Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 16.1 > Chapter 6 > Article 3 - Procedure in Civil Cases.

• Abstract of judgment: In a federal criminal proceeding, A certification from a U.S. District Court clerk that a judgment of restitution was entered against the defendant owing to the victim. If the defendant inherits, owns, or sells real property or holdings, these assets can then be attached at the state and local levels as well.
• 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.
• Alternative fuel: means a combustible gas, liquid or other energy source that can be used to generate power to operate a highway vehicle and that is neither a motor fuel nor electricity used to recharge an electric motor vehicle or a hybrid electric motor vehicle. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Assessment: as used in this subtitle , shall include an assessment made pursuant to notice by the Department of Taxation and self-assessments made by a taxpayer upon the filing of a return or otherwise not pursuant to notice. See Virginia Code 58.1-1820
• Assessment: means a written determination by the Department of the amount of taxes owed by a taxpayer. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• Aviation consumer: means any person who uses in excess of 100,000 gallons of aviation jet fuel in any fiscal year and is licensed pursuant to Article 2 (§ Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Aviation fuel: means aviation gasoline or aviation jet fuel. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Aviation gasoline: means fuel designed for use in the operation of aircraft other than jet aircraft, and sold or used for that purpose. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Aviation jet fuel: means fuel designed for use in the operation of jet or turbo-prop aircraft, and sold or used for that purpose. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• 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.
• Blended fuel: means a mixture composed of gasoline or diesel fuel and another liquid, other than a de minimis amount of a product such as carburetor detergent or oxidation inhibitor, that can be used as a fuel in a highway vehicle. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Blender: means a person who produces blended fuel outside the terminal transfer system. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Bond with surety: includes the payment in cash of the full amount of the required bond and, in such case, no surety shall be required. See Virginia Code 1-205
• Bonded aviation jet fuel: means aviation jet fuel held in bonded storage under United States Customs Law and delivered into a fuel tank of aircraft operated by certificated air carriers on international flights. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Bonded importer: means a person, other than a supplier, who imports, by transport truck or another means of transfer outside the terminal transfer system, motor fuel removed from a terminal located in another state in which (i) the state from which the fuel is imported does not require the seller of the fuel to collect motor fuel tax on the removal either at that state's rate or the rate of the destination state; (ii) the supplier of the fuel is not an elective supplier; or (iii) the supplier of the fuel is not a permissive supplier. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Bulk plant: means a motor fuel storage and distribution facility that is not a terminal and from which motor fuel may be removed at a rack. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Bulk user: means a person who maintains storage facilities for motor fuel and uses part or all of the stored fuel to operate a highway vehicle, watercraft, or aircraft. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Bulk user of alternative fuel: means a person who maintains storage facilities for alternative fuel and uses part or all of the stored fuel to operate a highway vehicle. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• 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.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Courts of record: means the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the circuit courts. See Virginia Code 1-212
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Taxation. See Virginia Code 58.1-1
• Department: means the Department of Motor Vehicles, acting directly or through its duly authorized officers and agents. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Destination state: means the state, territory, or foreign country to which motor fuel is directed for delivery into a storage facility, a receptacle, a container, or a type of transportation equipment for the purpose of resale or use. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Diesel fuel: means any liquid that is suitable for use as a fuel in a diesel-powered highway vehicle or watercraft. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Distributor: means a person who acquires motor fuel from a supplier or from another distributor for subsequent sale. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Dyed diesel fuel: means diesel fuel that meets the dyeing and marking requirements of Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Elective supplier: means a supplier who (i) is required to be licensed in the Commonwealth and (ii) elects to collect the tax due the Commonwealth on motor fuel that is removed at a terminal located in another state and has Virginia as its destination state. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Electric motor vehicle: means a motor vehicle that uses electricity as its only source of motive power. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• End seller: means the person who sells fuel to the ultimate user of the fuel. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• 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}
• 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.
• Export: means to obtain motor fuel in Virginia for sale or distribution in another state, territory, or foreign country. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Exporter: means a person who obtains motor fuel in Virginia for sale or distribution in another state, territory, or foreign country. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• 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.
• 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}
• 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}
• Fuel: includes motor fuel and alternative fuel. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Fuel alcohol: means methanol or fuel grade ethanol. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• 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
• Gasohol: means a blended fuel composed of gasoline and fuel grade ethanol. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Gasoline: means (i) all products that are commonly or commercially known or sold as gasoline and are suitable for use as a fuel in a highway vehicle, aircraft, or watercraft, other than products that have an American Society for Testing Materials octane number of less than 75 as determined by the motor method; (ii) a petroleum product component of gasoline, such as naphtha, reformate, or toluene; (iii) gasohol; and (iv) fuel grade ethanol. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Governmental entity: means (i) the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof or (ii) the United States or its departments, agencies, and instrumentalities. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Heating oil: means any combustible liquid, including but not limited to dyed #1 fuel oil, dyed #2 fuel oil, and kerosene, that is burned in a boiler, furnace, or stove for heating or for industrial processing purposes. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Highway: means every way or place of whatever nature open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel in the Commonwealth, including the streets and alleys in towns and cities. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Highway vehicle: means a self-propelled vehicle designed for use on a highway. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Hybrid electric motor vehicle: means a motor vehicle that uses electricity and another source of motive power. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Import: means to bring motor fuel into Virginia by any means of conveyance other than in the fuel supply tank of a highway vehicle. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Importer: means a person who obtains motor fuel outside of Virginia and brings that motor fuel into Virginia by any means of conveyance other than in the fuel tank of a highway vehicle. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• In-state-only supplier: means (i) a supplier who is required to have a license and who elects not to collect the tax due the Commonwealth on motor fuel that is removed by that supplier at a terminal located in another state and has Virginia as its destination state or (ii) a supplier who does business only in Virginia. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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}
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• 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.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensee: means any person licensed by the Commissioner pursuant to Article 2 (§ Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Liquid: means any substance that is liquid above its freezing point. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Motor fuel: means gasoline, diesel fuel, blended fuel, and aviation fuel. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Motor fuel transporter: means a person who transports motor fuel for hire by means of a pipeline, a tank wagon, a transport truck, a railroad tank car, or a marine vessel. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Net gallons: means the amount of motor fuel measured in gallons when adjusted to a temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit and a pressure of 14. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• 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.
• Occasional importer: means any person who (i) imports motor fuel by any means outside the terminal transfer system and (ii) is not required to be licensed as a bonded importer. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• 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.
• Permissive supplier: means an out-of-state supplier who elects, but is not required, to have a supplier's license under this chapter. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Person: means any individual; firm; cooperative; association; corporation; limited liability company; trust; business trust; syndicate; partnership; limited liability partnership; joint venture; receiver; trustee in bankruptcy; club, society or other group or combination acting as a unit; or public body, including but not limited to the Commonwealth, any other state, and any agency, department, institution, political subdivision or instrumentality of the Commonwealth or any other state. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Position holder: means a person who holds an inventory position of motor fuel in a terminal, as reflected on the records of the terminal operator. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• 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}
• Principal: means (i) if a partnership, all its partners; (ii) if a corporation, all its officers, directors, and controlling direct or indirect owners; (iii) if a limited liability company, all its members; and (iv) or an individual. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Provider of alternative fuel: means a person who (i) acquires alternative fuel for sale or delivery to a bulk user or a retailer; (ii) maintains storage facilities for alternative fuel, part or all of which the person sells to someone other than a bulk user or a retailer to operate a highway vehicle; (iii) sells alternative fuel and uses part of the fuel acquired for sale to operate a highway vehicle by means of a fuel supply line from the cargo tank of the vehicle to the engine of the vehicle; or (iv) imports alternative fuel into Virginia, by a means other than the usual tank or receptacle connected with the engine of a highway vehicle, for sale or use by that person to operate a highway vehicle. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Rack: means a facility that contains a mechanism for delivering motor fuel from a refinery, terminal, or bulk plant into a transport truck, railroad tank car, or other means of transfer that is outside the terminal transfer system. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Refiner: means any person who owns, operates, or otherwise controls a refinery. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Refinery: means a facility for the manufacture or reprocessing of finished or unfinished petroleum products usable as motor fuel and from which motor fuel may be removed by pipeline or marine vessel or at a rack. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Removal: means a physical transfer other than by evaporation, loss, or destruction. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• reproduction: shall be deemed to include photographs, microphotographs, microfilm, microcard, printouts, optical imaging or other reproductions of electronically stored data, or any other reproduction of an original from a process which forms a durable medium for its recording, storing, and reproducing. See Virginia Code 58.1-106
• Retailer: means a person who (i) maintains storage facilities for motor fuel and (ii) sells the fuel at retail or dispenses the fuel at a retail location. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Retailer of alternative fuel: means a person who (i) maintains storage facilities for alternative fuel and (ii) sells or dispenses the fuel at retail, to be used to generate power to operate a highway vehicle. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• 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: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• 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.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supplier: means (i) a position holder, or (ii) a person who receives motor fuel pursuant to a two-party exchange. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• System transfer: means a transfer (i) of motor fuel within the terminal transfer system or (ii) of fuel grade ethanol by transport truck or railroad tank car. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Tank wagon: means a straight truck or straight truck/trailer combination designed or used to carry fuel and having a capacity of less than 6,000 gallons. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Terminal: means a motor fuel storage and distribution facility (i) to which a terminal control number has been assigned by the Internal Revenue Service, (ii) to which motor fuel is supplied by pipeline or marine vessel, and (iii) from which motor fuel may be removed at a rack. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Terminal operator: means a person who owns, operates, or otherwise controls a terminal. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Terminal transfer system: means a motor fuel distribution system consisting of refineries, pipelines, marine vessels, and terminals, and which is a "bulk transfer/terminal system" under Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• 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.
• Transmix: means (i) the buffer or interface between two different products in a pipeline shipment or (ii) a mix of two different products within a refinery or terminal that results in an off-grade mixture. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Transport truck: means a tractor truck/semitrailer combination designed or used to transport cargoes of motor fuel over a highway. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Trustee: means a person who (i) is licensed as a supplier, an elective supplier, or a permissive supplier and receives tax payments from and on behalf of a licensed or unlicensed distributor, or other person pursuant to § Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Two-party exchange: means a transaction in which fuel is transferred from one licensed supplier to another licensed supplier pursuant to an exchange agreement, which transaction (i) includes a transfer from the person who holds the inventory position in taxable motor fuel in the terminal as reflected on the records of the terminal operator and (ii) is completed prior to removal of the product from the terminal by the receiving exchange partner. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Undyed diesel fuel: means diesel fuel that is not subject to the United States Environmental Protection Agency or Internal Revenue Service fuel-dyeing requirements. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Use: means the actual consumption or receipt of motor fuel by any person into a highway vehicle, aircraft, or watercraft. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Watercraft: means any vehicle used on waterways. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Wholesale price: means the price at the rack. See Virginia Code 58.1-2201
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.