                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

IMPROPER DISPOSAL OF SOLID WASTE; CIVIL PENALTIES (§ 10.1-1418.1)

A. It shall be the duty of all persons to dispose of their solid waste in a
legal manner.

B. Any owner of real estate in this Commonwealth, including the Commonwealth or
any political subdivision thereof, upon whose property a person improperly
disposes of solid waste without the landowner&#8217;s permission, shall be
entitled to bring a civil action for such improper disposal of solid waste. When
litter is improperly disposed upon land owned by the Commonwealth, any resident
of the Commonwealth shall have standing to bring a civil action for such
improper disposal of solid waste. When litter is improperly disposed of upon
land owned by any political subdivision of this Commonwealth, any resident of
that political subdivision shall have standing to bring a civil action for such
improper disposal of solid waste. When any person improperly disposes of solid
waste upon land within the jurisdiction of any political subdivision, that
political subdivision shall have standing to bring a civil action for such
improper disposal of solid waste.

C. In any civil action brought pursuant to the provisions of this section, when
the plaintiff establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that (i) the solid
waste or any portion thereof had been in possession of the defendant prior to
being improperly disposed of on any of the properties referred to in subsection
A of this section and (ii) no permission had been given to the defendant to
place the solid waste on such property, there shall be a rebuttable presumption
that the defendant improperly disposed of the solid waste. When the solid waste
has been ejected from a motor vehicle, the owner or operator of such motor
vehicle shall in any civil action be presumed to be the person ejecting such
matter. However, such presumption shall be rebuttable by competent evidence.
This presumption shall not be applicable to a motor vehicle rental or leasing
company that owns the vehicle.

D. Whenever a court finds that a person has improperly disposed of solid waste
pursuant to the provisions of this section, the court shall assess a civil
penalty of up to $5,000 against such defendant. All civil penalties assessed
pursuant to this section shall be paid into the state treasury and deposited by
the State Treasurer into the Virginia Environmental Emergency Response Fund
pursuant to Chapter 25 (&#xA7; 10.1-2500 et seq.) of this title, except as
provided in subsection E.

E. Any civil penalty assessed pursuant to this section in a civil action brought
by a political subdivision shall be paid into the treasury of the political
subdivision, except where the violator of this section is the political
subdivision or its agent.

F. A court may award any person or political subdivision bringing suit pursuant
to this section the cost of suit and reasonable attorney&#8217;s fees.

HISTORY: 1990, c. 430; 1991, c. 718; 1992, c. 27; 1997, c. 353.