Terms Used In Delaware Code > Title 11 > Chapter 24 > Subchapter II - Stored Wire and Electronic Communications and Transactional Records Access

• 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.
• 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 issuer: shall mean an insurer that has issued an insurance contract used to fund periodic payments under a structured settlement;

  (2) "Applicable law" shall mean:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 6602

• 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.
• 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}
• Contents: when used with respect to any wire, oral or electronic communication, includes any information concerning the identity of the parties to the communication or the existence or substance of that communication. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 2401
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Dependents: shall include a payee's spouse and minor children and all other family members and other persons for whom the payee is legally obligated to provide support, including alimony;

  (4) "Discounted present value" shall mean the fair present value of future payments, as determined by discounting such payments to the present using the most recently published applicable federal rate for determining the present value of an annuity, as issued by the United States Internal Revenue Service;

  (5) "Favorable tax determination" shall mean, with respect to a proposed transfer of structured settlement payment rights, any of the following authorities that definitively establishes that the federal income tax treatment of the structured settlement for the parties to the structured settlement agreement and any qualified assignment agreement, other than the payee, will not be affected by such transfer:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 6602

• Discounted present value: shall mean the fair present value of future payments, as determined by discounting such payments to the present using the most recently published applicable federal rate for determining the present value of an annuity, as issued by the United States Internal Revenue Service;

  (5) "Favorable tax determination" shall mean, with respect to a proposed transfer of structured settlement payment rights, any of the following authorities that definitively establishes that the federal income tax treatment of the structured settlement for the parties to the structured settlement agreement and any qualified assignment agreement, other than the payee, will not be affected by such transfer:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 6602

• Electronic communication: means any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photooptical system. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 2401
• Electronic communication service: means any service that provides to users of the service the ability to send or receive wire, oral or electronic communications. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 2401
• Electronic communications system: means any wire, oral, radio, electromagnetic, photooptical or photoelectronic facilities for the transmission of wire, oral or electronic communications, and any computer facilities or related electronic equipment for the wire, oral or electronic storage of electronic communications. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 2401
• Electronic storage: includes any storage of a wire, oral or electronic communication by an electronic communication service for purposes of backup protection of the communication. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 2401
• 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.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Interested parties: shall mean , with respect to any structured settlement, the payee, any beneficiary designated under the annuity contract to receive payments following the payee's death, the annuity issuer, the structured settlement obligor, and any other party that has continuing rights or obligations under such structured settlement;

  (9) "Payee" shall mean an individual who is receiving tax-free damage payments under a structured settlement and proposes to make a transfer of payment rights thereunder;

  (10) "Qualified assignment agreement" shall mean an agreement providing for a qualified assignment within the meaning of § 130 of the United States Internal Revenue Code, United States Code Title 26 (26 U. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 6602

• Investigative or law-enforcement officer: means any officer of this State or a political subdivision of this State, who is empowered by law to conduct investigations or to make arrests for offenses enumerated in this title, any sworn law-enforcement officer of the federal government or of any other state or a political subdivision of another state working with and under the direction of an investigative or law-enforcement officer of this State or a political subdivision of this State, or any attorney authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of such offenses. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 2401
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 any employee or agent of this State or a political subdivision thereof, or any individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust or corporation. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 2401
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Remote computing service: means the provision to the public of computer storage or processing services by means of an electronic communications system. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 2401
• Responsible administrative authority: shall mean , with respect to a structured settlement, any government authority vested by law with exclusive jurisdiction over the settled claim resolved by such structured settlement;

  (12) "Settled claim" shall mean the original tort claim or workers' compensation claim resolved by a structured settlement;

  (13) "Structured settlement" shall mean an arrangement for periodic payment of damages for personal injuries established by settlement or judgment in resolution of a tort claim or for periodic payments in settlement of a workers' compensation claim;

  (14) "Structured settlement agreement" shall mean the agreement, judgment, stipulation or release embodying the terms of a structured settlement, including the rights of the payee to receive periodic payments;

  (15) "Structured settlement obligor" shall mean, with respect to any structured settlement, the party that has the continuing periodic payment obligation to the payee under a structured settlement agreement or a qualified assignment agreement;

  (16) "Structured settlement payment rights" shall mean rights to receive periodic payments (including lump sum payments) under a structured settlement, whether from the settlement obligor or the annuity issuer, where:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 6602

• 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 Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Terms of the structured settlement: shall include , with respect to any structured settlement, the terms of the structured settlement agreement, the annuity contract, any qualified assignment agreement and any order or approval of any court or responsible administrative authority or other government authority authorizing or approving such structured settlement;

  (18) "Transfer" shall mean any sale, assignment, pledge, hypothecation or other form of alienation or encumbrance made by a payee for consideration;

  (19) "Transfer agreement" shall mean the agreement providing for transfer of structured settlement payment rights from a payee to a transferee; and

  (20) "Transferee" or "payor" shall mean the person, firm or entity purchasing or receiving the assignment, pledge, hypothecation or other form of alienation or encumbrance made by a payee for consideration under a structured settlement agreement. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 6602

• 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.
• Transfer: shall mean any sale, assignment, pledge, hypothecation or other form of alienation or encumbrance made by a payee for consideration;

  (19) "Transfer agreement" shall mean the agreement providing for transfer of structured settlement payment rights from a payee to a transferee; and

  (20) "Transferee" or "payor" shall mean the person, firm or entity purchasing or receiving the assignment, pledge, hypothecation or other form of alienation or encumbrance made by a payee for consideration under a structured settlement agreement. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 6602

• 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.
• United States: includes its territories and possessions and the District of Columbia. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• User: means any person or entity that uses an electronic communication service and is duly authorized by the provider of the service to engage in that use. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 2401