Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 39 > Chapter 73 > Article 3 - Administration and Enforcement

• Administrator: means the South Carolina Secretary of State. See South Carolina Code 39-73-10
• 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.
• Affiliate: means persons who are affiliates to each other if, directly or indirectly, either one controls or has the power to control the other or a third person controls or has the power to control both. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bodily injury: means actual medically documented costs and medically documentable future costs of adverse health effects that have resulted from exposure to a release of petroleum or petroleum products from an underground storage tank. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Committed funds: means that portion of the Superb Account reserved as a result of action by the Department of Health and Environmental Control to approve costs for planned site rehabilitation activities. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Commodity: means , except as otherwise specified by the administrator, an agricultural, a grain, or a livestock product or by-product, a metal or mineral, including a precious metal, a gem, or gemstone whether characterized as precious, semi-precious, or otherwise, a fuel whether liquid, gaseous, or otherwise, a foreign currency, and other goods, articles, products, or items. See South Carolina Code 39-73-10
• Commodity Exchange Act: means the act of Congress known as the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended, unless the administrator within ten days following the effective date of an amendment, disallows the application to this chapter by regulation. See South Carolina Code 39-73-10
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission: means the independent regulatory agency established by Congress to administer the Commodity Exchange Act. See South Carolina Code 39-73-10
• 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.
• Compensation: means billing the Superb Account for costs associated with site rehabilitation after receiving prior approval from the department and in accordance with regulations promulgated pursuant to this chapter and criteria established by the department as authorized by this chapter. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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 Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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}
• 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.
• 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.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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}
• Fund: means the funds provided for under this chapter and deposited in the Superb Account or the Superb Financial Responsibility Fund hereinafter created. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Occurrence: means an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions which results in a release from an underground storage tank. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Offer: includes every offer to sell, offer to purchase, or offer to enter into a commodity contract or commodity option. See South Carolina Code 39-73-10
• Operator: means any person in control of, or having responsibility for the daily operation of an underground storage tank. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Owner: means :
  
  (a) in the case of an underground storage tank system in use on November 8, 1984, or brought into use after that date, a person who owns an underground storage tank system used for storage, use, or dispensing of regulated substances;
  
  (b) in the case of any underground storage tank system in use before November 8, 1984, but no longer in use on that date, a person who owned such an underground storage tank immediately before the discontinuation of its use; or
  
  (c) a person who has assumed legal ownership of the underground storage tank through the provisions of a contract of sale or other legally binding transfer of ownership. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Person: means any individual, partner, corporation organized or united for a business purpose, or a governmental agency. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Person: means an individual, a corporation, a partnership, an association, a joint-stock company, a trust where the interests of the beneficiaries are evidenced by a security, an unincorporated organization, a government, or a political subdivision of a government. See South Carolina Code 39-73-10
• petroleum product: means crude oil or any fraction thereof which is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure (60 degrees Fahrenheit and 14. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Property damage: means a documented adverse physical impact to structures or property as a result of a release of petroleum or petroleum products from an underground storage tank. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• regulated substance: includes , but is not limited to, petroleum and petroleum-based substances comprised of a complex blend of hydrocarbons derived from crude oil through processes of separation, conversion, upgrading, and finishing, such as motor fuels, jet fuels, distillate fuel oils, residual fuel oils, lubricants, petroleum solvents, and used oils. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Related interest: means affiliated companies, principal owners of the client company, or any other party with which the client deals where one of the parties can influence the management or operation policies of the other. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Release: means any spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching or disposing from an underground storage tank into subsurface soils, groundwater, or surface water. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• sell: includes every sale, contract of sale, contract to sell, or disposition for value. See South Carolina Code 39-73-10
• 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.
• Site rehabilitation: means cleanup actions taken in response to a release from an underground, storage tank which includes, but is not limited to, investigation, evaluation, planning, design, engineering, construction, or other services put forth to investigate or clean up affected subsurface soils, groundwater, or surface water. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Substantial compliance: means that an underground storage tank owner or operator has demonstrated a good faith effort to comply with regulations necessary and essential in preventing releases, in facilitating their early detection, and in mitigating their impact on public health and the environment. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• 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.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Third party claim: means a civil action brought or asserted by an injured party against an owner or operator of an underground storage tank for bodily injury or property damages resulting from a release of petroleum or petroleum products from an underground storage tank. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Underground storage tank: means any one or combination of tanks, including underground pipes connected to it, which is used to contain an accumulation of regulated substance, and the volume of which is ten percent or more beneath the surface of the ground. See South Carolina Code 44-2-20
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.