Terms Used In Alaska Statutes > Title 28 > Chapter 22 - Mandatory Motor Vehicle Insurance

• action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• department: means the Department of Administration. See Alaska Statutes 28.90.990
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• driver: means a person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Alaska Statutes 28.90.990
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way that is publicly maintained when a part of it is open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel, including but not limited to every street and the Alaska state marine highway system but not vehicular ways or areas. See Alaska Statutes 28.90.990
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• license: when used in relation to driver licensing, means a license, provisional license, or permit to drive a motor vehicle, or the privilege to drive or to obtain a license to drive a motor vehicle, under the laws of this state whether or not a person holds a valid license issued in this or another jurisdiction. See Alaska Statutes 28.90.990
• motor vehicle: means a vehicle which is self-propelled except a vehicle moved by human or animal power. See Alaska Statutes 28.90.990
• municipality: means a political subdivision incorporated under the laws of the state that is a home rule or general law city, a home rule or general law borough, or a unified municipality. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• owner: means a person, other than a lienholder, having the property in or title to a vehicle, including but not limited to a person entitled to the use and possession of a vehicle subject to a security interest in another person, but exclusive of a lessee under a lease not intended as security. See Alaska Statutes 28.90.990
• peace officer: means
  (A) an officer of the state troopers. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, organization, business trust, or society, as well as a natural person. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• property: includes real and personal property. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• state: means the State of Alaska unless applied to the different parts of the United States and in the latter case it includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• suspend: means the temporary withdrawal, by formal action of the Department of Public Safety or the Department of Administration or by formal action of a court, of a certificate, registration, license, permit, or privilege issued or allowed under this title or regulations adopted under this title, effective for a period of time which must be specifically designated by the appropriate department or by the court. See Alaska Statutes 28.90.990
• traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or together while using a highway or vehicular way or area that is open to public use for purposes of travel. See Alaska Statutes 28.90.990
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• underinsured motor vehicle: means a motor vehicle licensed for highway use with respect to ownership, operation, maintenance, or use for which there is a bodily injury or property damage insurance policy or a bond applicable at the time of an accident and the amount of insurance or bond is less than the amount the covered person is legally entitled to recover for bodily injury or property damage from the owner or operator of the underinsured motor vehicle. See Alaska Statutes 28.90.990
• vehicle: means a device in, upon, or by which a person or property may be transported or drawn upon or immediately over a highway or vehicular way or area. See Alaska Statutes 28.90.990
• vehicular way or area: means a way, path, or area, other than a highway or private property, that is designated by official traffic control devices or customary usage and that is open to the public for purposes of pedestrian or vehicular travel, and which way or area may be restricted in use to pedestrians, bicycles, or other specific types of vehicles as determined by the Department of Public Safety or other agency having jurisdiction over the way, path, or area. See Alaska Statutes 28.90.990
• writing: includes printing. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060