South Carolina Code 48-43-840. Sale, purchase or the like of illegal oil, gas, or products prohibited; actions for seizure and sale
(B) Illegal oil, illegal gas, and illegal product are declared to be contraband and are subject to seizure and sale as herein provided. Seizure and sale shall be in addition to any and all other remedies and penalties provided in this chapter for violations relating to illegal oil, illegal gas, or illegal product. Whenever the department believes that any oil, gas, or product is illegal, the department, acting by the Attorney General, shall bring a civil action in rem in the court of common pleas of the county where such oil, gas, or product is found, to seize and sell the same, or the department may include such an action in rem in any suit brought for an injunction or penalty involving illegal oil, illegal gas, or illegal product. Any person claiming an interest in oil, gas, or product affected by such action in rem shall have the right to intervene as an interested party in such action.
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 48-43-840
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
- Certificate of Clearance: means a permit prescribed by the department for the transportation or the delivery of oil or gas or product. See South Carolina Code 48-43-10
- Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Department: means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 48-43-10
- Gas: means all natural gas and all other fluid hydrocarbons not hereinabove defined as oil, including condensate because it originally was in the gaseous phase in the reservoir. See South Carolina Code 48-43-10
- Illegal Gas: means gas that has been produced from any well within the State in excess of the quantity permitted by any rule, regulation, or order of the department. See South Carolina Code 48-43-10
- Illegal Oil: means oil that has been produced from any well within the State in excess of the quantity permitted by any rule, regulation, or order of the department. See South Carolina Code 48-43-10
- Illegal Product: means any product derived in whole or in part from illegal oil or illegal gas. See South Carolina Code 48-43-10
- Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
- 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.
- Oil: means crude petroleum oil and all other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced in liquid form by ordinary production methods, but does not include liquid hydrocarbons that were originally in a gaseous phase in the reservoir. See South Carolina Code 48-43-10
- Person: means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, or other representatives of any kind, and includes any government or any political subdivision or any agency thereof. See South Carolina Code 48-43-10
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- Product: means any commodity made from oil or gas, and includes refined crude oil, crude tops, topped crude, processed crude, processed crude petroleum, residue from crude petroleum, cracking stock, uncracked fuel oil, fuel oil, treated crude oil, residuum, gas oil, casinghead gasoline, natural gas gasoline, kerosene, benzine, wash oil, waste oil, blended gasoline, lubrication oil, blends or mixtures of oil with one or more liquid products or by-products derived from oil or gas, and blends or mixtures of two or more liquid products or by-products derived from oil or gas, whether herein enumerated or not. See South Carolina Code 48-43-10
- Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
(C) Actions for seizure and sale of illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product shall be strictly in rem, and shall proceed in the name of the state as plaintiff against the oil, gas or product as defendant. No bond or similar undertaking shall be required of the plaintiff. The action for seizure and sale shall be commenced in the court of common pleas for the county in which the oil, gas or product is situated by a summons and complaint which shall be verified or supported by affidavits. When the verified complaint or complaint and supporting affidavits set forth sufficient facts to support the seizure and sale of the illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal products, the clerk of court of the county in which such oil, gas or product is situated or the judge of the judicial circuit which has jurisdiction to hear matters arising in the county shall issue a warrant directed to the sheriff of the county for service upon any and all persons having or claiming any interest in the oil, gas or product described in the complaint. The warrant shall direct the sheriff to take such oil, gas or product into his custody until such time as the court has heard the action on its merits and the matter has been fully adjudicated. The original summons and complaint and warrant shall be filed with the clerk of court for the county by the plaintiff with the sheriff’s affidavit of service attached when service has been accomplished in the manner set forth herein by the sheriff. All persons having or claiming any interest in the oil, gas or product described in the complaint must appear and answer the complaint within twenty days after the service of such summons and complaint. Service of the summons and complaint and warrant by posting copies on the door of the courthouse for the county in which the oil, gas or product described in the complaint is situated, by posting copies in the immediate vicinity of the place where such oil, gas or product is located and by publishing the summons and complaint and warrant in any newspaper of general circulation in the county in which such oil, gas or product is located in four consecutive issues of the newspaper shall constitute valid and sufficient service on all persons having or claiming any interest in the such oil, gas or product.
Any person who fails to appear and answer the complaint within twenty days after service of the summons and complaint and warrant shall be forever barred by any judgment obtained by the plaintiff. The service of the summons and complaint and warrant as provided herein shall place the State in constructive or actual possession, as the case may be, of the oil, gas or product.
(D) Any person having an interest in any oil, gas or product which has been seized in accordance with the provisions of Section C may, prior to the sale thereof, obtain the release thereof, upon furnishing bond to the sheriff, approved by the clerk of court, in an amount equal to one hundred and fifty percent of the market value of the oil, gas or product to be released pending a final adjudication of the action on its merits.
(E) If the court, after a hearing upon the complaint for the seizure and sale of oil, gas, or product, finds that such oil, gas, or product is contraband, the court shall order the sale thereof by the sheriff in the same manner and upon the same notice of sale as provided by law for the sale of personal property on execution of judgment entered in a civil action, except that the court may order that the oil, gas, or product be sold in specified lots or portions and at specified intervals. Upon such sale, title to the oil, gas, or product sold shall vest in the purchaser free of the claims of any and all persons having any title thereto or interest therein at or prior to the seizure thereof, and the same shall be legal oil, legal gas, or legal products, as the case may be, in the hands of the purchaser.
(F) All proceeds derived from the sale of illegal oil, illegal gas, or illegal product, as above provided, after payment of costs of suit and expenses incident to the sale and all amounts paid as penalties provided for by this chapter, shall be paid into the State Treasury for the use of the department in defraying its expenses in the same manner as other funds provided by law for the use of the department.