Michigan Laws 324.20131 – Limitations on liability; circumstances requiring total costs and damages
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(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), the liability under this part for each release or threat of release shall not exceed the total of all the costs of response activities, fines, and exemplary damages, plus $50,000,000.00 damages for injury to, destruction of, or loss of natural resources resulting from the release or threat of release, including the reasonable costs of assessing the injury, destruction, or loss resulting from the release or threat of release.
(2) Notwithstanding the limitations in subsection (1), the liability of a person under this part shall be the full and total costs and damages listed in subsection (1), in either of the following circumstances:
Terms Used In Michigan Laws 324.20131
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Hazardous substance: means 1 or more of the following, but does not include fruit, vegetable, or field crop residuals or processing by-products, or aquatic plants, that are applied to the land for an agricultural use or for use as an animal feed, if the use is consistent with generally accepted agricultural management practices at the time of the application or stamp sands:
(i) Any substance that the department demonstrates, on a case by case basis, poses an unacceptable risk to the public health, safety, or welfare, or the environment, considering the fate of the material, dose-response, toxicity, or adverse impact on natural resources. See Michigan Laws 324.20101natural resources: means land, surface water, groundwater, subsurface strata, air, fish, wildlife, or biota within this state. See Michigan Laws 324.20101 Person: means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental entity, or other legal entity. See Michigan Laws 324.301 Release: includes , but is not limited to, any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing of a hazardous substance into the environment, or the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles containing a hazardous substance. See Michigan Laws 324.20101 this part: includes "rules promulgated under this part". See Michigan Laws 324.20101 threat of release: means any circumstance that may reasonably be anticipated to cause a release. See Michigan Laws 324.20101
(a) The release or threatened release of a hazardous substance was the result of willful misconduct or gross negligence of the party.
(b) The primary cause of the release or threat of release was a knowing violation of applicable safety, construction, or operating standards or regulations.