Randall Mechanical, Inc.

Plain-English summary

Randall Mechanical filed a late notice of contest and sought relief from the resulting final order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(1). An administrative law judge denied relief and dismissed the case, and the decision became final when the Commission did not direct review. The Eleventh Circuit vacated that decision and instructed the judge to apply Supreme Court and Eleventh Circuit precedent to the company's motion. The Commission then remanded the case to the judge for proceedings consistent with the court's opinion. This order does not identify the underlying OSHA standard or decide the citation or penalty.

Decision snapshot

• Cited standard(s): No specific OSHA standard is identified in this procedural remand order.
• Outcome: The case was remanded for reconsideration of relief from the late notice of contest.
• Key point: A judge reconsidering excusable neglect after a court remand must apply the precedent specified by the reviewing court.

Full text (OSHRC public release)

Document

United States of America

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION

1120 20 th
Street, N.W., Ninth Floor

Washington, DC 20036-3457

SECRETARY OF LABOR ,

Complainant,

v.

RANDALL MECHANICAL, INC.,

Respondent.

OSHRC Docket No. 17-1595

REMAND
ORDER

Before: SULLIVAN , Chairman; ATTWOOD and LAIHOW, Commissioners.

BY THE COMMISSION:

This case is on remand from
t he United States Court of Appeals for the
Eleventh
Circuit . Randall Mechanical, Inc. v.
Sec’y of Labor ,
798
F .
App’x
604
( 11 th Cir.
2020 )
(unpublished) .
On September 19, 2017,
Randall filed a late notice of contest
for
a citation
issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration . 29 U.S.C.
§  659(a).
The company subsequently sought relief
under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(1)
from
the
resulting final order .
Id.
( un contested citation
is
“deemed a final order of the Commission”). On April 11, 2018,
Administrative Law Judge John B. Gatto issued
a
decision
denying
this
relief
and dismissing the case.
Randall , Docket No. 17-1595, 2018 WL 2326109 ( O.S.H.R.C.A.L.J.,
Apr. 11, 2018). Randall timely filed a petition for discretionary review of the judge’s decision. The petition was not granted, and the decision became a final order of the Commission.

On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit vacated the judge’s decision and remanded with instructions that the judge apply “Supreme Court and Eleventh Circuit precedent” to Randall’s
Rule
60(b)(1) motion.
Randall ,
798
F .
App’x
at 605.

Accordingly, this case
is remanded
to the judge for further proceedings consistent with the court’s opinion.   

SO
ORDERED.

/s/               

James J. Sullivan, Jr.

Chairman      

/s/               

Cynthia L. Attwood

Commissioner

/s/               

Amanda Wood Laihow

Dated:    May 15, 2020                Commissioner

"