Utah Code 19-6-423. Claim or suit against responsible parties — Prerequisites for payment from fund to responsible parties or third parties — Limitations of liability for third party claims
Bodily injury: means bodily harm, sickness, disease, or death sustained by a person. See Utah Code 19-6-402
Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
Corrective action plan: means a plan for correcting a release from a petroleum storage tank that includes provisions for any of the following:
(a)
cleanup or removal of the release;
(b)
containment or isolation of the release;
(c)
treatment of the release;
(d)
correction of the cause of the release;
(e)
monitoring and maintenance of the site of the release;
(f)
provision of alternative water supplies to a person whose drinking water has become contaminated by the release; or
(g)
temporary or permanent relocation, whichever is determined by the director to be more cost-effective, of a person whose dwelling has been determined by the director to be no longer habitable due to the release. See Utah Code 19-6-402
Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
Director: means the director of the Division of Environmental Response and Remediation. See Utah Code 19-6-402
Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
Petroleum: includes crude oil or a fraction of crude oil that is liquid at:
Property damage: means physical injury to, destruction of, or loss of use of tangible property. See Utah Code 19-6-402
Release: means spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching, or disposing a regulated substance from a petroleum storage tank into ground water, surface water, or subsurface soils. See Utah Code 19-6-402
Responsible party: is a s defined in Subsections (27)(a)(i), (ii), and (iii) does not include:
(i)
a person who is not an operator and, without participating in the management of a facility and otherwise not engaged in petroleum production, refining, and marketing, holds indicia of ownership:
(A)
primarily to protect the person's security interest in the facility; or
governmental ownership or control of property by involuntary transfers as provided in CERCLA Section 101(20)(D), 42 U. See Utah Code 19-6-402
Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
(a)
The director may authorize payments from the fund to a responsible party if the responsible party receives actual or constructive notice:
(i)
of a release likely to give rise to a claim; or
(ii)
that in connection with a release a:
(A)
suit has been filed; or
(B)
claim has been made against the responsible party for:
(I)
bodily injury; or
(II)
property damage.
(b)
A responsible party described in Subsection (1)(a) shall:
(i)
inform the state risk manager immediately of a release, suit, or claim described in Subsection (1)(a);
(ii)
allow the state risk manager and the state risk manager’s legal counsel to participate with the responsible party and the responsible party’s legal counsel in:
(A)
the defense of a suit;
(B)
determination of legal strategy;
(C)
other decisions affecting the defense of a suit; and
(D)
settlement negotiations; and
(iii)
conduct the defense of a suit or claim in good faith.
(2)
The director may authorize payment of fund money for a judgment or award to third parties if the state risk manager:
(a)
is allowed to participate in the defense of the suit as required under Subsection (1)(b); and
(b)
approves the settlement.
(3)
The director may make a payment from the fund to a third party pursuant to Section 19-6-421 or fund a corrective action plan pursuant to Section 19-6-420 if the payment or funding does not impose a liability or make a payment for:
(a)
an obligation of a responsible party for:
(i)
workers’ compensation benefits;
(ii)
disability benefits;
(iii)
unemployment compensation; or
(iv)
other benefits similar to benefits described in Subsections (3)(a)(i) through (iii);
(b)
a bodily injury award to:
(i)
a responsible party’s employee arising from and in the course of the employee’s employment; or
(ii)
the spouse, child, parent, brother, sister, heirs, or personal representatives of the employee described in Subsection (3)(b)(i);
(c)
bodily injury or property damage arising from the ownership, maintenance, use, or entrustment to others of an aircraft, motor vehicle, or watercraft;
(d)
property damage to a property owned by, occupied by, rented to, loaned to, bailed to, or otherwise in the care, custody, or control of a responsible party except to the extent necessary to complete a corrective action plan;
(e)
bodily injury or property damage for which a responsible party is obligated to pay damages by reason of the assumption of liability in a contract or agreement unless the responsible party entered into the contract or agreement to meet the financial responsibility requirements of:
(i)
Subtitle I of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6991c et seq., or regulations issued under this act; or
(ii)
this part, or rules made under this part;
(f)
bodily injury or property damage for which a responsible party is liable to a third party solely on account of personal injury to the third party’s spouse;
(g)
bodily injury, property damage, or the cost of corrective action caused by releases reported before May 11, 2010 that are covered by the fund if the total amount previously paid by the director to compensate third parties and fund corrective action plans for the releases equals:
(i)
$990,000 for a single release; and
(ii)
for all releases by a responsible party in a fiscal year:
(A)
$1,990,000 for a responsible party owning less than 100 petroleum storage tanks; and
(B)
$3,990,000 for a responsible party owning 100 or more petroleum storage tanks; and
(h)
bodily injury, property damage, or the cost of corrective action caused by releases reported on or after May 11, 2010, covered by the fund if the total amount previously paid by the director to compensate third parties and fund corrective action plans for the releases equals:
(i)
$1,990,000 for a single release; and
(ii)
for all releases by a responsible party in a fiscal year:
(A)
$1,990,000 for a responsible party owning less than 100 petroleum storage tanks; and
(B)
$3,990,000 for a responsible party owning 100 or more petroleum storage tanks.
