Abrogating the common law and codifying the law of public nuisance. (FE)

The bill provides that only the following persons may maintain a public nuisance action:

1. The state or the city, village, town, or county (political subdivision) that has a substantial ownership interest in or authority over the real property, or the ancillary space related to the real property, to which the public nuisance relates.

2. A nongovernmental person (private party) that suffers injuries peculiar to the private party, so far as necessary to protect the private party's rights and to obtain an injunction to prevent the same.

If the plaintiff is the state or a political subdivision (governmental body), all of the following apply:

1. The governmental body may maintain the public nuisance action only by an attorney employed by the governmental body.

2. If more than one governmental body is a plaintiff, there is a presumption that only one governmental body has standing to maintain the action, and the court must, on its own motion, determine which governmental bodies have standing.

3. The governmental body may not maintain the public nuisance action solely to recover a financial expenditure of the governmental body related to the remediation, abatement, or injunction of an unlawful condition.

If the plaintiff is a private party, all of the following apply:

1. The private party bears the burden of establishing by clear and convincing evidence that the private party suffered an injury peculiar to the private party.

2. The fact that public real property has a spiritual, cultural, emotional, or otherwise personal significance to a private party is not, by itself, sufficient to establish that the use of or damage to the real property is an injury peculiar to the private party.

3. The private party may not maintain both a public nuisance action and a private nuisance action related to damages resulting from the same unlawful condition.

The bill limits the remedies available in an action for public nuisance to only the following:

1. Injunctive relief sufficient to abate the public nuisance.

2. Monetary damages in an amount reasonably necessary to abate the public nuisance but not including a) speculative estimates of current needs, b) costs of future remediation, c) costs of investigating and identifying the existence of an unlawful condition, or d) costs of public services provided as a result of the public nuisance.

3. Compensatory damages for a private party's injury that is peculiar to the private party.