Committee Substitute
House Bill 2744 History
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COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2744
(By Delegates Williams, Stemple, Butcher and Boggs)
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[March 27, 2001]
A BILL to amend article nineteen, chapter nineteen of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
six, relating to liability for certain damage or destruction
of a sylvicultural or agricultural field test crop and damages
recoverable.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article nineteen, chapter nineteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section six, to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 19. PRESERVATION OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION.
§19-19-6. Liability for damage or destruction of sylvicultural or
agricultural field test crop; damages.
(a) Any person or legal entity who willfully and knowingly
damages or destroys, or allows an instrumentality within his or her
control to damage or destroy a sylvicultural or agricultural field
test crop that is grown for personal purposes, commercial purposes,
or for testing or research purposes in the context of a product
development program in conjunction or coordination with a private
research facility or a university or any federal, state or local
government agency, shall be liable for twice the market value of
the crop damaged or destroyed prior to damage or destruction, as
determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, plus interest and
reasonable court costs. Where the damaged or destroyed crops are
grown for testing or research purposes, damages shall also include
twice the actual damages relating to production, research, testing,
replacement and crop development costs directly related to the crop
that has been damaged or destroyed.
(b) The rights and remedies available under this section are
in addition to any other rights or remedies otherwise available in
law or statute.
(c) For the purpose of this section, the term "person" means an individual, group, association, corporation or any other entity.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.