LIABILITY GENERALLY FOR INJURY TO OR DEATH OF EMPLOYEE.

(a) A corporation, receiver, or other person operating a railroad in this state is liable for damages to a person who, while employed by the railroad operator, is injured as a result of:

(1) the negligence of an officer, agent, or employee of the railroad operator; or

(2) any defect or insufficiency due to the railroad operator's negligence in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment.

(b) If an employee dies as a result of the negligence, defect, or insufficiency described by Subsection (a), the railroad operator is liable to the employee's personal representative for the benefit of the employee's surviving spouse and children and the employee's parents or, if the employee is not survived by a spouse, child, or parent, to the employee's next of kin who is dependent on the employee.

(c) Damages recovered under Subsection (b) are not liable for the debts of the deceased and shall be divided among the persons entitled to the benefit of the action who are living, in shares the fact finder considers proper.

(d) An action under Subsection (b) may be brought without administration by all parties entitled to damages under that subsection, or by any one or more of those parties, for the benefit of all of those parties. If all parties entitled to recover are not before the court, the action may proceed for the benefit of the parties who are before the court.