Montana Code 10-3-1216. Cost recovery and civil remedies
10-3-1216. Cost recovery and civil remedies. (1) Cost recovery is the duty of the city or county having authority where an incident occurred.
Terms Used In Montana Code 10-3-1216
- Commission: means the state emergency response commission. See Montana Code 10-3-1203
- Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Hazardous material: means a hazardous substance, a hazardous or deleterious substance as defined in 75-10-701, radioactive material, or a combination of a hazardous substance, a hazardous or deleterious substance, and radioactive material. See Montana Code 10-3-1203
- Local emergency response authority: means the agency designated by the city or county to be responsible for the management of a hazardous material incident at the local level. See Montana Code 10-3-1203
- Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Plan: means the hazardous material response support plan. See Montana Code 10-3-1203
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- threatened release: means an indication of the possibility of the release of a hazardous material into the environment. See Montana Code 10-3-1203
(2)The commission shall ensure the recovery of state expenditures according to the plan.
(3)A person responsible for an incident is liable for attorney fees and costs of the commission incurred in recovering costs associated with responding to an incident.
(4)The remedy for the recovery of emergency response costs identified in this part is in addition to any other remedy for recovery of the costs provided by applicable federal or state law.
(5)Any person who receives compensation for the emergency response costs pursuant to any other federal or state law is precluded from recovering compensation for those costs pursuant to this chapter.
(6)Except for the commission, the regional hazardous material incident response team, and the local emergency response authority, this part does not otherwise affect or modify in any way the obligations or liability of any person under any other provision of state or federal law, including common law, for damages, injury, or loss resulting from the release or threatened release of any hazardous material or for remedial action or the costs of remedial action for a release or threatened release.
(7)Any person who is not a liable party under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, 42 U.S.C. § 9601, et seq., as amended, or the Comprehensive Environmental Cleanup and Responsibility Act, Title 75, chapter 10, part 7, and who renders assistance in response to an emergency situation associated with an incident may file a civil action against the responsible party for recoverable costs that have not been reimbursed by the state.
(8)Recoveries by the state for reimbursed costs under this section must be deposited in the environmental contingency account to offset amounts paid as reimbursement.