(a) Neither the failure to issue a commitment statement nor its issuance shall be construed as an admission that the recipient of the notice of potential liability is liable under any federal, state, or local law, including common law, for the release that the party agrees to investigate or respond. Neither the failure to issue a commitment statement nor the contents of the commitment statement shall be admissible evidence in any proceeding, as defined in Section 901 of the Evidence Code, except that the contents of the commitment statement shall be admissible evidence in an action to enforce the commitment statement to the extent that such contents would be admissible under other applicable law.
(b) Nothing in this chapter shall subject a notice recipient to any damages, fines, or penalties for a failure to make a written response, either positive or negative, to a notice of potential liability.
(c) Nothing in this chapter shall subject the owner of a site to any damages, fines, or penalties for a failure to send a notice of potential liability pursuant to Section 851. Failure by the owner of a site to send a notice of potential liability of a release in a timely fashion shall not be deemed to create any liability for the owner under a theory of negligence per se.
(d) Nothing in this chapter imposes an affirmative duty on the owner of a site, or any potentially responsible party, to discover, or determine the nature or extent of, a hazardous materials release at the site. This chapter does not affect such an affirmative duty to the extent it is imposed by any other law.
(e) Subject to the defenses specified in Section 101(35) and 107(b) of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (42 U.S.C. Secs. 9601(35) and 9607(b)), a cause of action is hereby established whereby a notice recipient may recover from any responsible party any reasonable response costs for conducting a response action as may be approved or overseen by an oversight agency or as incurred pursuant to a commitment statement. Liability among responsible parties shall be allocated based upon the equitable factors specified in subdivision (c) of Section 25356.3 of the Health and Safety Code. No third-party beneficiary rights are created by a commitment statement, except as provided in subdivision (b) of Section 854. This cause of action applies to costs incurred prior to enactment of this subdivision. However, no recovery may be obtained under this subdivision for costs incurred more than three years prior to the filing of litigation to recover those costs. The cause of action established pursuant to this subdivision shall not apply against a current or former owner of a site unless that owner operated a business that caused a release being addressed by a response action at the site and the costs incurred by the notice recipient were in response to a release caused by the owner.
(f) Nothing in this chapter shall affect or limit the rights of an owner under preexisting contract. Nothing in this chapter shall affect or limit the right of a notice recipient and owner to agree to an allocation of liability or to an assignment of rights and obligations that is different from or inconsistent with this chapter. Such agreements shall supersede the terms of this chapter.
(g) Nothing in this chapter shall make a notice recipient a responsible party, beyond the obligations the notice recipient undertakes pursuant to this chapter.
(h) Nothing in this chapter shall apply to causes of action for wrongful death or personal injury. However, the pleading of a cause of action for wrongful death or personal injury shall not affect the applicability of this chapter to other causes of action in the same civil action.
(Added by Stats. 1997, Ch. 873, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1998.)