West Virginia § 22-22-20 Affirmative defenses

West Virginia Statutes

§ 22-22-20 — Affirmative defenses

West Virginia § 22-22-20

Ch. 22ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES

Art. 22VOLUNTARY REMEDIATION AND REDEVELOPMENT ACT

This text of West Virginia § 22-22-20 (Affirmative defenses) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

W. Va. Code § 22-22-20 (2026).

Text

Any person who is alleged to have violated an environmental law or the common law equivalent, which occurred while acting pursuant to this article, may affirmatively plead the following in response to an alleged violation:

(a)An act of God;

(b)An intervening act of a public agency;

(c)Migration from property owned by a third party;

(d)Actions taken or omitted in the course of rendering care, assistance, or advice in accordance with the environmental laws or at the direction of the Department;

(e)An act of a third party who was not an agent or employee of the lender, fiduciary, developer, remediation contractor, or development authority; or

(f)If the alleged liability for a lender, fiduciary, developer, or development authority arises after foreclosure, and the lender, fiduciary

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Any person who is alleged to have violated an environmental law or the common law equivalent, which occurred while acting pursuant to this article, may affirmatively plead the following in response to an alleged violation:

(a) An act of God;

(b) An intervening act of a public agency;

(c) Migration from property owned by a third party;

(d) Actions taken or omitted in the course of rendering care, assistance, or advice in accordance with the environmental laws or at the direction of the Department;

(e) An act of a third party who was not an agent or employee of the lender, fiduciary, developer, remediation contractor, or development authority; or

(f) If the alleged liability for a lender, fiduciary, developer, or development authority arises after foreclosure, and the lender, fiduciary, developer, or development authority exercised due care with respect to the lender's, fiduciary's, developer's, or development authority's knowledge about the contaminants, and took reasonable precautions based upon such knowledge against foreseeable actions of third parties and the consequences arising therefrom. A lender, fiduciary, developer, remediation contractor, or development authority may avoid liability by proving any other defense which may be available to it.