Coal industry Act 1994

44 Cases where there is more than one responsible person

(1) Where, in the case of any subsidence damage, the area of responsibility of any person as holder of a licence under Part II of this Act includes only part of the damaged land or, as the case may be, of the land where the damaged property was situated, then for the purposes of this Part—

(a) that person, together with—

(i) every other person within whose area of responsibility any part of that land is situated, and

(ii) if any part of that land is not situated within the area of responsibility of any person, the Authority,

shall be the responsible persons in relation to that damage; and

(b) the obligations and liabilities by virtue of section 43 above of the responsible person shall be obligations and liabilities imposed jointly and severally on the persons mentioned in paragraph (a) above.

(2) Subsection (5) of section 43 above shall have effect as modified by subsection (3) below in any case where—

(a) a person ceases at any time to be the person with responsibility for subsidence affecting any land but continues, after that time, to be the person with responsibility for subsidence affecting other land; and

(b) the effect of subsection (1) above in relation to the circumstances specified in paragraph (a) above is that both the predecessor and the successor are responsible persons in relation to any subsidence damage to which any of the predecessor’s rights or liabilities relate.

(3) In any case where, by virtue of subsection (2) above, this subsection has effect—

(a) the rights and liabilities of the predecessor, so far as they relate to subsidence damage in relation to which the predecessor continues to be a responsible person, shall continue to be vested in the predecessor, as well as being vested in the successor; and

(b) subsection (5) of section 43 above shall not authorise the continuation against the successor of any proceedings under or for the purposes of the 1991 Act which—

(i) have been begun, or are deemed to have been begun, against the predecessor; and

(ii) may be continued against the predecessor by virtue of paragraph (a) above;

but paragraph (b) above shall be without prejudice to any rules of court in accordance with which the successor may be joined as a party to any proceedings in respect of any such rights or liabilities as are mentioned in paragraph (a) above.

(4) In subsection (1) above the reference to the damaged land and to the damaged property are references, where only part of the land or property has been damaged, to the damaged part of that land or property.