Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 16 > Chapter 3 > Article 13 - Compensation of Victims of Crime

• Account: means any of the three accounts created under § 38-29-50. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Admitted assets: means assets of an insurer considered admitted on the most recent statutory financial statement of the insurer filed with the department pursuant to § 38-13-80. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Annuity: means each contract or agreement to make periodic payments, whether in fixed or variable dollar amounts, or both, at specified intervals. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appointment: means an individual designated by an official or authorized representative of an authorized insurer to act on its behalf as a producer. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Association: means the South Carolina Life and Accident and Health Insurance Guaranty Association created under § 38-29-50. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• authorized: when used in the context of assessments means the board of directors has passed a resolution whereby an assessment will be called immediately or in the future from member insurers for a specified amount. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bail bondsman: means as defined in § 38-53-10. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Bench trial: Trial without a jury in which a judge decides the facts.
• Beneficial owner: when used in this chapter, means a person who directly or indirectly beneficially owns more than ten percent of any class of any equity security of a domestic stock insurer. See South Carolina Code 38-23-30
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Benefit plan: means a specific employee, union, or association of natural persons benefit plan. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• called: when used in the context of assessments means that notice has been issued by the association to the member insurers requiring that an authorized assessment be paid within the time frame set forth within the notice. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Civil forfeiture: The loss of ownership of property used to conduct illegal activity.
• Commission: means the part of the premium paid to the producer as compensation for his services. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Consent: means agreement to administrative supervision by the insurer. See South Carolina Code 38-26-20
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• contract owner: means the person who is identified as the legal owner under the terms of the policy or contract or who is otherwise vested with legal title to the policy or contract through a valid assignment completed in accordance with the terms of the policy or contract and properly recorded as the owner on the books of the member insurer. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Insurance of South Carolina. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Director: means the person who is appointed by the Governor upon the advice and consent of the Senate and who is responsible for the operation and management of the department. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• director: means the Director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance or his designee. See South Carolina Code 38-21-10
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Domestic insurer: means an insurer incorporated or organized under the laws of this State. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• Enterprise risk: means an activity, circumstance, event, or series of events involving one or more affiliates of an insurer that, if not remedied promptly, likely is to have a material adverse effect upon the financial condition or liquidity of the insurer or its insurance holding company system as a whole, including, but not limited to, anything that would cause the insurer's risk-based capital to fall into company action level as provided in § 38-9-330 or would cause the insurer to be in hazardous financial condition as provided in § 38-5-120. See South Carolina Code 38-21-10
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Equity security: when used in this chapter, means any stock or similar security; or any security convertible, with or without consideration, into such a security, or carrying any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase such a security; or any such warrant or right; or any other security which the director or his designee considers to be of similar nature and considers necessary or appropriate, by any regulation the department may prescribe in the public interest or for the protection of investors, to treat as an equity security. See South Carolina Code 38-23-20
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreign insurer: means an insurer incorporated or organized under the laws of the United States or of any jurisdiction within the United States other than this State. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• group-wide supervisor: means the regulatory official authorized to engage in conducting or coordinating group-wide supervision activities who is determined or acknowledged by the director pursuant to § 38-21-295 to have sufficient significant contacts with the internationally active insurance group. See South Carolina Code 38-21-10
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Impaired insurer: means a member insurer which, after the effective date of this chapter, is not an insolvent insurer but has been placed under an order of rehabilitation or conservation by a court of competent jurisdiction. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Insolvent insurer: means a member insurer which, after the effective date of this chapter, is placed under an order of liquidation by a court of competent jurisdiction with a finding of insolvency. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• insurance: includes annuities. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurance broker: means an individual licensed by the department to represent citizens of this State in placing their insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurance company: means an "insurer". See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• insurance holding company system: consists of two or more affiliated persons, one or more of which is an insurer. See South Carolina Code 38-21-10
• Insurer: includes a corporation, fraternal organization, burial association, other association, partnership, society, order, individual, or aggregation of individuals engaging or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance or surety business, including the exchanging of reciprocal or interinsurance contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurer: means a person who has done, purports to do, is going to do, or is licensed to do an insurance business and is or has been subject to the authority of, or to liquidation, rehabilitation, reorganization, supervision, or conservation by the department, or similar entity, of a state. See South Carolina Code 38-26-20
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• internationally active insurance group: means an insurance holding company system that includes an insurer registered pursuant to §§ 38-21-143 through 38-21-240 and meets the following criteria:
  
  (a) premiums written in at least three countries;
  
  (b) the percentage of gross premiums written outside the United States is at least ten percent of the insurance holding company system's total gross written premiums; and
  
  (c) based on a three-year rolling average, the total assets of the insurance holding company system are at least fifty billion dollars or the total gross written premiums of the insurance holding company systems are at least ten billion dollars. See South Carolina Code 38-21-10
• Joint meeting: An occasion, often ceremonial, when the House and Senate each adopt a unanimous consent agreement
• 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.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License: means a document issued by the state's director or his designee authorizing a person to act as an insurance producer for the lines of authority specified in the document. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Life insurance: means a contract of insurance upon the lives of human beings. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Marine insurance: means each insurance against loss or destruction of or damage to aircraft, vessels, or watercraft and their cargoes; insurance covering the risks or perils of navigation, transit, or transportation of all forms of property, including the liability of a carrier for hire for the loss of property of shippers delivered for transporting; marine builder's risks; bridges, tunnels, piers, wharves, docks and slips, dry docks, marine railways, and other aids to navigation and transportation, precious stones, precious metals, and jewelry, whether in the course of transportation or otherwise; coverage of personal property by all risk forms known as the "Personal Property Floater"; and coverage of mobile machinery and equipment. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Member insurer: means an insurer or health maintenance organization authorized to transact in this State any kind of insurance to which this chapter applies under § 38-29-40. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Mobile home: as used in this article shall have the meaning assigned in § 31-17-20. See South Carolina Code 31-17-310
• Negotiate: means the act of conferring directly with or offering advice directly to a purchaser or prospective purchaser of a particular contract of insurance concerning substantive benefits, terms, or conditions of the contract, provided that the person engaged in that act either sells insurance or obtains insurance from insurers for purchasers. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Net annual advance premiums or deposits: as used in this chapter , means the advance premiums or deposits made by subscribers after deducting the amounts specifically provided in the subscribers' agreements for expenses. See South Carolina Code 38-17-110
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means a corporation, agency, partnership, association, voluntary organization, individual, or another entity, organization, or aggregation of individuals. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• person: means an individual, a corporation, a partnership, an association, a joint stock company, a trust, an unincorporated organization, any similar entity, or any combination of the foregoing acting in concert. See South Carolina Code 38-21-10
• Person: means an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, governmental body, or entity or voluntary organization. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Policy: means a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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}
• Premium: means payment given in consideration of a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Premiums: means amounts or considerations received on covered policies or contracts less returned premiums, considerations and deposits and less dividends and experience credits. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Principal place of business: means the state in which a natural person who establishes policies or contracts for the direction, control, and coordination of the operations of the entity as a whole primarily exercises that function, determined by the association after consideration of the state in which the:
  
  (a) primary executive and administrative headquarters of the entity is located;
  
  (b) principal office of the chief executive officer of the entity is located;
  
  (c) board of directors conducts the majority of its meetings;
  
  (d) executive or management committee of the board of directors of the entity conducts the majority of its meetings;
  
  (e) management of the overall operations of the entity is directed; and
  
  (f) holding company or controlling affiliate has its principal place of business in the case of a benefit plan by affiliated companies comprising a consolidated corporation. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• producer: means a person who represents an insurance company and is required to be licensed pursuant to § 38-43-10. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Resident: means a person who resides in this State at the time the impairment as determined by a court of appropriate jurisdiction and to whom contractual obligations are owed. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Sell: means to exchange a contract of insurance by any means, for money or its equivalent, on behalf of an insurance company. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Sequester: To separate. Sometimes juries are sequestered from outside influences during their deliberations.
• 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 a state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and a United States' possession, territory, or protectorate. See South Carolina Code 38-29-20
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• supervisory college: is a meeting or joint meeting of insurance regulators or supervisors with company officials where the topic of discussion is regulatory oversight of one specific insurance group that is writing significant amounts of insurance in other jurisdictions. See South Carolina Code 38-21-10
• Surety: includes insurance or a bond that covers obligations to pay the debts, or answer for the default, of another, including faithlessness in a position of public or private trust. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Terminate: means the cancellation of the relationship between an insurance producer and the insurer or the termination of a producer's authority to transact insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• voting security: includes any security convertible into or evidencing a right to acquire a voting security. See South Carolina Code 38-21-10