§ 113-412.  Seizure and sale of contraband oil, gas and product.

Apart from, and in addition to, any other remedy or procedure which may be available to the Department, or any penalty which may be sought against or imposed upon any person with respect to violations relating to illegal oil, illegal gas, or illegal product, all illegal oil, illegal gas and illegal product shall, except under such circumstances as are stated herein, be contraband and shall be seized and sold. Such sale shall not take place unless the court shall find, in the proceeding provided for in this paragraph, that the commodity involved is contraband. Whenever the Department believes that illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product is subject to seizure and sale, as provided herein, it shall, through the Attorney General, have issued a warrant of attachment and bring a civil action in rem for that purpose in the superior court of the county where the commodity is found, or the action may be maintained in connection with any suit or cross bill for injunction or for penalty relating to any prohibited transaction involving such illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product. Any interested person who may show himself to be adversely affected by any such seizure and sale shall have the right to intervene in such suit to protect his rights.

The action referred to above shall be strictly in rem and shall proceed in the name of the State as plaintiff against the illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product mentioned in the complaint, as defendant, and no bond or bonds shall be required of the plaintiff in connection therewith. Upon the filing of the complaint, the clerk of the court shall issue a summons directed to the sheriff of the county, or to such other officer or person as the court may authorize to serve process, requiring him to summon any and all persons (without undertaking to name them) who may be interested in the illegal oil, illegal gas, or illegal product mentioned in the complaint to appear and answer within 30 days after the issuance and service of such summons. The summons shall contain the style and number of the suit and a very brief statement of the nature of the cause of action. It shall be served by posting one copy thereof at the courthouse door of the county where the commodity involved in the suit is alleged to be located and by posting another copy thereof near the place where the commodity is alleged to be located. Copy of such summons shall be posted at least five days before the return day stated therein, and the posting of such copy shall constitute constructive possession of such commodity by the State. A copy of the summons shall also be published once each week for four weeks in some newspaper published in the county where the suit is pending and having a bona fide circulation therein. No judgment shall be pronounced by any court condemning such commodity as contraband until after the lapse of five days from the last publication of said summons. Proof of service of said summons, and the manner thereof, shall be as provided by general law.

Where it appears by a verified pleading on the part of the plaintiff, or by affidavit, or affidavits, or by oral testimony, that grounds for the seizure and sale exist, the clerk, in addition to the summons or warning order, shall issue a warrant of attachment, which shall be signed by the clerk and bear the seal of the court. Such warrant of attachment shall specifically describe the illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product, so that the same may be identified with reasonable certainty. It shall direct the sheriff to whom it is addressed to take into his custody, actual or constructive, the illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product, described therein, and to hold the same subject to the orders of the court. Said warrant of attachment shall be executed as a writ of attachment is executed. No bond shall be required before the issuance of such warrant of attachment, and the sheriff shall be responsible upon his official bond for the proper execution thereof.

In a proper case, the court may direct the sheriff to deliver the custody of any illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product seized by him under a warrant of attachment, to a commissioner to be appointed by the court, which commissioner shall act as the agent of the court and shall give bond with such approved surety as the court may direct, conditioned that he will faithfully conserve such illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product, as may come into his custody and possession in accordance with the orders of the court; provided, that the court may in its discretion appoint any member of the Department or any agent of the Department as such commissioner of the court.

Sales of illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product seized under the authority of this law, and notices of such sales, shall be in accordance with the laws of this State relating to the sale and disposition of attached property; provided, however, that where the property is in custody of a commissioner of the court, the sale shall be held by said commissioner and not by the sheriff. For his services hereunder, such commissioner shall receive a reasonable fee to be paid out of the proceeds of the sale or sales to be fixed by the court ordering such sale.

The court may order that the commodity be sold in specified lots or portions, and at specified intervals, instead of being sold at one time. Title to the amount sold shall pass as of the date of the law which is found by the court to make the commodity contraband. The judgment shall provide for the clear proceeds of the sales to be remitted to the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund in accordance with G.S. 115C-457.2. The amount sold shall be treated as legal oil, legal gas or legal product, as the case may be, in the hands of the purchaser, but the purchaser and the commodity shall be subject to all applicable laws, rules, and orders with respect to further sale or purchase or acquisition, and with respect to the transportation, refining, processing, or handling in any other way, of the commodity purchased.

Nothing in this section shall deny or abridge any cause of action a royalty owner, or a lienholder, or any other claimant, may have, because of the forfeiture of the illegal oil, illegal gas, or illegal product, against the person whose act resulted in such forfeiture. No illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product shall be sold for less than the average market value at the time of sale of similar products of like grade and character. (1945, c. 702, s. 32; 1973, c. 1262, s. 86; 1987, c. 827, s. 123; 1998-215, s. 51.)