West Virginia Code § 22-22-20

Affirmative defenses
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Any person who is alleged to have violated an environmental law or the common law
equivalent, which occurred while acting pursuant to this article, may affirmatively plead the
following in response to an alleged violation:
(a) An act of God;
(b) An intervening act of a public agency;
(c) Migration from property owned by a third party;
(d) Actions taken or omitted in the course of rendering care, assistance, or advice in
accordance with the environmental laws or at the direction of the Department;
(e) An act of a third party who was not an agent or employee of the lender, fiduciary,
developer, remediation contractor, or development authority; or
(f) If the alleged liability for a lender, fiduciary, developer, or development authority arises
after foreclosure, and the lender, fiduciary, developer, or development authority exercised
due care with respect to the lender's, fiduciary's, developer's, or development authority's
knowledge about the contaminants, and took reasonable precautions based upon such
knowledge against foreseeable actions of third parties and the consequences arising
therefrom. A lender, fiduciary, developer, remediation contractor, or development authority
may avoid liability by proving any other defense which may be available to it.

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