(4) The Surety(ies) shall satisfy a third-party liability claim only upon the receipt of one of the following documents:
(a) Certification from the Principal and the third-party claimant(s) that the liability claim should be paid. The certification shall be worded as follows, except that instructions in brackets are to be replaced with the relevant information and the brackets deleted:
Certification of Valid Claim
The undersigned, as parties [insert name of Principal] and [insert name and address of third party claimant(s)], hereby certify that the claim of bodily injury and/or property damage caused by a [sudden or non-sudden] accidental occurrence arising from operating [Principal’s] facility should be paid in the amount of $[ ].
[Signature]
Principal
[Notary] Date
[Signature(s)]
Claimant(s)
[Notary] Date
or (b) A valid final court order establishing a judgment against the Principal for bodily injury or property damage caused by sudden or non-sudden accidental occurrences arising from the operation of the Principal’s facility or group of facilities.
(5) In the event of combination of this bond with another mechanism for liability coverage, this bond will be considered [insert “primary” or “excess”] coverage.
(6) The liability of the Surety(ies) may not be discharged by any payment or succession of payments hereunder, unless and until such payment or payments shall amount in the aggregate to the penal sum of the bond. In no event shall the obligation of the Surety(ies) hereunder exceed the amount of said annual aggregate penal sum, provided that the Surety(ies) furnish(es) notice to the department forthwith of all claims filed and payments made by the Surety(ies) under this bond.
(7) The Surety(ies) may cancel the bond by sending notice of cancellation by certified mail to the Principal and the department, provided, however, that cancellation may not occur during the 120 days beginning on the date of receipt of the notice of cancellation by the Principal and the department, as evidenced by the return receipt.
(8) The Principal may terminate this bond by sending written notice to the Surety(ies) and to the department.
(9) The Surety(ies) hereby waive(s) notification of amendments to applicable laws, statutes, rules and regulations and agree(s) that no such amendment shall in any way alleviate its (their) obligation on this bond.
(10) This bond is effective from [insert date] (12:01 a.m., standard time, at the address of the Principal as stated herein) and shall continue in force until terminated as described above.
In Witness Whereof, the Principal and Surety(ies) have executed this Bond and have affixed their seals on the date set forth above.
The persons whose signatures appear below hereby certify that they are authorized to execute this surety bond on behalf of the Principal and Surety(ies) and that the wording of this surety bond is identical to the wording specified in s. NR 661.0151 (11), Wis. Adm. Code, as such regulations were constituted on the date this bond was executed. PRINCIPAL
[Signature(s)]
[Name(s)]
[Title(s)]
[Corporate Seal]
CORPORATE SURETY[IES]
[Name and address]
State of incorporation:
Liability Limit: $
[Signature(s)]
[Name(s) and title(s)]
[Corporate seal]
[For every co-surety, provide signature(s), corporate seal, and other information in the same manner as for Surety above.]
Bond premium: $_______
NR 661.0151(12)(a)(a) A trust agreement, as specified in s. NR 661.0147 (10) shall be worded as follows, except that instructions in brackets are to be replaced with the relevant information and the brackets deleted: Trust Agreement
Trust Agreement, the “Agreement,” entered into as of [date] by and between [name of the owner or operator] a [name of State] [insert “corporation,” “partnership,” “association,” or “proprietorship”], the “Grantor,” and [name of corporate trustee], [insert, “incorporated in the State of ____” or “a national bank”], the “trustee.”
Whereas, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, “department,” has established certain regulations applicable to the Grantor, requiring that an owner or operator shall demonstrate financial responsibility for bodily injury and property damage to third parties caused by sudden accidental and/or non-sudden accidental occurrences arising from operations of the facility or group of facilities.
Whereas, the Grantor has elected to establish a trust to assure all or part of such financial responsibility for the facilities identified herein.
Whereas, the Grantor, acting through its duly authorized officers, has selected the Trustee to be the trustee under this agreement, and the Trustee is willing to act as trustee.
Now, therefore, the Grantor and the Trustee agree as follows:
Section 1. Definitions. As used in this Agreement:
(a) The term “Grantor” means the owner or operator who enters into this Agreement and any successors or assigns of the Grantor.
(b) The term “Trustee” means the Trustee who enters into this Agreement and any successor Trustee.
Section 2. Identification of Facilities. This agreement pertains to the facilities identified on attached schedule A [on schedule A, for each facility list the EPA Identification Number (if any issued), name, and address of the facility(ies) and the amount of liability coverage, or portions thereof, if more than one instrument affords combined coverage as demonstrated by this Agreement].
Section 3. Establishment of Fund. The Grantor and the Trustee hereby establish a trust fund, hereinafter the “Fund,” for the benefit of any and all third parties injured or damaged by [sudden and/or non-sudden] accidental occurrences arising from operation of the facility(ies) covered by this guarantee, in the amounts of ____-[up to $1 million] per occurrence and [up to $2 million] annual aggregate for sudden accidental occurrences and ____ [up to $3 million] per occurrence and ____-[up to $6 million] annual aggregate for non-sudden occurrences, except that the Fund is not established for the benefit of third parties for the following:
(a) Bodily injury or property damage for which [insert Grantor] is obligated to pay damages by reason of the assumption of liability in a contract or agreement. This exclusion does not apply to liability for damages that [insert Grantor] would be obligated to pay in the absence of the contract or agreement.
(b) Any obligation of [insert Grantor] under a workers’ compensation, disability benefits, or unemployment compensation law or any similar law.
(c) Bodily injury to:
(1) An employee of [insert Grantor] arising from, and in the course of, employment by [insert Grantor]; or
(2) The spouse, child, parent, brother or sister of that employee as a consequence of, or arising from, and in the course of employment by [insert Grantor]. This exclusion applies:
(A) Whether [insert Grantor] may be liable as an employer or in any other capacity; and
(B) To any obligation to share damages with or repay another person who shall pay damages because of the injury to persons identified in subs. (1) and (2).
(d) Bodily injury or property damage arising out of the ownership, maintenance, use, or entrustment to others of any aircraft, motor vehicle or watercraft.
(e) Property damage to:
(1) Any property owned, rented, or occupied by [insert Grantor];
(2) Premises that are sold, given away or abandoned by [insert Grantor] if the property damage arises out of any part of those premises;
(3) Property loaned to [insert Grantor];
(4) Personal property in the care, custody or control of [insert Grantor];
(5) That particular part of real property on which [insert Grantor] or any contractors or subcontractors working directly or indirectly on behalf of [insert Grantor] are performing operations, if the property damage arises out of these operations.
In the event of combination with another mechanism for liability coverage, the Fund shall be considered [insert “primary” or “excess”] coverage.
The Fund is established initially as consisting of the property, which is acceptable to the Trustee, described in Schedule B attached hereto. Such property and any other property subsequently transferred to the Trustee is referred to as the Fund, together with all earnings and profits thereon, less any payments or distributions made by the Trustee pursuant to this Agreement. The Fund shall be held by the Trustee, IN TRUST, as hereinafter provided. The Trustee may not be responsible nor shall it undertake any responsibility for the amount or adequacy of, nor any duty to collect from the Grantor, any payments necessary to discharge any liabilities of the Grantor established by the department.
Section 4. Payment for Bodily Injury or Property Damage. The Trustee shall satisfy a third party liability claim by making payments from the Fund only upon receipt of one of the following documents;
(a) Certification from the Grantor and the third-party claimant(s) that the liability claim should be paid. The certification shall be worded as follows, except that instructions in brackets are to be replaced with the relevant information and the brackets deleted:
Certification of Valid Claim
The undersigned, as parties [insert Grantor] and [insert name and address of third-party claimant(s)], hereby certify that the claim of bodily injury and/or property damage caused by a [sudden or non-sudden] accidental occurrence arising from operating [Grantor’s] facility or group of facilities should be paid in the amount of $[ ].
[Signatures]
Grantor
[Signatures]
Claimant(s)
(b) A valid final court order establishing a judgment against the Grantor for bodily injury or property damage caused by sudden or non-sudden accidental occurrences arising from the operation of the Grantor’s facility or group of facilities.
Section 5. Payments Comprising the Fund. Payments made to the Trustee for the Fund shall consist of cash or securities acceptable to the Trustee.
Section 6. Trustee Management. The Trustee shall invest and reinvest the principal and income, in accordance with general investment policies and guidelines which the Grantor may communicate in writing to the Trustee from time to time, subject, however, to the provisions of this section. In investing, reinvesting, exchanging, selling, and managing the Fund, the Trustee shall discharge the duties with respect to the trust fund solely in the interest of the beneficiary and with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstance then prevailing which persons of prudence, acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters, would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims; except that:
(i) Securities or other obligations of the Grantor, or any other owner or operator of the facilities, or any of their affiliates as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, 15 USC 80a-2. (a), may not be acquired or held unless they are securities or other obligations of the Federal or a State government; (ii) The Trustee is authorized to invest the Fund in time or demand deposits of the Trustee, to the extent insured by an agency of the Federal or State government; and
(iii) The Trustee is authorized to hold cash awaiting investment or distribution uninvested for a reasonable time and without liability for the payment of interest thereon.
Section 7. Commingling and Investment. The Trustee is expressly authorized in its discretion:
(a) To transfer from time to time any or all of the assets of the Fund to any common commingled, or collective trust fund created by the Trustee in which the fund is eligible to participate, subject to all of the provisions thereof, to be commingled with the assets of other trusts participating therein; and
(b) To purchase shares in any investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, 15 USC 81a-1 et seq., including one which may be created, managed, underwritten, or to which investment advice is rendered or the shares of which are sold by the Trustee. The Trustee may vote such shares in its discretion. Section 8. Express Powers of Trustee. Without in any way limiting the powers and discretions conferred upon the Trustee by the other provisions of this Agreement or by law, the Trustee is expressly authorized and empowered:
(a) To sell, exchange, convey, transfer, or otherwise dispose of any property held by it, by public or private sale. No person dealing with the Trustee shall be bound to see to the application of the purchase money or to inquire into the validity or expediency of any such sale or other disposition;
(b) To make, execute, acknowledge, and deliver any and all documents of transfer and conveyance and any and all other instruments that may be necessary or appropriate to carry out the powers herein granted;
(c) To register any securities held in the Fund in its own name or in the name of a nominee and to hold any security in bearer form or in book entry, or to combine certificates representing such securities with certificates of the same issue held by the Trustee in other fiduciary capacities, or to deposit or arrange for the deposit of such securities in a qualified central depository even though, when so deposited, such securities may be merged and held in bulk in the name of the nominee of such depository with other securities deposited therein by another person, or to deposit or arrange for the deposit of any securities issued by the United States Government, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, with a Federal Reserve bank, but the books and records of the Trustee shall at all times show that all such securities are part of the Fund;
(d) To deposit any cash in the Fund in interest-bearing accounts maintained or savings certificates issued by the Trustee, in its separate corporate capacity, or in any other banking institution affiliated with the Trustee, to the extent insured by an agency of the Federal or State government; and
(e) To compromise or otherwise adjust all claims in favor of or against the Fund.
Section 9. Taxes and Expenses. All taxes of any kind that may be assessed or levied against or in respect of the Fund and all brokerage commissions incurred by the Fund shall be paid from the Fund. All other expenses incurred by the Trustee in connection with the administration of this Trust, including fees for legal services rendered to the Trustee, the compensation of the Trustee to the extent not paid directly by the Grantor, and all other proper charges and disbursements of the Trustee shall be paid from the Fund.
Section 10. Annual Valuations. The Trustee shall annually, at least 30 days prior to the anniversary date of establishment of the Fund, furnish to the Grantor and to the department a statement confirming the value of the Trust. Any securities in the Fund shall be valued at market value as of no more than 60 days prior to the anniversary date of establishment of the Fund. The failure of the Grantor to object in writing to the Trustee within 90 days after the statement has been furnished to the Grantor and the department shall constitute a conclusively binding assent by the Grantor barring the Grantor from asserting any claim or liability against the Trustee with respect to matters disclosed in the statement.
Section 11. Advice of Counsel. The Trustee may from time to time consult with counsel, who may be counsel to the Grantor with respect to any question arising as to the construction of this Agreement or any action to be taken hereunder. The Trustee shall be fully protected, to the extent permitted by law, in acting upon the advice of counsel.
Section 12. Trustee Compensation. The Trustee shall be entitled to reasonable compensation for its services as agreed upon in writing from time to time with the Grantor.
