Terms Used In New York Laws > Insurance > Article 55 - Medical Malpractice Insurance Association

• 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.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• 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.
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• 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}
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• 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.
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Fixed Rate: Having a "fixed" rate means that the APR doesn't change based on fluctuations of some external rate (such as the "Prime Rate"). In other words, a fixed rate is a rate that is not a variable rate. A fixed APR can change over time, in several circumstances:
  • You are late making a payment or commit some other default, triggering an increase to a penalty rate
  • The bank changes the terms of your account and you do not reject the change.
  • The rate expires (if the rate was fixed for only a certain period of time).
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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.
• member: shall include each person who during the qualifying period was in the employment of a public employer which then participated for such employees in a public retirement system in this state, irrespective of whether the person was a participant in such system at that time, provided that the person has become a participant in such retirement system and has purchased service credit for a period of time that includes some or all of the qualifying period in accordance with provisions of law applicable to such purchase of service credit. See N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 2
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Qualifying condition or impairment of health: shall mean a qualifying physical condition, or a qualifying psychological condition, or both, except that for any member identified in paragraph (vi) of paragraph (e) of this subdivision, it shall only mean a qualifying psychological condition. See N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 2
• Qualifying period: shall mean : (i) any period of time within the forty-eight hours after the first airplane hit the towers, for any member identified in paragraphs (i) through (v) of paragraph (e) of this subdivision; (ii) a total of forty hours accumulated any time between September eleventh, two thousand one and September twelfth, two thousand two, for any member identified in subparagraphs (i) through (v) of paragraph (e) of this subdivision; or (iii) any period of time within the twenty-four hours after the first airplane hit the towers, for any member identified in subparagraph (vi) of paragraph (e) of this subdivision. See N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 2
• Qualifying physical condition: shall mean one or more of the following: (i) diseases of the upper respiratory tract and mucosae, including conditions such as rhinitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, vocal cord disease, and upper airway hyper-reactivity, or a combination of such conditions; (ii) diseases of the lower respiratory tract, including but not limited to tracheo-bronchitis, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, reactive airway dysfunction syndrome, and different types of pneumonitis, such as hypersensitivity, granulomatous, or eosinophilic; (iii) diseases of the gastroesophageal tract, including esophagitis and reflux disease, either acute or chronic, caused by exposure or aggravated by exposure; (iv) diseases of the skin such as conjunctivitis, contact dermatitis or burns, either acute or chronic in nature, infectious, irritant, allergic, idiopathic or non-specific reactive in nature, caused by exposure or aggravated by exposure; or (v) new onset diseases resulting from exposure as such diseases occur in the future including cancer, asbestos-related disease, heavy metal poisoning, and musculoskeletal disease. See N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 2
• Qualifying psychological condition: shall mean one or more of the following: (i) diseases of the psychological axis, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, or any combination of such conditions; or (ii) new onset diseases resulting from exposure as such diseases occur in the future including chronic psychological disease. See N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 2
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• World Trade Center site: shall mean anywhere below a line starting from the Hudson River and Canal Street; east on Canal Street to Pike Street; south on Pike Street to the East River; and extending to the lower tip of Manhattan. See N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 2