13:1E-106 - Strict liability of fund for damages due to operations or closure of sanitary landfill; payment - New Jersey Statutes

13:1E-106.  Strict liability of fund for damages due to operations or closure of sanitary landfill;  payment
    a.  The fund shall be strictly liable for all direct and indirect damages, no matter by whom sustained, proximately resulting from the operations or closure of any sanitary landfill.  These damages shall include, but not be limited to:

    (1) The cost of restoring, repairing or replacing any real or personal property damaged or destroyed;

    (2) The cost of restoration and replacement, where possible, of any natural  resource damaged or destroyed, including any potable water supply;

    (3) The cost of any personal injuries, including medical expenses incurred and income lost as a result thereof;  and

    (4) The costs of the design, construction, installation, operation and maintenance of any device or action deemed necessary by the department to clean  up, remedy, mitigate, monitor or analyze any threat to the public health,  safety or welfare of the citizens of this State, including the installation and  maintenance of methane gas monitors and vents and leachate monitoring wells and  collection systems, and the sampling and analysis of any public or private  potable water supply.

    b.  In the event that the total of claims awarded exceeds the current balance of the fund, the immediate award shall be paid on a pro rata basis, and  all claimants paid on a pro rata basis shall be paid, as determined by the  department, on a pro rata share of all moneys received by the fund until the  total amount of the proven damages is paid to the claimants.  The department  may also provide, by regulation, priority for the payment of claims based on  extreme hardship or extreme existing or imminent hazard.

     L.1981, c. 306, s. 7.