Is liability under section 13385 of the California Civil Code for polluting the environment limited to a public entity's liability under Section 13350, subdivision (a) of the Government Code?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from San Francisco Civil Service Assn. v. Superior Court, 127 Cal.Rptr. 131, 16 Cal.3d 46, 544 P.2d 1331 (Cal. 1976):

In People ex rel. Younger v. Superior Court, supra, ante, p. 122 of 127 Cal.Rptr., p. 1322 of 544 P.2d, we held that the liability provided for by section 13350, subdivision (a), may [16 Cal.3d 50] be imposed upon a public entity because the moneys thereby collected civilly are not punitive damages within the meaning of section 818 of the Government Code. We reasoned that although such civil penalties are punitive in nature in that they are intended to deter persons from causing deposits of oil and waste in and upon state waters, they are not simply and solely punitive since they compensate the people of the state for the real but unquantifiable resultant harm and the moneys thus recovered are used to clean up waste and abate its effect on state waters. In the instant proceeding we are similarly called upon to determine whether the civil penalties prescribed by section 13385 for discharging pollutants are simply and solely punitive in nature or fulfill compensatory functions so as to remove them from the class of punitive damages covered by section 818 of the Government Code.

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