54 U.S.C. § 100722 — Liability
submitted 12 years ago by Pub. L. 113-287 to r/title-54-NATIONAL-PARK-SERVICE-AND-RELATED-PROGRAMS · 226 words · no verdicts yet
Anyone who destroys, injures, or causes the loss of a national park resource must pay the government's response costs and damages. Vehicles, vessels, aircraft, and similar equipment can be held liable too. But a person is not liable if the damage came only from an act of God, an act of war, an authorized activity, or an outside third party while the person used due care.
(a) In General. Except as limited by subsection (c), any person who destroys, causes the loss of, or injures a System unit resource* must pay the United States for the resulting response costs* and damages*.
(b) Liability In Rem. Any instrumentality — including a vessel, vehicle, aircraft, or other equipment — that destroys, causes the loss of, or injures a System unit* resource is itself liable "in rem" (meaning a case can be brought against the thing itself) to the United States, to the same extent a person would be liable under subsection (a).
(c) Defenses. A person is not liable under this section if the person proves:
(1) the destruction, loss, or injury was caused solely by an act of God or an act of war;
(2) the person acted with due care, and the destruction, loss, or injury was caused solely by the act or omission of a third party who was not the person's employee or agent; or
(3) the destruction, loss, or injury was caused by an activity that federal or state law authorized.
(d) Scope. Liability under this section comes on top of — not instead of — any other liability that may exist under federal or state law.
Subject to subsection (c), any person that destroys, causes the loss of, or injures any System unit resource* is liable to the United States for response costs* and damages* resulting from the destruction, loss, or injury.
Any instrumentality, including a vessel, vehicle, aircraft, or other equipment, that destroys, causes the loss of, or injures any System unit* resource shall be liable in rem to the United States for response costs and damages resulting from the destruction, loss, or injury to the same extent as a person is liable under subsection (a).
A person is not liable under this section if the person establishes that—
the destruction, loss of, or injury to the System* unit resource was caused solely by an act of God or an act of war;
the person acted with due care, and the destruction, loss of, or injury to the System unit resource was caused solely by an act or omission of a 3d party, other than an employee or agent of the person; or
the destruction, loss, or injury to the System unit resource was caused by an activity authorized by Federal or State law.
Liability under this section is in addition to any other liability that may arise under Federal or State law.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 113–287, § 3, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3107.)
- 2014Enacted · Pub. L. 113-287 · 128 Stat. 3107
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 113-287 on 2014-12-19.
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