Opinion ID: 853313
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Statutory Liability under Environmental Management Laws

Text: Under Indiana Code section 13-30-6-4, A responsible corporate officer may be prosecuted for a violation of section 1, 2, or 3 of this chapter in accordance with IC XX-XX-X-X. The criminal code section to which this refers is the general aiding and abetting statute, which provides that one who aids a crime commits that crime. Under these provisions, aiding or directing a crime, if done intentionally or knowingly is sufficient to support criminal responsibility under Indiana Code sections 13-30-6-4 and 35-41-2-4. See Tobar v. State, 740 N.E.2d 109, 112 (Ind.2000). The landfill violations would have constituted a violation of Indiana Code section 13-30-6-1. Statutory civil liability is more expansive than criminal liability. Unlike the criminal liability provision in the environmental management laws, the provision imposing civil liability has no mens rea requirement of knowledge or willfulness. Indiana Code section 13-30-4-1 imposes civil liability on a person who violates environmental management laws. A person, for purposes of environmental management laws, includes an individual, a partnership, a copartnership, a firm, a company, a corporation.... Ind.Code § 13-11-2-158 (1998). Both general legal principles and the language of the statute support the conclusion that an individual acting for a corporation participating in a violation of a statute listed in Indiana Code section 13-30-4-1 may be individually liable for civil penalties under that section, and, if acting with the requisite mens rea, may be criminally responsible for violations of Indiana Code sections 13-30-6-1 through 3. As elaborated in Part II, Roseman is individually liable under all three of the theories discussed in this section.