New York Paralegal Blog

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration today announced that its order charging Pine Ridge Coal Co. LLC of Seth, W.Va., with committing an unwarrantable failure to comply with the law has been upheld by Administrative Law Judge Thomas McCarthy. The order stemmed from the operator's violation of 30 C.F.R. § 50.10, which requires mine operators to notify MSHA of any reportable roof falls without delay – but within no more than 15 minutes – once the operator knows or should know that a reportable accident has occurred. Pine Ridge waited four days to notify MSHA of the roof collapse that took place at the Big Mountain Number 16 mine located in Boone County, W.Va., and notified MSHA only after the fall was discovered by an MSHA inspector and the violation cited. McCarthy found that the operator's delay was unreasonable and resulted from reckless disregard for its obligations under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. The...

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in Chicago to block the proposed acquisition by JBS S.A., currently the third-largest U.S. beef packer, of National Beef Packing Company LLC, the fourth-largest U.S. beef packer. The Department said that the proposed deal would combine two of the top four U.S. beef packers resulting in lower prices paid to cattle suppliers and higher beef prices for consumers. The Attorneys General of Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming are joining the Department’s lawsuit. JBS, headquartered in Brazil, is in the process of acquiring Smithfield Beef Group Inc. from Smithfield Foods Inc. The Department is not challenging JBS’s acquisition of Smithfield Beef Group Inc. In 2007, JBS purchased Colorado-based Swift Foods Company. Beef packers purchase annually $30 billion in fed cattle from feedlots, slaughter them, and pr...