(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no owner/operator of a drycleaning facility or in-state wholesale distribution facility or current or prior owner or operator of an abandoned drycleaning facility shall be liable for any release under any other law, including any common law claim, except to the extent of the deductible set forth in § 68-217-106(k), or for third-party claims if such facility or distributor has paid all the registration fees and solvent surcharges required under this chapter, materially complies with all rules and regulations required in this chapter, and has had its petition accepted by the commissioner for participation in the fund, and the party is in material compliance with the commissioner’s requirements for investigatory or remedial measures. This section does not preclude claims based solely upon personal injuries associated with a claimant’s exposure to drycleaning solvent.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 68-217-111

  • Abandoned drycleaning facility: means any real property premises or individual leasehold space on which a drycleaning facility formerly operated. See Tennessee Code 68-217-102
  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of environment and conservation, or the commissioner's designee. See Tennessee Code 68-217-102
  • 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.
  • Drycleaning facility: means any commercial facility located in this state which is engaged in on-site drycleaning operations, other than:
    (A) A coin-operated drycleaning operation. See Tennessee Code 68-217-102
  • Impacted third party: means a lessor of real property on which a drycleaning facility or an in-state wholesale distribution facility is located, a property owner whose real property is adversely environmentally impacted by a release from a drycleaning facility or in-state wholesale distribution facility, or their predecessors, successors or assigns, mortgagees, predecessors-in-title and successors-in-title. See Tennessee Code 68-217-102
  • In-state wholesale distribution facility: means a place of business located in this state of a wholesale distributor or any real property premises or individual leasehold space located in this state, occupied by an in-state wholesale distribution facility after June 13, 1995. See Tennessee Code 68-217-102
  • 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.
  • Release: means any spilling, pouring, overfilling, leaking, leaching, emitting, discharging, or escaping of drycleaning solvents from a drycleaning facility or an in-state wholesale distribution facility or its associated piping which impacts groundwater, surface water, surface or subsurface soils. See Tennessee Code 68-217-102
  • solvent: means any and all non-aqueous solvents or products used, or intended for use, in the cleaning of garments and other fabrics at a drycleaning facility and includes, but is not limited to, dense non-aqueous solvents such as chlorinated solvents like perchloroethylene (perc), also known as tetrachloroethylene, and light non-aqueous solvents such as petroleum-based solvents like Stoddard Solvent, and the products into which all such solvents or products degrade. See Tennessee Code 68-217-102
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no impacted third party shall be liable for any release under any other law, including any common law claim, or other third party claims, if the drycleaning facility, abandoned drycleaning facility or the in-state wholesale distribution facility which is the source of the release to the impacted third party’s real property is eligible for participation in the fund, for this site, and the impacted third party or the current or prior owner or operator of the drycleaning facility, abandoned drycleaning facility or in-state wholesale distribution facility which is the source of the release has petitioned the commissioner and had its petition accepted by the commissioner for participation in the fund, and the impacted third party is in material compliance with any applicable commissioner requirements for investigatory or remedial measures. This section does not preclude claims based solely upon personal injuries associated with a claimant’s exposure to drycleaning solvent.
(c) This section does not apply to any claim filed in any court of competent jurisdiction before June 13, 1995.
(d) Subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply to or limit any claim of a lender which arises under a financing arrangement entered into by the owner/operator or impacted third party prior to, on or after June 13, 1995.
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