B and D Coal Company, Incorporated

Plain-English summary

B and D Coal Company, Incorporated, operator of No. 7 Mine, faced a proposed civil penalty of $8,000. The parties jointly moved to approve a settlement, and Judge Avram Weisberger found the settlement appropriate under the Mine Act's penalty criteria. The judge approved the settlement, reducing the penalty to $4,000, payable within 30 days.

Decision snapshot

• Governing provision: 30 U.S.C. § 820(i)
• Outcome: The settlement was approved and a $4,000 penalty was ordered, reduced from the proposed $8,000.
• Key point: The judge approved the negotiated penalty reduction after considering the statutory penalty criteria.

Full text (FMSHRC public release)

CCASE:
SOL (MSHA) V. B AND D COAL
DDATE:
19890417
TTEXT:

Page 2

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Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (F.M.S.H.R.C.)
Office of Administrative Law Judges

SECRETARY OF LABOR, CIVIL PENALTY PROCEEDING
MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH
ADMINISTRATION (MSHA), Docket No. SE 88-53
PETITIONER A. C. No. 40-02944-03513

         v.                            No. 7 Mine

B AND D COAL COMPANY,
INCORPORATED,
RESPONDENT

                                DECISION

Appearances: Mary Sue Ray, Esq., Office of the Solicitor, U. S.
Department of Labor, Nashville, Tennessee, for the
Secretary;
Bruce Anderson, Esq., McCampbell & Young, Knoxville,
Tennessee, for the Respondent.

Before: Judge Weisberger

 This case is before me upon a petition for assessment of

civil penalty under Section 105(d) of the Federal Mine Safety and
Health Act of 1977 (the Act). Pursuant to Notice, this case was
scheduled for hearing on March 29, 1989, in Knoxville, Tennessee.
At the hearing, the Parties entered into settlement discussion
and made a joint motion to approve settlement. A reduction in
penalty from $8,000 to $4,000 is proposed. Based on the
representation set forth in the stipulated facts filed on March
29, 1989, as well as the testimony and documentary evidence
admitted on March 29, 1989, in support of the joint motion, I
conclude that the proffered settlement is appropriate under the
criteria set forth in Section 110(i) of the Act.

 WHEREFORE, the motion for approval of settlement is GRANTED,

and it is ORDERED that Respondent pay a penalty of $4,000 within
30 days of this order.

                              Avram Weisberger
                              Administrative Law Judge