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.
No decisions match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
Alan Fox, Gary W. Bennett, Charles Burggraf, and Eldon Ray Evans, employed by Amax Coal Co.
Alan Fox, Gary W. Bennett, Charles Burggraf, and Eldon Ray Evans (FMSHRC LAKE 95-299, et al.): Individual penalty proceedings dismissed
The Secretary sought individual civil penalties against four Amax Coal managers after MSHA issued an order alleging a combustible-material accumulation near a conveyor belt at the Wabash Mine. Judge Gary Melick held that the delay-based dismissal argument did not justify ending the section 110(c)…
Cedar Creek Quarries, Inc.
Dismissal motions denied and cases consolidated
Cedar Creek Quarries' president and a foreman asked the judge to dismiss civil-penalty petitions alleging knowing violations of mine safety standards. They argued that the delay between the alleged violations and notice of personal liability was unfair, that Mine Act section 110(c) was…
Secretary of Labor v. Curtis Crick, James Bo Jones, and Charley Wright
Individual penalty cases dismissed as untimely
The Secretary sought individual civil penalties against three Island Creek Coal Company agents for an alleged violation involving coal accumulations under 30 C.F.R. § 75.400. The penalty petitions were filed 70 days after the respondents' notices of contest, beyond the 45-day period in Commission…
Rhone-Poulenc of Wyoming Co.
Late penalty filing denied and case dismissed
MSHA issued a citation to Rhone-Poulenc of Wyoming Co. and notified the operator of a proposed $1,000 penalty 237 days later. The Secretary filed the penalty proposal two weeks after the Commission deadline and attributed the delay to changes in the assessment process, a prior enforcement program…
M. Jamieson Company
Late penalty filing accepted
The Secretary filed a civil penalty petition after the deadline because the case file had been placed with another pending matter. The Chief Administrative Law Judge found that the delay was relatively short, the response to the show-cause order was prompt, and the operator had not shown prejudice…
River Cement Company
Late penalty petition dismissed
River Cement Company moved to dismiss the Secretary's civil-penalty petition as untimely. Judge John J. Morris found that the Secretary filed the petition seven days after the 45-day deadline in Commission Rule 27(a), and that the Secretary's explanations of inadvertence and multiple responses did…
River Cement Company
Two late penalty petitions dismissed
River Cement Company moved to dismiss two civil-penalty petitions as untimely. Judge John J. Morris found that the Secretary filed both petitions 23 days after the 45-day deadline in Commission Rule 27(a), and that a change in processing policy and reliance on an internal date stamp did not…
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.