(a) Any person injured by a violation of this Article or any ordinance, rule, or order duly adopted by the Secretary or a local government, or by the initiation or continuation of a land-disturbing activity for which an erosion and sedimentation control plan is required other than in accordance with the terms, conditions, and provisions of an approved plan, may bring a civil action against the person alleged to be in violation (including the State and any local government). The action may seek any of the following:

(1) Injunctive relief.

Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 113A-66

  • 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.
  • Erosion: means the wearing away of land surface by the action of wind, water, gravity, or any combination thereof. See North Carolina General Statutes 113A-52
  • following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Land-disturbing activity: means any use of the land by any person in residential, industrial, educational, institutional or commercial development, highway and road construction and maintenance that results in a change in the natural cover or topography and that may cause or contribute to sedimentation. See North Carolina General Statutes 113A-52
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Local government: means any county, incorporated village, town, or city, or any combination of counties, incorporated villages, towns, and cities, acting through a joint program pursuant to the provisions of this Article. See North Carolina General Statutes 113A-52
  • Person: means any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, interstate body, or other legal entity. See North Carolina General Statutes 113A-52
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Secretary: means the Secretary of Environmental Quality. See North Carolina General Statutes 113A-52
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.

(2) An order enforcing the law, rule, ordinance, order, or erosion and sedimentation control plan violated.

(3) Damages caused by the violation.

(4) Repealed by Session Laws 2002-165, s. 2.15, effective October 23, 2002.

If the amount of actual damages as found by the court or jury in suits brought under this subsection is five thousand dollars ($5,000) or less, the plaintiff shall be awarded costs of litigation including reasonable attorneys fees and expert witness fees.

(b) Civil actions under this section shall be brought in the superior court of the county in which the alleged violations occurred.

(c) The court, in issuing any final order in any action brought pursuant to this section may award costs of litigation (including reasonable attorney and expert-witness fees) to any party, whenever it determines that such an award is appropriate. The court may, if a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction is sought, require, the filing of a bond or equivalent security, the amount of such bond or security to be determined by the court.

(d) Nothing in this section shall restrict any right which any person (or class of persons) may have under any statute or common law to seek injunctive or other relief. (1973, c. 392, s. 17; 1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 1000, s. 6; 2002-165, s. 2.15.)

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