Branham & Baker Coal Company (ALJ decision, April 21, 1995)

Plain-English summary

Garis Martin brought a Mine Act discrimination complaint against Branham & Baker Coal Company. The parties submitted a settlement agreement, and Martin consented to it on the record. Judge Gary Melick approved the settlement and ordered the company to pay a nominal $1 civil penalty within 30 days if it had not already done so. The order also dismissed the case.

Decision snapshot

• Cited standard(s): 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)
• Outcome: The settlement was approved, a nominal $1 civil penalty was ordered if unpaid, and the case was dismissed.
• Key point: The ALJ approved the settlement after considering the parties’ representations and documentation and receiving the complainant’s consent.

Full text (FMSHRC public release)

[DOCID: f:kt94969.wais]

BRANHAM & BAKER COAL COMPANY
April 21, 1995
KENT 94-969-D

FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION

OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES
2 SKYLINE, SUITE 1000
5203 LEESBURG PIKE
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA 22041

April 21, 1995

SECRETARY OF LABOR, : DISCRIMINATION PROCEEDING MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH : ADMINISTRATION (MSHA), : Docket No. KENT 94-969-D on behalf of GARIS MARTIN, : MSHA Case No. PIKE CD 94-10
Complainant :
v. : Road Creek Mine No. 1
:
BRANHAM & BAKER COAL COMPANY, :
Respondent :

DECISION APPROVING SETTLEMENT

Appearances: Mary Sue Taylor, Esq., Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor,
Nashville, Tennessee for the Complainant;
Tony Oppegard, Esq., Lexington, Kentucky on behalf of Garis Martin and William K. Doran, Esq., Washington, D.C. for the Respondent.

Before: Judge Melick

This case is before me upon a Complaint of Discrimination under Section 105(c) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (the Act). At hearing the parties filed a motion to approve a settlement agreement and to dismiss the case. The individual Complainant, Garis Martin, consented to the agreement on the record. I have considered the representations and documentation submitted in this case, and I conclude that the proffered settlement is acceptable.

WHEREFORE, upon the acknowledged receipt of the agreed settlement amounts, the motion for approval of settlement is GRANTED. It is further ORDERED that, if it has not already done so, Respondent pay a civil penalty of $1.00 within 30 days of this order. This nominal civil penalty is in recognition of conflicting views of the evidence, the vagaries of the trial process and that the monetary award to the Complainant in this case is a disincentive in itself against future violations of Section 105(c).

Gary Melick
Administrative Law Judge

Distribution:

Mary Sue Taylor, Esq., Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Dept. of Labor, 2002 Richard Jones Road, Suite B-201, Nashville, TN 37215-2862

Tony Oppegard, Esq., Mine Safety Project of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, Inc., 630 Maxwelton Court, Lexington, KY 40508

William K. Doran, Esq., Michael T. Heenan, Esq., Smith, Heenan and Althen, 1110 Vermont Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005

/jf