of, the negligence of the employer or of a person in the employer's service who had been entrusted by the employer with the duty of seeing that the ways, works or machinery were in proper condition;

2. Negligence of employee in superintending capacity. The negligence of a person in the service of the employer who was entrusted with and was exercising superintendence and whose sole or principal duty was that of superintendence or, in the absence of a superintendent, of a person acting as superintendent with the authority or consent of the employer; or

3. Negligence of employee in charge of railroad equipment. The negligence of a person in the service of the employer who was in charge or control of a signal, switch, locomotive engine or train on a railroad.

The employee or the employer's legal representatives, subject to sections 902 to 909, have the same rights to compensation and of action against the employer as if the employee had not been an employee, nor in the service, nor engaged in the work of the employer.

A car that is in use by, or that is in possession of, a railroad corporation is deemed a part of the ways, works or machinery of the corporation that uses it or has it in possession, within the meaning of subsection 1, whether it is owned by the railroad corporation or by some other company or person. One or more cars in motion, whether attached to an engine or not, constitute a train within the meaning of subsection 3, and whoever, as a part of the person's duty for the time being, physically controls or directs the movements of a signal, switch, locomotive engine or train is deemed to be a person in charge or control of a signal, switch, locomotive engine or train within the meaning of said subsection.