Ohio Code 3746.27 – Exempting fiduciary or trustee
(A) A fiduciary or trustee who acquires ownership or control of property without having owned, operated, or participated in the management of the property prior to acquiring ownership or control of it is not liable for the costs of conducting a voluntary action in a civil action brought under section 3746.23 of the Revised Code in connection with a voluntary action undertaken at the property or for the costs of identifying or remediating a release or threatened release of hazardous substances or petroleum at or upon the property in a civil action otherwise brought under the Revised Code or common law of this state, provided that both of the following conditions apply:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 3746.27
- Another: when used to designate the owner of property which is the subject of an offense, includes not only natural persons but also every other owner of property. See Ohio Code 1.02
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- 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.
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- Petroleum: means oil or petroleum of any kind and in any form, including, without limitation, crude oil or any fraction thereof, petroleum, gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil, oil sludge, oil refuse, used oil, substances or additives utilized in the refining or blending of crude petroleum or petroleum stock, natural gas, natural gas liquids, liquefied natural gas, synthetic gas usable for fuel, and mixtures of natural gas and synthetic gas. See Ohio Code 3746.01
- Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Related: means the persons are related by consanguinity or marriage. See Ohio Code 3746.01
- Release: means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, migrating, dumping, or disposing of any hazardous substance or petroleum into the environment, including, without limitation, the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, or any other closed receptacle containing any hazardous substance, petroleum, or pollutant or contaminant. See Ohio Code 3746.01
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
- Voluntary action: means a series of measures that may be undertaken to identify and address potential sources of contamination of property by hazardous substances or petroleum and to establish that the property complies with applicable standards. See Ohio Code 3746.01
(1) No action or omission of the fiduciary or trustee constituting willful or wanton misconduct or intentionally tortious conduct caused, contributed to, or exacerbated a release or threatened release of hazardous substances or petroleum at or upon the property;
(2) After so acquiring ownership or control of the property, the fiduciary or trustee conducts or causes to be conducted all activities occurring at the property not related to the identification or remediation of releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances or petroleum at or upon the property in compliance with the applicable requirements under Chapters 3704., 3714., 3734., 3737., 3750., 3751., 6109., and 6111. of the Revised Code and rules adopted under those chapters.
(B) Such a fiduciary or trustee who, after so acquiring ownership or control of property, conducts or causes to be conducted all such nonremedial activities at the property in compliance with the applicable requirements under those chapters and rules is not required to comply with any provisions of those chapters and rules pertaining to the identification or remediation of releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances or petroleum at or upon the property and shall not be subject to the issuance of an enforcement order, or a civil action for injunctive relief, under any of those chapters requiring the identification or remediation of any release or threatened release of hazardous substances or petroleum at or upon the property.
(C) Nothing in this section precludes the filing of claims against the assets that constitute the estate or corpus of the trust held by the fiduciary or the filing of claims under section 3746.23 of the Revised Code for the costs of conducting a voluntary action at the property or the filing of claims for the costs of remediation under other provisions of the Revised Code or common law of this state against the fiduciary or trustee in its representative capacity.
(D)(1) This section does not create, and shall not be construed as creating, a new cause of action against or substantive legal right against a fiduciary or trustee.
(2) This section does not affect, and shall not be construed as affecting, any immunities from civil liability or defenses established by another section of the Revised Code or available at common law to which a fiduciary or trustee may be entitled under circumstances not covered by this section.