Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 631 > Part II - Florida Insurance Guaranty of Payments

• Account: means one of the accounts created by…. See Florida Statutes 631.54
• 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.
• 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.
• Articles of incorporation: includes original, amended, and restated articles of incorporation, articles of consolidation, and articles of merger, and all amendments thereto, including documents designated by the laws of this state as charters, and, in the case of a foreign corporation, documents equivalent to articles of incorporation in the jurisdiction of incorporation. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• Assessment year: means the 12-month period, which may begin on the first day of any calendar quarter, whether January 1, April 1, July 1, or October 1, as specified in an order issued by the office directing insurers to pay an assessment to the association. See Florida Statutes 631.54
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Association: means the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, Incorporated. See Florida Statutes 631.54
• Board of directors: means the group of persons vested with the management of the affairs of the corporation irrespective of the name by which such group is designated, including, but not limited to, managers or trustees. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• Bylaws: means the code or codes of rules adopted for the regulation or management of the affairs of the corporation irrespective of the name or names by which such rules are designated. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• 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.
• Corporation not for profit: means a corporation no part of the income or profit of which is distributable to its members, directors, or officers, except as otherwise provided under this chapter. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Covered claim: means an unpaid claim, including one of unearned premiums, which arises out of, and is within the coverage, and not in excess of, the applicable limits of an insurance policy to which this part applies, issued by an insurer, if such insurer becomes an insolvent insurer and the claimant or insured is a resident of this state at the time of the insured event or the property from which the claim arises is permanently located in this state. See Florida Statutes 631.54
• Department: means the Department of State. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• Direct written premiums: means direct gross premiums written in this state on insurance policies to which this part applies, less return premiums thereon on such direct business. See Florida Statutes 631.54
• Distribution: means the payment of a dividend or any part of the income or profit of a corporation to its members, directors, or officers. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• domestic corporation: means a corporation not for profit, subject to the provisions of this chapter, except a foreign corporation. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• Electronic transmission: means any form of communication, not directly involving the physical transmission or transfer of paper, which creates a record that may be retained, retrieved, and reviewed by a recipient and which may be directly reproduced in a comprehensible and legible paper form by such recipient through an automated process. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• 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}
• Foreign corporation: means a corporation not for profit organized under laws other than the laws of this state. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Insolvent: means the inability of a corporation to pay its debts as they become due in the usual course of its affairs. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• Insolvent insurer: means a member insurer authorized to transact insurance in this state, either at the time the policy was issued or when the insured event occurred, and against which an order of liquidation with a finding of insolvency has been entered by a court of competent jurisdiction if such order has become final by the exhaustion of appellate review. See Florida Statutes 631.54
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Mail: means the United States mail, facsimile transmissions, and private mail carriers handling nationwide mail services. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• Member: means one having membership rights in a corporation in accordance with the provisions of its articles of incorporation or bylaws or the provisions of this chapter. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• Member insurer: means any person who writes any kind of insurance to which this part applies under…. See Florida Statutes 631.54
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mutual benefit corporation: means a domestic corporation that is not organized primarily or exclusively for religious purposes; is not recognized as exempt under…. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• 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.
• Person: includes individual and entity. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• Person: means individuals, children, firms, associations, joint ventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 631.54
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• political subdivision: include counties, cities, towns, villages, special tax school districts, special road and bridge districts, bridge districts, and all other districts in this state. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• Successor entity: means any trust, receivership, or other legal entity that is governed by the laws of this state to which the remaining assets and liabilities of a dissolved corporation are transferred and that exists solely for the purposes of prosecuting and defending suits by or against the dissolved corporation and enabling the dissolved corporation to settle and close the business of the dissolved corporation, to dispose of and convey the property of the dissolved corporation, to discharge the liabilities of the dissolved corporation, and to distribute to the dissolved corporation's members any remaining assets, but not for the purpose of continuing the business for which the dissolved corporation was organized. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Voting power: means the total number of votes entitled to be cast for the election of directors at the time the determination of voting power is made, excluding a vote that is contingent upon the happening of a condition or event that has not yet occurred. See Florida Statutes 617.01401
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01