Richard Godwin v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission

The issue in this appeal is whether Les Mares Enterprises, Inc. (hereafter “Les Mares”) was an “employer engaged in a business affecting commerce” and therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 ( 29 U.S.C. § 651 , et seq.) (hereafter the “Act”). We hold that Les Mares was such an employer and we reverse the decision of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (hereafter the “Commission”).

In late 1972, Les Mares owned several hundred acres of Napa Valley land, and it had employees engaged in clearing the land. As part of the. clearing operation it was using a guillotine-like wood-chopping machine. The machine caused repeated employee complaints and accidents, including one incident in which a worker, petitioner Richard Godwin, lost three fingers from his right hand.

Pursuant to a routine inspection conducted by an authorized representative of the Secretary of Labor, Les Mares was cited on March 5, 1973, for a violation of 29 U.S.C. § 654 (a)(1), for failing to furnish its employees “employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious…

(concurring):

I reluctantly concur. The event in question occurred during the cutting of timber, the plan of the land owner being that after the land was cleared, grapevines would be planted, grapes would be grown, wine would be produced therefrom and, eventually, a portion of the wine would be sold in interstate commerce. It requires no great imagination to envision any number of circumstances that could have prevented the fulfillment of the eventual objective. For that reason, it is almost inconceivable to me that an accident at such an early stage could be held to have an interstate nexus, a nexus based on nothing more than the avowed intention of one man to do something sometime in the future that would involve interstate commerce. To me, it is virtually unthinkable that the Founding Fathers could have foreseen the extent to which an increasingly expansive interpretation of the Commerce Clause could so infringe local authority.

Notwithstanding all of the foregoing, in light of Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 , 63 S.Ct. 82 , 87 L.Ed. 122 (1942), Farmers Irrigation Co. v. McComb, 337 U.S. 755 , 69 S.Ct. 1274 , 93 L.Ed. 1672 (1949), and Hodgson v. Ewing, 451 F.2d 526 (5th Cir.…

540 F.2d 1013 4 O.S.H. Cas.(BNA) 1603, 1976-1977 O.S.H.D. ( 21,084 Richard GODWIN, Petitioner, v. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION, Respondent. No. 75-2196. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Aug. 16, 1976. David A. Rosenfeld of Van Bourg, Allen, Weinberg, Williams & Roger, San Francisco, Cal., for petitioner. Robert K. Salyers, Jr., Atty. of U. S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, D. C., for respondent.OPINION Before CARTER and ELY, Circuit Judges, and BURNS, * District Judge. JAMES M. CARTER, Circuit Judge: 1 The issue in this appeal is whether Les Mares Enterprises, Inc. (hereafter "Les Mares") was an "employer engaged in a business affecting commerce" and therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 ( 29 U.S.C. § 651 , et seq.) (hereafter the "Act"). We hold that Les Mares was such an employer and we reverse the decision of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (hereafter the "Commission"). 2 In late 1972, Les Mares owned several hundred acres of Napa Valley land, and it had employees engaged in clearing the land. As part of the clearing operation it was using a guillotine-like…