United Steel Workers Local No. 5114, on behalf of Miners v. Hecla Limited (ALJ decision, January 5, 2015)

Plain-English summary

Judge Richard W. Manning amended a footnote in his December 23, 2014 partial-summary-decision order concerning compensation for Lucky Friday Mine workers. The earlier footnote quoted Citation No. 8565565 without noting that the parties had settled the citation and deleted one inaccurate sentence. The correction explains that the mine superintendent had referred to closure points, not stress gauges, when discussing why readings could not be taken. The amendment changed the description of the settled citation but did not itself resolve the miners' compensation claim.

Decision snapshot

• Governing provisions: 30 U.S.C. §§ 813(k) and 821
• Outcome: Footnote 10 of the December 23, 2014 partial-summary-decision order was amended to reflect a sentence deleted through settlement.
• Key point: An interim ruling may be corrected to prevent an inaccurate, previously deleted citation allegation from remaining in the adjudicative record.

Full text (FMSHRC public release)

FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH
REVIEW COMMISSION

OFFICE OF
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES

721 19TH
STREET, SUITE 443

DENVER, CO 80202-2536

TELEPHONE:
303-844-3577 / FAX: 303-844-5268

January 5, 2015

UNITED
STEELWORKERS LOCAL NO. 5114, ON BEHALF OF MINERS,

Applicant

v.

HECLA
LIMITED,

Respondent

COMPENSATION
PROCEEDING

Docket
No. WEST 2012-466-CM

Lucky
Friday Mine

Mine
ID 10-00088

ORDER AMENDING
ORDER GRANTING, IN PART,

HECLA LIMITED’S MOTION
FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY DECISION

On
December 23, 2014, I issued an Order Granting, in part, Hecla Limited’s Motion for Partial Summary Decision in this case. 36 FMSHRC_____. In footnote 10 on page 6 of that order, I set forth the language in the body of Citation No. 8565565 that was issued to Hecla on December 21, 2011. On page 4 of my order, I noted that Hecla and the Secretary of Labor settled that citation. I approved the settlement of this citation by order dated August 6, 2014.

On
December 30, 2014, Hecla filed an unopposed motion requesting that I clarify that, as part of the settlement, the Secretary agreed to delete a sentence from the body of Citation No. 8565565. In the motion to approve settlement of that citation in WEST 2013-781-M-A, the Secretary stated that the parties agreed to strike “the following sentence from the narrative because it is inaccurate: ‘The Mine Superintendent stated that the readings could not be taken because the steel liner was installed over the [pressure] gauges and the gauges could not be read.’ The management agent was referring to the closure points, not the stress gauges.” (Motion to Approve Settlement at 2). I approved the deletion of this sentence in my decision approving settlement.

For
good cause shown, Hecla’s unopposed motion to amend my December 23, 2014 order is GRANTED. Footnote 10 on page 6 of that order is AMENDED to add the following paragraph at the end of the footnote:

As part of the settlement of this
citation, the Secretary agreed to delete the following sentence from the citation because it is inaccurate: “The Mine Superintendent stated that the readings could not be taken because the steel liner was installed over the gauges and the gauges could not be read.”

/s/ Richard W. Manning

Richard W. Manning

Administrative Law Judge

Distribution:

Laura
E. Beverage, Esq., and Karen Johnston, Jackson Kelly PLLC, 1099 18th St., Suite 2150, Denver, CO 80202

Susan
J. Eckert, Esq., Santarella & Eckert, LLC, 7050 Puma Trail, Littleton, CO 80125

RWM