On Punitive Damages In Environmental Civil Public Interest Litigation

There is a significant shortage of compensation in environmental civil public interest litigation,which is not only manifested in the insufficient compensation of a single environmental pollution case,but also includes the situation where relief is not available after environmental damage occurs.From the analysis of the difficulties and problems encountered in environmental civil public interest litigation,the current legal system does not provide adequate relief for environmental damage,and environmental civil public interest litigation cannot prevent and curb the occurrence of infringements.Combining the civil legal nature of punitive damages and its functions of punishment,deterrence,compensation and incentives,punitive damages can be used as a means to increase the compensation for environmental damage,increase the deterrence of environmental civil public interest litigation,and achieve the purpose of curbing pollution.Analyzing the judgment cases from different perspectives,it can be found that the qualified plaintiff is not motivated to protect environmental rights through public interest litigation,and the compensation paid by the defendant is not sufficient to relieve the ecological environment damage.The court adopts the virtual governance cost method,alternative ecological environment restoration,etc.Ways to protect the ecological environment.It shows that the application of punitive damages in environmental civil public interest litigation can optimize the allocation of resources,encourage the parties to actively protect their rights,and promote the realization of corrective justice by the law.By converting the damage of the victim into the cost of the infringer,it can correct the non-distribution of benefits caused by market failure.Research and analysis of domestic and foreign punitive damages system,combined with the provisions of The Civil Code on environmental infringement,this paper demonstrates the feasibility of applying punitive damages in environmental civil public interest litigation,and studies the legislative model of punitive damages.In terms of environmental civil public interest litigation cases,punitive damages are mainly applicable to cases that seriously damage the ecological environment.For preventive environmental civil public interest litigation cases,since the damage has not yet occurred and the harm is small,other means can be used for relief.It is inappropriate to apply punitive damages to excessively increase the perpetrator’s prevention costs.It is proposed that the application of punitive damages should not be limited to “violation of the law” and “intentional”situations,and punitive damages can also be applied to situations where the perpetrator did not violate the law or had gross negligence but seriously damaged the environmental rights and interests of others.The compensations obtained from environmental civil public interest lawsuits filed by different entities are distributed.The compensations obtained by the procuratorial organs are mainly included in the government’s non-tax fiscal revenue for special fund management,which is specifically used for ecological environment restoration.The compensation received by social organizations is mainly incorporated into the environmental public interest litigation fund for management.In order to solve the practical difficulties such as "difficulty in enforcement" and "impossibility of execution of judgments",the prepayment system of environmental deposits,the system of environmental damage liability compensation insurance and the system of environmental damage compensation liability limits are proposed.