Lack of Process Safety Contributes to Shutdown of Fish Products Company
Posted on Mar 31, 2014
Following a bench trial, a U.S. District Judge in the Eastern District of New York issued an injunction prohibiting two seafood production companies and their senior management from producing food products at a Brooklyn facility that the U.S. Government claimed was noncompliant with the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. Specifically, the judge found that the conditions at the facility constituted unsanitary conditions that had become contaminated and were injurious to health pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 342(a)(4). The judge’s findings of...
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Sixth Circuit Reverses District Judge’s Grant of Summary Judgment for Paper Mill for Jury To Determine Whether Certain Work Is the Kind Its Employees Would Perform
Posted on Mar 28, 2014
The estate of an employee of a crane manufacturing and service company who was fatally electrocuted filed a wrongful death action against the paper mill where the worker was performing electrical work on a crane at the time of the injury. The district court granted summary judgment to the paper mill on the basis that it was entitled to “up-the-ladder” immunity under Kentucky’s workers’ compensation scheme (the estate received workers’ compensation benefits through the crane manufacturer’s plan). Under Kentucky’s regime, the key is whether actual work being performed at the time of the...
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Fourth Circuit Rules that Every “Operator” Has Unconditional Duty To Report Occupational Injuries to MSHA
Posted on Mar 27, 2014
The Mine Safety and Health Administration requires “Each operator” to report “each accident, occupational injury, or occupational illness at the mine” to MSHA within ten working days on a MSHA Mine Accident, Injury, and Illness Report Form 7000-1. Following an injury at an underground Virginia coal mine, a temporary labor agency that provided the miner to the mine reported the injury to MSHA, but the owner-operator of the mine did not, claiming its policy was not to report occupational injuries suffered by employees of an independent contractor (even though it acknowledged that it was an...
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Colorado Worker Cannot Bypass OSHA’s Whistleblower Jurisdiction and Sue Employer for for Common Law Violation of Public Policy
Posted on Mar 27, 2014
The Tenth Circuit upheld summary judgment in favor of an oilfield services company on a former senior engineer’s Colorado common law claims that he had been terminated for repeatedly reporting safety concerns related to confined space entries. The common law claims were not available given OSHA’s exclusive jurisdiction over retaliatory discharges against employees for reporting safety violations. Those complaints have to be filed with OSHA within 30 days of the alleged retaliatory action, and in this case, failing to meet that statute of limitations did not allow the worker to circumvent...
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Georgia Warehouse Owner Owed No Legal Duty To Provide Fall Protection to Employees of Trucking Company When at Warehouse
Posted on Mar 27, 2014
The Court of Appeals of Georgia affirmed summary judgment in favor of a warehouse owner where a trucking company employee fell off a loaded truck at the warehouse facility. The worker argued that OSHA required the facility owner to provide fall protection to prove the facility owner had a legal duty to the worker for purposes of a negligence analysis. The court, however, agreed with the facility owner’s OSHA expert that there was no feasible means of providing fall protection for employees who are on vehicles and trailers when the employee must be on the vehicle or trailer to perform his...
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District Judge Considers Proffered Expert Testimony in Air Pollution Case Against Pennsylvania Coal-Fired Electric Generating Facility
Posted on Mar 25, 2014
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania considered multiple challenges to proffered expert testimony in its cases dealing with air pollution events from a coal-fired electric generating facility in 2006 and 2007 that allegedly caused property damage and adverse health effects. The judge determined that the plaintiffs’ environmental engineering expert could not opine on the legal issue of whether the defendant’s operations violated regulations governing coal-fired power plants or medical issues such as the effect of the emissions on health. However, the plaintiffs’...
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Trustee Turns to Oil Shipper in Lac-Mégantic Litigation, Highlighting Emerging Trend
Posted on Mar 25, 2014
Earlier this year, the bankruptcy trustee for Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway filed a Complaint in the adversary proceeding in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maine against a crude oil shipper for negligence in allegedly misclassifying the Bakken crude oil it was shipping by rail. According to the Complaint, “Had defendants properly classified, identified and labeled the train’s crude oil cargo, [the railroad] could and would have taken steps that would have avoided the derailment.” The Complaint highlights an emerging trend – while the initial litigation and regulatory...
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