(a) No costs, expenses or judgments associated with any action brought under the provisions of section 16-8a may be included in the rates or charge of any public service company, as defined in section 16-1, until such time as the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority or the Labor Department, in a final decision, finds in favor of the company or if such action is appealed, until such time as the court finds, in a final decision, in favor of the company.
(b) In any action brought under the provisions of section 16-8a, which results in a judgment in favor of the plaintiff, the court shall award to the plaintiff, in addition to any other relief, costs and a reasonable attorney's fee based on the work reasonably performed by an attorney and not on the amount of recovery, and may award punitive damages.
(c) The provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall only apply to an action brought pursuant to section 16-8a by an employee of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensee operating a nuclear power generating facility in this state or by any person, firm, corporation, contractor or subcontractor directly or indirectly providing goods or services to such licensee.
(P.A. 91-247, S. 2; P.A. 92-194; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)
History: P.A. 92-194 amended Subsec. (a) prohibiting the inclusion of judgments in the rates or charges of a public service company unless the public utility control department or labor department in a final decision finds in favor of the company and added Subsecs. (b) and (c) authorizing the awarding of attorney's fees and limiting the application of the section to actions brought against nuclear regulatory licensees; (Revisor's note: In 1997 a reference in Subsec. (a) to “Department of Labor” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Labor Department” for consistency with statutory usage); pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Department of Public Utility Control” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Public Utilities Regulatory Authority” in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 2011.
Section provides a whole set of remedies for a cause of action that General Assembly failed to formulate; to the extent that Sec. 16-8a creates some right of action by a whistle-blower, it is a right against a power company and not against department or the state. 48 CS 188.
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