Secretary v. Labor o/b/o Price v. Jim Walter Resources, Inc. (Commission decision, August 17, 1987)

Plain-English summary

Jim Walter Resources asked the Commission to stay its August 3, 1987 order affirming an administrative law judge's temporary reinstatement order for Michael L. Price and Joe John Vacha. The company said its petition for review in the Eleventh Circuit raised substantial legal and policy issues. The Secretary opposed the stay. The Commission denied the motion because Jim Walter Resources did not show the factors ordinarily required to stay an agency order during judicial review.

Decision snapshot

• Cited authority: 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(2); 29 C.F.R. § 2700.44
• Outcome: Jim Walter Resources' motion to stay the temporary reinstatement order was denied.
• Key point: A claim that an order raises substantial legal or policy issues, without the ordinary stay factors, was not enough to pause temporary reinstatement during judicial review.

Full text (FMSHRC public release)

CCASE:
MSHA (VACHA, PRICE) V. JIM WALTER RESOURCES DDATE: 19870817 TTEXT:

FMSHRC-WDC
August 17, 1987

SECRETARY OF LABOR,
MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH
ADMINISTRATION (MSHA), on
behalf of MICHAEL L. PRICE
and JOE JOHN VACHA

v. Docket No. SE 87-87-D

JIM WALTER RESOURCES, INC.

BEFORE: Ford, Chairman; Backley, Doyle, Lastowka, and Nelson Commissioners

ORDER

BY: THE COMMISSION

Respondent Jim Walter Resources, Inc. (\"JWR\") has moved the Commission for a stay of the Commission's August 3, 1987 order in this proceeding pending disposition of JWR's petition for review of that order in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The Commission's order affirmed Commission Administrative Law Judge James A. Broderick's order of temporary reinstatement of complainants Price and Vacha. 30 U.S.C. $ 815(c)(2); 29 C.F.R. $ 2700.44. The Secretary of Labor has filed an opposition to JWR's motion.

Upon consideration of JWR's motion and the Secretary's opposition, the motion is denied. JWR argues only that the order of temporary rein. statement in this case poses substantial issues of law and policy. However, JWR has failed to make a showing of any of the factors ordinarily justifying stay of an agency order pending judicial review. E.g., Virginia Petroleum Jobbers Ass'n v. FPC, 259 F.2d 921, 925 (D.C. Cir. 1958).

Page 2

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Accordingly, JWR's motion for a stay of the Commission's temporary reinstatement order is denied.

Ford B. Ford, Chairman

Richard V. Backley, Commissioner

Joyce A. Doyle, Commissioner

James A. Lastowka, Commissioner

L. Clair Nelson, Commissioner

Distribution

Barry F. Wisor, Esq.
Office of the Solicitor
U.S. Department of Labor
4015 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22203

James P. Alexander, Esq.
Robert K. Spotswood, Esq.
John W. Hargrove, Esq.
Bradley, Arant, Rose & White
1400 Park Place Tower
Birmingham, Alabama 35203

Robert H. Stropp. Esq.
2121 City Federal Building
Birmingham, Alabama 35203

Mary Lu Jordan, Esq.
UMWA
900 15th St., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005