Federal Agency Decisions
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board, each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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Road Fork Development Company, Inc.
Late section 110(c) petition rejected and hearing continuance denied
MSHA repeatedly changed course on whether to pursue a section 110(c) case related to Road Fork Development's pending penalty dockets and filed its petition nearly two years after the underlying events. Judge Thomas P. McCarthy found that the Secretary did not adequately explain the service delay…
Robert Coleman, Employed by Carmeuse Lime and Stone
Penalty case remanded because Coleman lacked notice
MSHA proposed an individual civil penalty against Robert Coleman under section 110(c) of the Mine Act. The assessment was delivered to the mine and signed for by another employee, but Coleman said he never received it and first learned of the penalty through a delinquency notice. The Commission…
Parkwood Resources, Inc.
Secretary's reopening request granted
The Secretary asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment involving Parkwood Resources that had become a final order. Parkwood did not oppose the request. After reviewing the circumstances, the Commission reopened the matter and directed the Secretary to issue a new proposed assessment…
Double Bonus Coal Company
Signed certified mail defeats reopening requests
Double Bonus Coal sought to reopen two penalty assessments, first claiming it had not received them because MSHA used certified mail rather than Federal Express. The record showed that both assessments were delivered to the operator's legal address and signed for. Double Bonus then acknowledged…
Secretary of Labor v. Cedar Creek Coal, LLC
Undelivered assessment never became final
Federal Express could not deliver Cedar Creek Coal's proposed penalty assessment, reporting an incorrect address, while the operator maintained that the address was correct. The Secretary did not oppose relief and advised Cedar Creek to verify its address of record. The Commission held that the…
Secretary of Labor v. John R. Hurley
Contest timely because assessment was not received
MSHA sought an individual penalty against John Hurley under Mine Act section 110(c) and attempted to deliver the assessment by Federal Express. Hurley did not receive it despite trying to do so. After a delinquency notice arrived, his counsel obtained a copy from MSHA and immediately filed a…
Genwal Resources, Inc.
Filing delays did not justify dismissal
Genwal Resources sought dismissal because MSHA proposed penalties more than a year and a half after the citations were terminated and filed the penalty petitions about 30 days after the procedural deadline. The company also cited a change in ownership, the former safety director's move to MSHA, and…
Dennis Demers Trucking
Failed delivery meant the assessment was not final
Federal Express could not deliver a proposed penalty assessment to Dennis Demers Trucking because the office was unattended after the owner's daughter died unexpectedly the previous day. The Commission held that the operator never received the notice required by its procedural rules, so the…
Randy Pack
Personal penalty contest was timely after actual notice
MSHA assessed Randy Pack personally under section 110(c), but neither Pack nor his counsel received the proposed assessment after an earlier citation conference. They first learned of the penalty from a delinquency notice, and counsel later received the assessment attached to the Secretary's…
Michael Cline
Contest was timely after actual notice
MSHA proposed a personal penalty against Michael Cline under section 110(c) of the Mine Act, but the assessment was sent to his former office after he transferred from New York to Texas. Cline first learned of it through a forwarded delinquency letter, and his attorney obtained the assessment from…
John J. Stech, employed by Eighty-Four Mining Co.
John J. Stech (FMSHRC PENN 2005-232): Misdelivered penalty assessment remanded for assignment
John J. Stech, an individual charged under section 110(c), asked to reopen a penalty assessment after it was mailed to his counsel's office but delivered to an unrelated company on another floor. Counsel did not learn of the assessment until August 1, 2005, and Stech promptly stated that he…
Secretary of Labor v. Twentymile Coal Company
Training violation affirmed, penalty vacated
MSHA issued Twentymile Coal Company an order after miners worked to unplug a rock chute without task training, and one miner suffered serious, non-fatal head injuries when material spilled from the chute. The Commission held that the training violation was significant and substantial, found the…
CDK Contracting Company
Fatality-related penalty dismissal denied
CDK Contracting Company, a construction contractor, contested a citation and a proposed $100 penalty connected to a fatal accident at the Portland Plant and Quarry. CDK argued that MSHA proposed the penalty too late, about 16 months after issuing the citation and about 13 months after completing…
CDK Contracting Company
Penalty dismissal denied after fatality investigation delay
CDK Contracting Company contested eight of twelve citations and sought dismissal of the related civil penalty proceeding, arguing that MSHA proposed the penalties too late after a fatal accident investigation at the Portland Plant and Quarry. The penalties were proposed 13 to 15 months after the…
Asarco Incorporated
Motion to dismiss denied
Asarco asked the ALJ to dismiss two penalty cases, arguing that the Secretary could not assess penalties for imminent-danger orders issued under section 107(a). The Secretary responded that the combined documents also contained section 104(a) citations alleging violations of a safety standard, and…
Mariposa Aggregates
107 citations affirmed by default and $108,067 penalty assessed
Mariposa Aggregates contested proposed penalties for 107 citations and orders issued at its California quarry. The operator filed documents raising jurisdictional and other issues but did not answer the penalty petitions or state a substantive basis for contesting the citations. Judge Richard W…
J. Davidson & Sons Construction Company, Inc.
Show cause motion denied
J. Davidson & Sons Construction Company asked the judge to compel the Secretary to show good cause for not answering its notice of contest within the time the company claimed was required. The judge held that the rules Davidson relied on applied to pre-penalty contests, not to this civil penalty…
Mariposa Aggregates
Jurisdiction upheld
The Secretary sought civil penalties for 107 alleged violations at Mariposa Aggregates' California quarry. Mariposa disputed the Commission's jurisdiction and raised arguments based on private property, the Uniform Commercial Code, and other theories, without denying the individual citations and…
Brian Forbes, Employed by Hamilton Rock Products
Motion to reopen denied
Brian Forbes asked the Commission to reopen an individual civil penalty assessment under section 110(c) of the Mine Act. He said he lacked actual notice because MSHA's certified mail was sent to addresses where he did not personally receive it. Judge Paul Merlin found that MSHA repeatedly sent…
D. H. Blattner & Sons, Incorporated
Verbal-order contest dismissed
D. H. Blattner & Sons challenged an alleged verbal MSHA order requiring it to file a legal-identity notification or face shutdown. The judge explained that the Commission can review written citations and orders, but not an alleged verbal order. The judge dismissed the case and noted that the…
Art Beavers Construction Co.
Delayed penalty assessment upheld as reasonable
Art Beavers Construction contested a citation alleging that a miner's required training certificate was not available for inspection. The Secretary proposed the penalty 330 days after the citation was issued, and the operator argued that the delay required dismissal. Judge August F. Cetti found…
Wallace Brothers
Untimely contest dismissed
Wallace Brothers sought review of proposed civil penalty assessments after learning that the assessments had become final because they were not contested within 30 days. Judge Paul Merlin held that the Commission lacked jurisdiction to excuse the late contest. The operator's communications with…
Wallace Brothers
Late contest dismissed for lack of jurisdiction
Wallace Brothers received three citations at its portable crusher but did not contest the proposed assessment within 30 days. The operator's counsel later argued that MSHA had not served counsel with the assessment, that the operator had been denied a health and safety conference, and that the late…
What these documents are
- The agencies: Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental permit and penalty appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB). Each decision page names its agency.
- Commission and Board decisions: Rulings by the agency's highest review level (the Commission at OSHRC and FMSHRC, the Environmental Appeals Board at EPA). These are citable as precedent, though a decision may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance.
- ALJ decisions: Rulings by the agency's Administrative Law Judges after a hearing. When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order that binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent: under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j) at OSHRC, and after the 40-day window of 30 U.S.C. § 823(d)(1) at FMSHRC.
- Why finality matters: Every page here says which kind of decision you are reading, so you know whether it is precedent you can cite or a final order that only shows how one judge ruled on one set of facts.
- Where they come from: Every page links the official public release from the deciding agency, and the full text on the page is that release. The plain-English summaries are written by Ezel.