Missouri Laws 260.910 – Violations of dry-cleaning remediation laws — civil damages
1. No person shall:
(1) Operate an active dry-cleaning facility in violation of sections 260.900 to 260.960, rules and regulations adopted pursuant to sections 260.900 to 260.960 or orders of the director pursuant to sections 260.900 to 260.960, or operate an active dry-cleaning facility in violation of any other applicable federal or state environmental statutes, rules or regulations;
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 260.910
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
(2) Prevent or hinder a properly identified officer or employee of the department or other authorized agent of the director from entering, inspecting, sampling or responding to a release at reasonable times and with reasonable advance notice to the operator as authorized by sections 260.900 to 260.960;
(3) Knowingly make any false material statement or representation in any record, report or other document filed, maintained or used for the purpose of compliance with sections 260.900 to 260.960;
(4) Knowingly destroy, alter or conceal any record required to be maintained by sections 260.900 to 260.960 or rules and regulations adopted pursuant to sections 260.900 to 260.960;
(5) Willfully allow a release in excess of a reportable quantity or knowingly fail to make an immediate response to a release in accordance with sections 260.900 to 260.960 and rules and regulations pursuant to sections 260.900 to 260.960.
2. The director may bring a civil damages action against any person who violates any provisions of subsection 1 of this section. Such civil damages may be assessed in an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars for each violation and are in addition to any other penalty assessed by law.
3. In assessing any civil damages pursuant to this section, a court of competent jurisdiction shall consider, when applicable, the following factors:
(1) The extent to which the violation presents a hazard to human health;
(2) The extent to which the violation has or may have an adverse effect on the environment;
(3) The amount of the reasonable costs incurred by the state in detection and investigation of the violation; and
(4) The economic savings realized by the person in not complying with the provision for which a violation is charged.