Opinion ID: 464611
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 Brooks Woolen Co. (Brooks) produces textiles at a plant in Sanford, Maine. On October 3, 1978, a compliance officer for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) received a telephoned complaint from an employee of Brooks alleging unsafe conditions relating to carding machines in the plant. Two weeks later, the compliance officer sought to conduct an inspection of the plant, but the company refused to allow it. The compliance officer obtained a warrant from a United States magistrate and eventually inspected Brooks' workplace pursuant to the warrant. OSHA subsequently cited Brooks for a number of alleged violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. Secs. 651-678. Brooks contested the citations, which triggered proceedings before the Occupational Safety and Health Commission (the Commission). 3 In January 1979, while Commission proceedings were pending, Brooks filed an action in federal court in Massachusetts challenging the warrant application for failing to establish probable cause and seeking suppression of the evidence obtained in the inspection of Brooks' facility. The district court dismissed Brooks' action on October 19, 1979, finding that Brooks had failed to exhaust its administrative remedies and that it had not met its burden of demonstrating that its objections to the warrant required an evidentiary hearing. 4 Meanwhile, Brooks had simultaneously been challenging the sufficiency of the warrant affidavit in proceedings before the Commission. At a hearing on August 16, 1979, the Commission ALJ denied Brooks' motion to stay the administrative proceedings in light of the federal court action, and granted Brooks discovery relevant to the claim that the warrant application contained one or more false statements made knowingly, intentionally or with reckless disregard for the truth. A hearing on Brooks' motion to suppress was held October 9, 1979, ten days before the district court dismissed the complaint before it. On March 27, 1980, the ALJ issued his decision, invalidating the warrant, suppressing the evidence obtained during the inspection, and vacating the citations against Brooks. 5 The Secretary of Labor petitioned for review, which was granted, but the Review Commission was unable to obtain the majority vote needed to take affirmative action. The Review Commission therefore agreed to vacate the direction for review, leaving the ALJ's decision as the final Commission order. The Secretary then appealed to this court.