Terms Used In Delaware Code > Title 5 > Chapter 16 > Subchapter IV - Powers and Prohibitions

• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Alien: means formed under the laws of any country or jurisdiction other than the United States of America or any of its states, districts, commonwealths and possessions. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• Alien captive insurance company: means any insurance company formed to write insurance business of a nature that the Commissioner determines is otherwise permissible under this chapter and is licensed pursuant to the laws of an alien jurisdiction which imposes statutory or regulatory standards in a form acceptable to the Commissioner on companies transacting the business of insurance in such jurisdiction. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6972
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• 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.
• 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}
• Branch business: means any insurance business transacted by a branch captive insurance company in this State. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6972
• Branch captive insurance company: means any alien captive insurance company that has been issued a certificate of authority by the Commissioner to transact the business of insurance in this State through a business unit with a principal place of business in this State, and has not otherwise been issued a certificate of authority by the Commissioner to transact insurance under this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6972
• Branch operations: means any business operations of a branch captive insurance company in this State. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6972
• Capital and surplus: means the amount by which the value of all of the assets of the captive insurance company exceeds all of the liabilities of the captive insurance company, as determined under the method of accounting utilized by the captive insurance company in accordance with the applicable provisions of this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• Capital stock: means common or preferred stock or any hybrid security or other equity security issued by a converted stock insurer or other company or entity pursuant to the exercise of subscription rights granted pursuant to the provisions of § 4975(a)(3) of this title. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• Captive insurance company: means any pure captive insurance company, association captive insurance company, agency captive insurance company, sponsored captive insurance company, industrial insured captive insurance company, special purpose captive insurance company, special purpose financial captive insurance company, series captive insurance company, or risk retention group, whether domestic, foreign or alien, or branch captive insurance company, licensed under the provisions of this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• Commissioner: means the Insurance Commissioner of this State. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• Commissioner: means the Insurance Commissioner of this State. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Converted stock company: means a stock insurer that converted from a mutual insurer under this chapter, or under the laws of any other jurisdiction, or any successor thereto provided that not less than a majority of the shares of voting stock of such successor are owned by a mutual holding company. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• 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.
• Counterparty: means a person, other than a natural person, which may but need not be the parent or an affiliate of the special purpose financial captive insurance company, that enters into an SPFC contract with a special purpose financial captive insurance company. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6952
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• 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 this State. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Domestic mutual company: means a mutual insurer domiciled in this State. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• Eligible member: means a member of a mutual company whose policy is in force on the date the mutual company's governing body adopts a plan of conversion or such earlier date as the mutual company may establish with the consent of the Commissioner. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• 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.
• 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.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Foreign: means formed under the laws of any state. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• Foreign mutual insurer: means a mutual insurer domiciled in a jurisdiction other than this State. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• 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}
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Infant: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Insurance: has the meaning given such term in § 102 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• Insurer: has the meaning given such term in § 102 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mutual company: means a mutual insurer that is seeking to convert to a stock insurer under this chapter, including a captive insurance company (notwithstanding § 6916 of this title) that is incorporated as a nonstock corporation and including a foreign mutual insurer that has applied to redomesticate to this State with an intent to file an application to convert from mutual to stock form under this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• Mutual holding company: means :

  1. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972

• 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.
• Parent: means a person that directly or indirectly owns, controls, or holds with power to vote more than 50 percent of the outstanding voting securities or other voting interests of a pure captive insurance company. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• Participating policy: means a policy that grants a holder the right to receive dividends if, as and when declared by the mutual company. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• 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.
• Permitted investments: means those investments that meet the qualifications set forth in § 6910(b) of this title. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6952
• Person: means an individual, a corporation, a limited liability company, a partnership, an association, a joint stock company, a trust, an unincorporated organization, a similar entity, or a combination of the foregoing acting in concert. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• Person: means a natural person, partnership (whether general or limited), trust, estate, association, corporation, limited liability company, statutory trust, business trust, custodian, nominee or any other individual or entity in its own or any representative capacity, in each case whether domestic, foreign, or alien. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• plan: means a plan adopted by a mutual company's governing body to convert the mutual company into a stock company in accordance with the requirements of this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• Policy: means an insurance policy, including an annuity contract. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Protected cell: has the meaning given such term in § 6932(3) of this title. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do 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}
• Right of offset: Banks' legal right to seize funds that a guarantor or debtor may have on deposit to cover a loan in default. It is also known as the right of set-off. ^{Source: OCC}
• savings bank: as used in this chapter , refers to a corporation organized under this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 5 Sec. 1601
• 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.
• Special purpose financial captive insurance company: means a captive insurance company that is granted a certificate of authority under this subchapter. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6952
• Special purpose financing transaction: means :

  1. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6952

• SPFC contract: means a contract or group of related contracts between a special purpose financial captive insurance company and a counterparty or counterparties pursuant to which insurance risk is transferred by the counterparty or counterparties to the special purpose financial captive insurance company. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6952
• Sponsored captive insurance company: has the meaning given such term in § 6932(5) of this title. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• Standby investor: means any person that has agreed in writing to purchase all or a portion of the capital stock to be sold in a conversion that is not subscribed by eligible members. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• 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
• State: means the State of Delaware, and "state" means any other state, district, commonwealth or possession of the United States of America. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6902
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Stock company: means a stock insurer that meets all of the current requirements for admission to do business as a domestic Delaware insurer. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• subsidiaries: shall include , in addition to those such corporations where the insurer owns a majority of their stock, those corporations formed or acquired by an insurer where it owns less than a majority of such corporation's voting stock due to the laws of a foreign national which require the insurer to own less than a majority of the voting stock of such subsidiary insurance corporation if it is to operate in that nation. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 1313
• Surplus note: means an unsecured subordinated debt obligation treated as surplus and not debt in accordance with § 6956 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6952
• 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.
• 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.
• United States: includes its territories and possessions and the District of Columbia. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Voting member: means a member who is an eligible member and is also a member of the mutual insurer as of a date not more than 90 days prior to the date of the meeting at which the plan shall be voted upon by members. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4972
• Year: means a calendar year, and is equivalent to the words "year of our Lord. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302