Marshall v. Milwaukee Boiler Manufacturing Co.

626 F.2d 1339, 8 BNA OSHC 1923, 8 OSHC (BNA) 1923, 1980 U.S. App. LEXIS 15167
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 4, 1980
DocketNo. 79-2164
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 626 F.2d 1339 (Marshall v. Milwaukee Boiler Manufacturing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marshall v. Milwaukee Boiler Manufacturing Co., 626 F.2d 1339, 8 BNA OSHC 1923, 8 OSHC (BNA) 1923, 1980 U.S. App. LEXIS 15167 (7th Cir. 1980).

Opinion

PELL, Circuit Judge.

This appeal is from a district court order holding the appellants, Milwaukee Boiler Manufacturing Company, Inc., and Richard W. Stevens, President, (hereinafter collectively the Company) in contempt for a refusal to comply with an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection warrant and denying the Company’s motion to quash the warrant.

On February 8, 1979 an OSHA compliance officer who appeared at the Company’s plant in Milwaukee for the purpose of conducting an inspection was refused entry on the ground that he did not have a warrant. On April 26, 1979, a compliance officer of OSHA appeared before a magistrate in Milwaukee and presented an application for an inspection warrant. Apparently the magistrate declined to issue the requested warrant at the time and the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) requested leave to brief the matter. The status remained unchanged at the time of the death of the magistrate. Subsequently, a hearing was held before another magistrate on September 13, 1979, at which time a warrant was issued. A copy of the pertinent portion of the warrant application is set forth in the margin.1

Four days later, a compliance officer appeared at the Company with a warrant whereupon the Company again declined to permit the inspection, stating that the warrant was not issued with probable cause therefor. A hearing was held in the district court on October 5, 1979, on the Secretary’s petition for a finding of contempt and on the motion of the Company to quash the warrant. The district court, ruling from the bench, granted the Secretary’s requested relief and denied that sought by the Company. This appeal followed and this court, after granting a temporary stay, denied the appellants’ motion for a stay pending appeal.

An initial question appears to us to be presented, being whether this appeal should be disposed of on the ground of mootness. In the ordinary situation involving contempt proceedings, the object of the proceedings is given the uncomfortable choice of waiving his rights or standing firm and suffering the consequences of being in contempt during what may be a protracted period of review. See United States v. Ryan, 402 U.S. 530, 532-33, 91 S.Ct. 1580, 1581-82, 29 L.Ed.2d 85 (1971).

Here, however, the Company, after having failed to secure a stay of the order, did permit the inspection which is now a fait accompli. Cf. Federal Trade Commission v. Stroiman, 428 F.2d 808 (8th Cir. 1970). It is well established, however, that an action will not be deemed moot where questions are presented which are “capable of repetition, yet evading review.” See, e. g., Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 125, 93 S.Ct. 705, 713, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973); Southern Pacific Terminal Co. v. ICC, 219 U.S. 498, 31 S.Ct. 279, 55 L.Ed. 310 (1911). The rationale of cases advancing this ground for non-[1342]*1342application of the mootness doctrine generally stem from the fact that (1) the plaintiffs have alleged the existence of a federal right; and (2) the right was alleged to be the subject of an existing violation at the time the complaint was filed. That the right would be subjected to future violations was not a matter of speculation or conjecture but was a reasonable expectation because of the existence of a statute or course of conduct of sufficient permanence to amount to what the Supreme Court called the “brooding presence” in Super Tire Engineering Co. v. McCorkle, 416 U.S. 115, 122, 94 S.Ct. 1694, 1698, 40 L.Ed.2d 1 (1974). We have some difficulty here in being certain that there is an element of capability of repetition sufficient to avoid mootness. Nevertheless, we are satisfied for other reasons that this action is not moot and that there is a sufficient case or controversy inherent in the present appeal.

We are mindful that the Act’s penalty provisions mandate substantial penalties for each serious or nonserious violation and even higher penalties for repeated or willful violations, and also that criminal penalties are provided by the Act. While the present proceedings are civil in nature, there are at least quasi-criminal aspects. This court has held in connection with the concurrent sentencing rule that collateral consequences are presumed to result from any conviction. United States v. Tanner, 471 F.2d 128, 140 (7th Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 949, 93 S.Ct. 269, 34 L.Ed.2d 220. In the civil area of habeas corpus petitions, even where the applicant has been released from custody, the continuing effects of conviction will prevent mootness. Carafas v. LaVallee, 391 U.S. 234, 88 S.Ct. 1556, 20 L.Ed.2d 554 (1968). Further, we note that the ultimate relief sought in the present proceedings by the Company is to suppress the results of the inspection which has, in fact, been made. The Secretary argues that suppression would be inappropriate even if this court found that there was no basis for the issuance of the warrant. Such an issue, whether ultimately it need be reached or decided in the present case or not, would seem to be an independent case or controversy. Accordingly, we are of the opinion that the action is not moot. Neither of the parties contends otherwise.

Subsequent to the Supreme Court’s decision in Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., 436 U.S. 307, 98 S.Ct. 1816, 56 L.Ed.2d 305 (1978),2 this court has had several occasions to consider the sufficiency of warrant applications: In the Matter of Establishment Inspection of Northwest Airlines, Inc., 587 F.2d 12 (7th Cir. 1978); In the Matter of Establishment Inspection of Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing Co., 589 F.2d 1335 (7th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 100 S.Ct. 174;3 Weyerhaeuser v. Marshall, 592 F.2d 373 (7th Cir. 1979).

In each of these cases the attention of this court was directed to whether the application for the warrant afforded the magistrate sufficient factual data to conclude that an administrative inspection was reasonable and that a warrant should issue. This, in essence, involved a facial examination of the application. The focus of the Company in the present case is quite different. We do not read the Company’s position here as seriously contending that facially the application was deficient. If such were the contention we would have little difficulty in disposing of the present case under Chromalloy

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626 F.2d 1339, 8 BNA OSHC 1923, 8 OSHC (BNA) 1923, 1980 U.S. App. LEXIS 15167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marshall-v-milwaukee-boiler-manufacturing-co-ca7-1980.