Sturm Ruger Co Inc v. Chao, Elaine

300 F.3d 867, 353 U.S. App. D.C. 245, 19 OSHC (BNA) 1969, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 17624, 2002 WL 1940202
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedAugust 23, 2002
Docket01-5111
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 300 F.3d 867 (Sturm Ruger Co Inc v. Chao, Elaine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sturm Ruger Co Inc v. Chao, Elaine, 300 F.3d 867, 353 U.S. App. D.C. 245, 19 OSHC (BNA) 1969, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 17624, 2002 WL 1940202 (D.C. Cir. 2002).

Opinion

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge GARLAND.

GARLAND, Circuit Judge:

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Data Collection Initiative as unlawful. The court concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the complaint, and that the company must pursue its claims through the review process prescribed by the Occupational Safety and Health Act. We agree.

I

We begin with a description of the statutory framework and of prior proceedings involving Sturm Ruger.

A

The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) authorizes the Secretary of La *868 bor to promulgate workplace safety and health standards, 29 U.S.C. § 655(b), as well as regulations “necessary or appropriate for the enforcement of [the Act] or for developing information regarding the causes and prevention of occupational accidents and illnesses,” id. § 657(c)(1). It further directs the Secretary to “prescribe regulations requiring employers to maintain accurate records of, and to make periodic reports on, work-related deaths, injuries and illnesses.” Id. § 657(c)(2). And it gives the Secretary enforcement power, authorizing her to issue citations and to assess penalties for violations of the Act and of the standards and regulations promulgated thereunder. Id. §§ 658, 659. The Secretary has delegated the bulk of these statutory responsibilities and authorities to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

While the OSH Act charges the Secretary with rulemaking and enforcement, it gives the task of “carrying out adjudicatory functions” to an independent entity, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC or the Commission). Id. § 651(b)(3); see Martin v. OSHRC, 499 U.S. 144, 147, 111 S.Ct. 1171, 1174, 113 L.Ed.2d 117 (1991) (explaining that the OSH Act “assigns distinct regulatory tasks to two different administrative actors”). Under the Act, employers may contest OSHA citations before OSHRC. 29 U.S.C. § 659(c). Such contests are heard first by an ALJ, whose decision becomes the final order of the Commission unless the Commission decides to hear the case. Id. § 661(J). Both employers and the Secretary may seek review of OSHRC orders in the courts of appeals. Id. § 660(a), (b). 1

In 1996, OSHA launched an annual survey called the Data Collection Initiative (DCI). See 62 Fed.Reg. 6434, 6434 (Feb. 11, 1997). Under the DCI, OSHA requires selected employers to report the number of workers they employed and the number of hours their employees worked during a specified period, as well as the number of work-related injuries and illnesses their employees suffered during that period. See, e.g., OSHA Data Collection Form for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 2000 (J.A. at 67). From this information, OSHA calculates injury/illness incidence rates, which it uses to identify establishments to target for inspection. See 62 Fed.Reg. at 6435; Secretary of Labor v. Sturm, Ruger & Co., OSHRC Nos. 99-1873 & 99-1874 (ALJ Order Den. Mot. to Suppress, July 5, 2000) [hereinafter July 2000 ALJ Order] (noting that OSHA uses the DCI to target “sites in high-hazard industries with average or above rates of injury and illness”). 2

*869 B

In April 1997, OSHA sent Sturm Ruger a DCI survey, requiring it to provide information regarding its Pine Tree Castings Division, a New Hampshire facility that manufactures steel investment castings. Sturm Ruger complied and returned the completed survey to OSHA. In June 1998, based on information in the survey, two OSHA compliance officers arrived at Pine Tree to inspect the facility. See 29 U.S.C. § 657(a) (providing that the Secretary may enter, inspect, and investigate workplaces as necessary to “carry out the purposes of [the Act]”)- Sturm Ruger refused to consent to the inspection, prompting OSHA to obtain a search warrant from the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire. See Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., 436 U.S. 307, 311, 98 S.Ct. 1816, 1819-20, 56 L.Ed.2d 305 (1978) (holding that OSHA must obtain a warrant to conduct nonconsensual inspections of business premises). When OSHA officers arrived to execute the warrant, Pine Tree employees prevented them from doing so. On the same day, Sturm Ruger moved to quash the warrant, arguing that the data used to target Pine Tree for inspection was derived from a survey that was not authorized by regulation, and that the warrant violated the Fourth Amendment.

On January 22, 1999, the district court denied the motion to quash and enforced the warrant. Sturm, Ruger & Co. v. United States, No. Civ. 98-418-JD, 2000 WL 36931, at *11 (D.N.H. Jan. 22, 1999). Sturm Ruger appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and sought a stay of execution of the warrant pending appeal. The First Circuit denied the stay, and OSHA executed the warrant. After inspecting the Pine Tree facility, OSHA announced that it was considering issuing citations for violations of safety and health standards discovered during the inspection. Sturm, Ruger & Co. v. OSHA, 186 F.3d 63, 63 (1st Cir.1999).

In August 1999, the First Circuit dismissed Sturm Ruger’s appeal for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. Noting that the OSHA inspection had already occurred and that citations could soon issue, the court of appeals held that Sturm Rug-er had to pursue its challenge by contesting the citations through the review process established by the OSH Act. The court noted that this process “would involve initial review by an administrative law judge, discretionary review by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, and eventual review by this court.” Id. at 63 (citing 29 U.S.C. §§ 659-61).

The First Circuit reached its conclusion notwithstanding Sturm Ruger’s insistence that its claim “involve[d] a ‘purely legal’ issue consisting of a ‘facial’ challenge” to the DCI. Id. at 64. The court found that Sturm Ruger had “not suggested that its claims cannot be adequately adjudicated in the ... anticipated enforcement proceeding,” id.

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Bluebook (online)
300 F.3d 867, 353 U.S. App. D.C. 245, 19 OSHC (BNA) 1969, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 17624, 2002 WL 1940202, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sturm-ruger-co-inc-v-chao-elaine-cadc-2002.