Secretary of Labor (MSHA) v. Martin County Coal Corporation (ALJ decision, March 7, 1984)

Plain-English summary

The Secretary of Labor sought a civil penalty against Martin County Coal Corporation based on an earlier ruling that the company violated the Mine Act by excluding a miners' representative from its property. The Commission reversed that underlying ruling and held that the exclusion did not violate section 105(c)(1). Judge Richard C. Steffey then dismissed the penalty petition because there was no violation to penalize. The order terminated the civil penalty proceeding without assessing a penalty.

Decision snapshot

• Cited standard(s): Mine Act § 105(c)(1), 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(1), concerning interference with miners' statutory rights.
• Outcome: Civil penalty petition dismissed; no penalty assessed.
• Key point: Reversal of the underlying violation left no basis for this penalty proceeding.

Full text (FMSHRC public release)

CCASE:
SOL (MSHA) V. MARTIN COAL
DDATE:
19840307
TTEXT:
~630

Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission Office of Administrative Law Judges

SECRETARY OF LABOR,
CIVIL PENALTY PROCEEDING
MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH
ADMINISTRATION (MSHA),
Docket No. KENT 80-354
PETITIONER
v. No. 1-S Mine

MARTIN COUNTY COAL CORPORATION,
RESPONDENT

ORDER OF DISMISSAL

Before: Judge Steffey

Counsel for the Secretary of Labor filed on September 12, 1980, in the above-entitled proceeding a petition for assessment of civil penalty seeking to have a penalty assessed for the violation of section 105(c)(1) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 which I had found occurred in my decision issued in Martin County Coal Corporation v. Secretary of Labor (MSHA), et al., Docket Nos. KENT 80-212-R, et al., 2 FMSHRC 2829 (1980).

The Commission's decision in Council of Southern Mountains, Inc. v. Martin County Coal Corporation, Docket No. KENT 80-222-D, 6 FMSHRC ----, issued February 29, 1984, reversed my decision reported at 2 FMSHRC 2829 and held that no violation of section 105(c)(1) occurred when Martin County Coal Corporation refused to allow a non-employee miners' representative to come on mine property for the purpose of monitoring Martin County Coal Corporation's training classes.

Since no violation of section 105(c)(1) occurred, the civil penalty sought for that violation in the petition for assessment of civil penalty filed in this proceeding must be dismissed.

WHEREFORE, it is ordered:

The petition for assessment of civil penalty filed in Docket No. KENT 80-354 is dismissed and all further proceedings in this case are terminated.

Richard C. Steffey
Administrative Law Judge