Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 391-H.F.No. 872 
           An act relating to hazardous waste facilities; 
          providing for financial responsibility when an owner 
          or operator is bankrupt; proposing coding for new law 
          in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 116. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  [116.14] [HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES; LIABILITY 
OF GUARANTOR.] 
    If the owner or operator of a hazardous waste facility is 
in bankruptcy, reorganization, or arrangement under the Federal 
Bankruptcy Code or if jurisdiction in any state or federal court 
cannot with reasonable diligence be obtained over an owner or 
operator likely to be solvent at the time of judgment, a person 
having a claim arising from conduct for which evidence of 
financial responsibility must be provided under the rules 
adopted under section 116.07, subdivision 4b, may bring the 
claim directly against the guarantor providing the evidence of 
financial responsibility.  For the purposes of this section, 
"guarantor" means any person other than the owner or operator 
who provides evidence of financial responsibility for that owner 
or operator.  In an action against a guarantor under this 
section, the guarantor is entitled to invoke the rights and 
defenses that would have been available to the owner or operator 
if the action had been brought against the owner or operator and 
that would have been available to the guarantor if an action had 
been brought against the guarantor by the owner or operator.  In 
an action under this section, the total liability of a guarantor 
is limited to the aggregate amount that the guarantor has 
provided as evidence of financial responsibility to the owner or 
operator under the rules.  Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to limit any other state or federal statutory, 
contractual, or common law liability of a guarantor to its owner 
or operator including the liability of the guarantor for bad 
faith either in negotiating or in failing to negotiate the 
settlement of any claim.  Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to diminish the liability of any person under chapter 
115B or the federal Superfund Act, United States Code, title 42, 
section 9601 et seq., or other applicable law. 
    Approved June 3, 1987