Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 20 > Chapter 191 - Control Generally

• 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.
• 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.
• Average weekly wages: means the average weekly wages as computed under section 650 of this title. See
• Child: includes a stepchild, adopted child, posthumous child, grandchild, and a child for whom parentage has been established pursuant to 15 Vt. See
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Labor or the Commissioner's designee. See
• 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.
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Department: means the Department of Public Safety. See
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Domestic: when applied to a corporation, company, association, or copartnership shall mean organized under the laws of this State; "foreign" when so applied, shall mean organized under the laws of another state, government, or country. See
• employee: means an individual who has entered into the employment of, or works under contract of service or apprenticeship with, an employer. See
• Employer: includes any body of persons, corporate or unincorporated, public or private, and the legal representative of a deceased employer, and includes the owner or lessee of premises or other person who is virtually the proprietor or operator of the business there carried on, but who, by reason of there being an independent contractor or for any other reason, is not the direct employer of the workers there employed. See
• Employment: includes public employment, and, in the case of private employers, includes all employment in any trade or occupation notwithstanding that an employer may be a nonprofit corporation, institution, association, partnership, or proprietorship. See
• 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}
• 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.
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• Firefighter: means a firefighter as defined in 20 V. See
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Grandchild: includes a child of an adopted child and a child of a stepchild, but does not include a stepchild of a child, a stepchild of a stepchild, a stepchild of an adopted child, or a married grandchild unless dependent. See
• Grandparent: includes a parent of a parent by adoption, but does not include a parent of a stepparent, a stepparent of a parent, or a stepparent of a stepparent. See
• Health care provider: means a person, partnership, corporation, facility, or institution licensed or certified or authorized by law to provide professional health care service to an individual during the individual's medical care, treatment, or confinement. See
• Insurance carrier: includes any corporation from which an employer has obtained workers' compensation insurance or guaranty insurance in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. See
• 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.
• Justice: when applied to a person, other than a Justice of the Supreme Court, shall mean a justice of the peace for the county for which he or she is elected or appointed. See
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Maximum weekly compensation: shall mean a sum of money equal to 150 percent of the average compensation, rounded to the next higher dollar. See
• Medical bill: means any claim, bill, or request for payment from a health care provider or employee for all or any portion of health care services provided to the employee for an injury for which the employee has filed a claim under this chapter. See
• Minimum weekly compensation: shall mean a sum of money equal to 50 percent of the average compensation, rounded to the next higher dollar. See
• 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.
• Parent: includes a stepparent and a parent by adoption. See
• Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• personal injury: includes occupational diseases, death resulting from injury within two years and includes injury to and cost of acquiring and replacement of prosthetic devices, hearing aids, and eye glasses. See
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Police officer: means a law enforcement officer who has been certified by the Vermont Criminal Justice Council pursuant to 20 Vt. See
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• 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.
• Rescue or ambulance worker: means ambulance service, emergency medical personnel, first responder service, and volunteer personnel as defined in 24 V. See
• School board: means the board of school directors elected to manage the schools of a school district, the prudential committee of an incorporated school district, the supervisory union board of directors, and the supervisors of unorganized towns and gores. See
• School district: means town school districts, union school districts, interstate school districts, city school districts, unified union districts, and incorporated school districts, each of which is governed by a publicly elected board. See
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Education. See
• 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.
• sister: includes a stepbrother and stepsister, half-brother and half-sister, and a brother and sister by adoption, but does not include a married brother or a married sister unless dependent. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• State Board: means the State Board of Education established by chapter 3 of this title. See
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Superintendent: means the chief executive officer of a supervisory union and each school board within it. See
• Town: shall include city and wards or precincts therein; "selectboard members" and "board of civil authority" shall extend to and include the mayor and aldermen of cities; "trustees" shall extend to and include bailiffs of incorporated villages; and the laws applicable to the inhabitants and officers of towns shall be applicable to the inhabitants and similar officers of all municipal corporations. See
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Wages: includes bonuses and the market value of board, lodging, fuel, and other advantages that can be estimated in money and that the employee receives from the employer as a part of his or her remuneration; but does not include any sum paid by the employer to his or her employee to cover any special expenses entailed on the employee by the nature of his or her employment. See