Goodyear Atomic Corporation v. Miller

• Decision Date: 23 May 1988
• Docket Number: No. 86-1172,86-1172
• Citation: 108 S.Ct. 1704,100 L.Ed.2d 158,486 U.S. 174
• Parties: GOODYEAR ATOMIC CORPORATION, Appellant v. Esto MILLER and Industrial Commission of Ohio
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

486 U.S. 174

108 S.Ct. 1704

100 L.Ed.2d 158

GOODYEAR ATOMIC CORPORATION, Appellant

v Esto MILLER and Industrial Commission of Ohio.

No. 86-1172.

Argued Jan. 19, 1988.

Decided May 23, 1988.

Syllabus

Appellee Miller, an employee of appellant at an Ohio nuclear production facility owned by the United States but operated by appellant, a private contractor, received a workers' compensation award from appellee Ohio Industrial Commission (Commission) for injuries sustained in a fall allegedly caused by a bolt protruding from the scaffold on which he was working. On the basis of a state safety regulation prohibiting scaffolds from having projecting parts, Miller then sought a supplemental award under a state constitutional provision authorizing such an award when an injury is caused by an employer's failure to comply with any specific state safety requirement. The Commission denied the claim, but the State Court of Appeals ordered the Commission to consider Miller's supplemental application. The State Supreme Court affirmed, ruling that federal law did not pre-empt Ohio from applying safety requirements unrelated to radiation hazards to nuclear facilities.

Held:

1. This Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1257(2), since the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the application of the State's additional-award provision to the facility in question as against the contention that such application violated the Supremacy Clause of the Federal Constitution. Cf. Japan Line, Ltd. v. County of Los Angeles, 441 U.S. 434, 99 S.Ct. 1813, 60 L.Ed.2d 336. Application of the "pragmatic approach" utilized in Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469, 486, 95 S.Ct. 1029, 1042, 43 L.Ed.2d 328, compels the conclusion that the state court's judgment was "final" within the meaning of § 1257(2) even though further proceedings before the Commission are anticipated, since the judgment finally determined the federal pre-emption question, and a reversal of that judgment would preclude any further proceedings. Moreover, even if appellant prevails before the Commission on non-federal grounds, the State Supreme Court's unreviewed decision might seriously erode federal nuclear production policy by sanctioning direct state regulation of nonradiological hazards at the only facility producing nuclear fuel for the Navy, and has important implications for the regulation of federally owned nuclear production facilities in other States. Pp. 178-180.

2. The Supremacy Clause does not bar Ohio from applying its additional-award provision to a private contractor operating a federally owned nuclear production facility that performs a federal function. Such facilities are shielded from direct state regulation, even though the federal function is carried out by a private contractor, unless Congress provides "clear and unambiguous" authorization for such regulation. Hancock v. Train, 426 U.S. 167, 96 S.Ct. 2006, 48 L.Ed.2d 555. Even if the additional-award provision is sufficiently akin to direct state regulation to be potentially barred by the Supremacy Clause, 40 U.S.C. § 290—which empowers States to apply "workmen's compensation laws" to federal premises to the same extent as such laws are applied to private facilities—unambiguously provides the requisite clear congressional authorization for the application of the provision. The contention that the above-quoted, undefined phrase applies only to typical workers' compensation Acts and not to the additional-award provision cannot be squared with § 290's plain language, which places no express limitation on the type of workers' compensation scheme that is authorized, or with the statute's history, which demonstrates that, at the time of its enactment, a substantial number of States provided additional awards for violation of safety regulations, a matter of which Congress was presumably aware. The fact that, in enacting § 290, Congress rejected a proposal that would have authorized States to apply their safety and insurance laws directly to federal projects does not preclude, and is in fact consistent with, the allowance of additional-award provisions' incidental regulatory effects, which are significantly less intrusive than direct regulation on the operation of federal projects. Pp. 180-186.

26 Ohio St.3d 110, 497 N.E.2d 76, affirmed.

MARSHALL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., and BRENNAN, BLACKMUN, STEVENS, and SCALIA, JJ., joined. WHITE, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which O'CONNOR, J., joined, post, p. ----. KENNEDY, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

Robert E. Tait, Columbus, Ohio, for appellant by Thomas W. Merrill, for the U.S. as amicus curiae, supporting appellant, by special leave of Court.

Stewart R. Jaffy, Columbus, Ohio, for appellees.

Justice MARSHALL delivered the opinion of the Court.

The issue presented in this case is whether the Supremacy Clause bars the State of Ohio from subjecting a private contractor operating a federally owned nuclear production facility to a state-law workers' compensation provision that provides an increased award for injuries resulting from an employer's violation of a state safety regulation.

I

This case arises from an accident involving a worker at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a nuclear production facility located near Piketon, Ohio. The plant is owned by the United States, but at all times relevant to this action it was operated by a private company, appellant Goodyear Atomic Corporation, under contract with the Department of Energy (DOE). On July 30, 1980, appellee Esto Miller, a maintenance mechanic employed by Goodyear at the Portsmouth plant, fell from a scaffold while performing routine maintenance work and fractured his left ankle. His fall apparently was caused when his glove caught on a bolt protruding from the guardrail of the scaffolding. Miller applied to the Ohio Industrial Commission for an award under the State's workers' compensation program, for which Goodyear pays premiums to cover its Portsmouth employees. He received about $9,000 in workers' compensation.

After returning to work, Miller filed an application for an additional award on the ground that his injury had resulted from Goodyear's violation of a state safety requirement. Miller alleged that his fall was caused by Goodyear's failure to comply with Ohio Admin.Code § 4121:1-5-03(D)(2) (1987), which provides that "[e]xposed surfaces [on scaffolds] shall be free from sharp edges, burrs or other projecting parts." The Ohio Constitution provides that when an injury is caused by an employer's failure to comply with a specific state safety requirement, the Industrial Commission shall provide an additional award of 15% to 50% of the benefits already received. Ohio Const., Art. II, § 35. The state insurance fund recoups these additional payments by increasing the premium paid by the employer. Ibid.

The Ohio Industrial Commission denied Miller's claim for a supplemental award. The Commission held that "the [Ohio] Codes of Specific Safety Requirements . . . may not be applied to the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant under the doctrine of federal preemption." Claim No. 80-19975 (Mar. 8, 1983), App. 18. Miller filed a mandamus action in the Ohio Court of Appeals, seeking an order directing the Industrial Commission to consider his application. The court held that "[u]ntil it is clear that the federal government has preempted the field of safety regulation for safety hazards unrelated to radiation, . . . state specific safety regulations that give rise to an award for violation thereof are equally applicable to an entity that contracts with the federal government for operation of a nuclear power facility owned exclusively by the federal government." No. 84AP-208 (July 25, 1985), App. 17. The court therefore ordered the Industrial Commission to consider Miller's claim that he was due an additional award because his injury was caused by a violation of a state safety regulation.

A divided Ohio Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals. State ex rel. Miller v. Ohio Industrial Comm'n, 26 Ohio St.3d 110, 497 N.E.2d 76 (1986) (per curiam ). Relying on the federal pre-emption analysis of Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Corp., 464 U.S. 238, 104 S.Ct. 615, 78 L.Ed.2d 443 (1984), the court held that the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 68 Stat. 919, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2011 et seq. (1982 ed. and Supp. IV) did not pre-empt Ohio from applying workers' compensation safety requirements unrelated to radiation hazards to nuclear facilities. 26 Ohio St.3d, at 111-112, 497 N.E.2d, at 77-78. In dissent, Justice Wright agreed with Goodyear's separate claim, not addressed by the majority, that in the absence of clearly expressed authorization from Congress, the Supremacy Clause barred the application of the state workers' compensation safety requirements to a federally owned facility. Justice Wright argued that Congress had not provided the necessary clear authorization to justify the application of the Ohio workers' compensation scheme. Id., at 112-115, 497 N.E.2d, at 78-80. We noted probable jurisdiction of Goodyear's appeal, 483 U.S. 1004, 107 S.Ct. 3226, 97 L.Ed.2d 733 (1987), and now affirm the judgment of the Ohio Supreme Court on different reasoning.

II

Although neither party contests our appellate jurisdiction over this case, we must independently determine as a threshold matter that we have jurisdiction. See Brown Shoe Co. v. United States, 370 U.S. 294, 305-306, 82 S.Ct. 1502, 1513, 8 L.Ed.2d 510 (1962). Title 28 U.S.C. § 1257(2) gives this Court appellate jurisdiction over final judgments by the highest court of a State where the validity of a state statute is drawn in question on the ground of its being repugnant to the Constitution and the decision is in favor of its validity. "[A] state statute is sustained within the meaning of § 1257(2) when a state court holds it applicable to a particular set of facts as...