Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 501 > Part VII - Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices; Vehicles

• Accident: means only an unexpected or unusual event or result that happens suddenly. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Agency: means the Agency for Health Care Administration. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• carrier: as used in this chapter , means an insurer as defined in this subsection. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Compensation: means the money allowance payable to an employee or to his or her dependents as provided for in this chapter. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Consumer: means an individual; child, by and through its parent or legal guardian; business; firm; association; joint venture; partnership; estate; trust; business trust; syndicate; fiduciary; corporation; any commercial entity, however denominated; or any other group or combination. See Florida Statutes 501.203
• 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.
• Customer: includes a customer's designated agent. See Florida Statutes 501.975
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dealer: means a motor vehicle dealer as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 501.975
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the Department of Financial Services; the term does not include the Financial Services Commission or any office of the commission. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Domestic individual self-insurer: means an individual self-insurer:
  (a) Which is a corporation formed under the laws of this state;
  (b) Who is an individual who is a resident of this state or whose primary place of business is located in this state; or
  (c) Which is a partnership whose principals are residents of this state or whose primary place of business is located in this state. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Employee: includes any person who is an officer of a corporation and who performs services for remuneration for such corporation within this state, whether or not such services are continuous. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Employer: means the state and all political subdivisions thereof, all public and quasi-public corporations therein, every person carrying on any employment, and the legal representative of a deceased person or the receiver or trustees of any person. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Employment: includes :
  1. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Enforcing authority: means the office of the state attorney if a violation of this part occurs in or affects the judicial circuit under the office's jurisdiction. See Florida Statutes 501.203
• 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.
• Foreign individual self-insurer: means an individual self-insurer:
  (a) Which is a corporation formed under the laws of any state, district, territory, or commonwealth of the United States other than this state;
  (b) Who is an individual who is not a resident of this state and whose primary place of business is not located in this state; or
  (c) Which is a partnership whose principals are not residents of this state and whose primary place of business is not located in this state. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Individual self-insurer: means any employer who has secured payment of compensation pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• insolvent: means :
  (a) With respect to an individual self-insurer:

  1. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Insurer: means a group self-insurers' fund authorized by…. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• 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.
• 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.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• Order: means a cease and desist order issued by the enforcing authority as set forth in…. See Florida Statutes 501.203
• Person: means individual, partnership, association, or corporation, including any public service corporation. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Self-insurer: means :
  (a) Any employer who has secured payment of compensation pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• 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.
• Threshold amount: means 3 percent of the manufacturer's suggested retail price of a motor vehicle or $650, whichever is less. See Florida Statutes 501.975
• 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.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Vehicle: means any automobile, truck, bus, recreational vehicle, or motorcycle required to be licensed under chapter 320 for operation over the roads of Florida, but does not include trailers, mobile homes, travel trailers, or trailer coaches without independent motive power. See Florida Statutes 501.975
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• 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