Buck Creek Coal Company, Incorporated (ALJ decision, March 15, 1995)

Plain-English summary

The Commission reversed Judge T. Todd Hodgdon's earlier conclusion that Buck Creek's violation of the preshift examination standard was not significant and substantial. On remand, the judge treated the violation as significant and substantial, found that it involved a high degree of gravity, and reassessed the civil penalty at $5,500. Buck Creek was ordered to pay within 30 days, after which the proceeding would be dismissed.

Decision snapshot

• Cited standard: 30 C.F.R. § 75.360(a)
• Outcome: On remand, the violation was treated as significant and substantial and the civil penalty was reassessed at $5,500.
• Key point: A Commission reversal of an S&S determination can require the ALJ to reassess the penalty based on the increased gravity.

Full text (FMSHRC public release)

FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION

OFFICE OF A D M INISTRA TIV E LA W JUDGES 2 SK YLINE, 10 th FLOOR
5203 LEESBURG PIK E
FA LLS CHURCH, V IRGINIA 22041

March 15, 1995

SECRETARY OF LABOR, : CIVIL PENALTY PROCEEDINGS
MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH
:
ADMINISTRATION (MSHA), : Docket No. LAKE 93-241
Petitioner : A. C. No. 12-02033-03596
v. :
: Buck Creek Mine
BUCK CREEK COAL COMPANY,
:
INCORPORATED,
:
Respondent
:

DECISION ON REMAND

Before: Judge Hodgdon

On January 20, 1995, the Commission issued a decision in this case reversing my conclusion that Buck Creek's violation of Section 75.360(a), 30 C.F.R. ' 75.360(a), was not "significant and substantial." Buck Creek Coal Company, Inc., 17 FMSHRC 8 (January 1995). The case was remanded to me "for reassessment of a civil penalty consistent with [the Commission's] opinion." Id. at 17.

In view of the Commission's determination that this violation was "significant and substantial," I find that it involved a high degree of gravity. Taking into consideration the other criteria set out in Section 110(i) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. ' 820(i), which are discussed in my prior decision, Buck Creek Coal Company, Inc., 16 FMSHRC 133, 140 (1994), along with the increase in gravity, I conclude that a penalty of $5,500.00 is appropriate for this violation.

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ORDER

Accordingly, Buck Creek Coal Company, Inc. is ORDERED to pay a civil penalty of $5,500.00 for its violation of the mandatory safety standards within 30 days of the date of this decision. On receipt of payment, this proceeding is DISMISSED.

T. Todd Hodgdon
Administrative Law Judge

Distribution:

Lisa A. Gray, Esq., Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor, 230 S. Dearborn Street, 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604 (Certified Mail)

Patrick A. Shoulders, Esq., Ziemer, Stayman, Weitzel & Shoulders, P.O. Box 916, Evansville, IN 47706 (Certified Mail)

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