58:10A-37.14 Authority's right of subrogation, recovery.

14. a. Payment of any grant from the fund, or of a loan from the fund where the loan is in default and is uncollectible, for any costs relating to a remediation, shall be conditioned upon the authority being subrogated to all of the rights of an owner or operator against any insurance carrier, against any previous owner or operator of the facility where the previous owner or operator engaged in any conduct identified in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection b. of section 7 of P.L.1997, c.235 (C.58:10A-37.7), and against any other person liable for the discharge pursuant to subsection c. of section 8 of P.L.1976, c.141 (C.58:10-23.11g), for the costs of the remediation necessitated by the discharge. In an action by the authority to enforce a right of subrogation, the authority shall be entitled to invoke all the rights and defenses available to the grant or loan recipient if the action had been brought by the grant or loan recipient against such other person. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to affect or limit any right that an owner or operator of a petroleum underground storage tank may have under statutory or common law against any other person concerning a discharge of petroleum from that tank.

b. The authority may seek to recover any financial assistance or that part of an award of financial assistance that exceeds the eligible project costs or that was obtained as a result of conduct described in paragraph (4) of subsection b. of section 7 of P.L.1997, c.235 (C.58:10A-37.7). If the authority is the prevailing party in an action to recover financial assistance payments made from the fund, the authority shall be entitled to all investigative and legal costs incurred by the authority in bringing and prosecuting the action, as well as interest charges which shall accrue as of the date such payments were made from the fund, unless the court makes a finding of a lack of intent to defraud the fund. The rate of interest shall be the interest rate for judgments established pursuant to the Rules Governing the Courts of the State of New Jersey.

L.1997,c.235,s.14.