(a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b), any person who appropriates or converts any mineral deposits reserved to, or owned by, the state and under the jurisdiction of the commission, including, but not limited to, oil and gas, other gases (including, but not limited to, nonhydrocarbon and geothermal gases), oil shale, coal, phosphate, sodium, gold, silver, alumina, silica, uranium, trona, fossils of all geological ages, metals and their compounds, alkali, alkali earth, sand, clay, gravel, salts, mineral waters, or any geothermal resources, without lawful authority, is liable to the state for treble the amount of damages which may be assessed therefor, in any civil action, in any court having jurisdiction.
(b) If the appropriation or conversion of any such mineral deposit was involuntary, or if the defendant in any action brought under this section had probable cause to believe that the land on which the appropriation or conversion was committed was his own or the land of the person in whose service or by whose direction such act was done, the measure of damages shall be the sum as would compensate for the actual damages.
(c) Damages awarded pursuant to this section shall be limited to those determined to have occurred within the five-year period immediately preceding the date of commencement of the action.
(Amended by Stats. 1976, Ch. 1280.)
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