Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 672 > Part V - Performance

• 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.
• 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.
• Any allowance for a trade-in vehicle: means the net trade-in allowance as reflected in the purchase contract or lease agreement if acceptable to the consumer and manufacturer. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• 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.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Authorized service agent: means any person, including a franchised motor vehicle dealer, who is authorized by the manufacturer to service motor vehicles. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• 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}
• Board: means the Florida New Motor Vehicle Arbitration Board. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Buyer: means a person who buys or contracts to buy goods. See Florida Statutes 672.103
• Collateral charges: means those additional charges to a consumer wholly incurred as a result of the acquisition of the motor vehicle. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Commercial unit: means such a unit of goods as by commercial usage is a single whole for purposes of lease and division of which materially impairs its character or value on the market or in use. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Community covenant or restriction: means any agreement or limitation contained in a document recorded in the public records of the county in which a parcel is located which:
  (a) Subjects the parcel to any use restriction that may be enforced by a property owners' association; or
  (b) Authorizes a property owners' association to impose a charge or assessment against the parcel or the parcel owner. See Florida Statutes 712.01
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consumer: means the purchaser, other than for purposes of resale, or the lessee, of a motor vehicle primarily used for personal, family, or household purposes; any person to whom such motor vehicle is transferred for the same purposes during the duration of the Lemon Law rights period; and any other person entitled by the terms of the warranty to enforce the obligations of the warranty. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Consumer lease: means a lease that a lessor regularly engaged in the business of leasing or selling makes to a lessee who is an individual and who takes under the lease primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose if the total payments to be made under the lease contract, excluding payments for options to renew or buy, do not exceed $25,000. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contract for sale: includes both a present sale of goods and a contract to sell goods at a future time. See Florida Statutes 672.106
• 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.
• Covenant or restriction: means any agreement or limitation contained in a document recorded in the public records of the county in which a parcel is located which subjects the parcel to any use or other restriction or obligation. See Florida Statutes 712.01
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Days: means calendar days. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the Department of Legal Affairs. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Dower: A widow
• 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
• Fault: means wrongful act, omission, breach, or default. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Finance lease: means a lease with respect to which:
  1. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Goods: means all things that are movable at the time of identification to the lease contract, or are fixtures (s. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• 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.
• Incidental charges: means those reasonable costs to the consumer which are directly caused by the nonconformity of the motor vehicle. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Installment lease contract: means a lease contract that authorizes or requires the delivery of goods in separate lots to be separately accepted, even though the lease contract contains a clause "each delivery is a separate lease" or its equivalent. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• 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.
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• 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}
• Lease: means a transfer of the right to possession and use of goods for a term in return for consideration, but a sale, including a sale on approval or a sale or return, or retention or creation of a security interest is not a lease. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Lease agreement: means the bargain, with respect to the lease, of the lessor and the lessee in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances including course of dealing or usage of trade or course of performance as provided in this chapter. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Lease contract: means the total legal obligation that results from the lease agreement as affected by this chapter and any other applicable rules of law. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Leasehold interest: means the interest of the lessor or the lessee under a lease contract. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Legal tender: coins, dollar bills, or other currency issued by a government as official money. ^{Source: U.S. Mint}
• Lemon Law rights period: means the period ending 24 months after the date of the original delivery of a motor vehicle to a consumer. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Lessee: means any consumer who leases a motor vehicle for 1 year or more pursuant to a written lease agreement which provides that the lessee is responsible for repairs to such motor vehicle or any consumer who leases a motor vehicle pursuant to a lease-purchase agreement. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Lessee: means a person who acquires the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Lessee cost: means the aggregate deposit and rental payments previously paid to the lessor for the leased vehicle but excludes debt from any other transaction. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Lessor: means a person who holds title to a motor vehicle that is leased to a lessee under a written lease agreement or who holds the lessor's rights under such agreement. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Lessor: means a person who transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• 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.
• Lien: means a charge against or interest in goods to secure payment of a debt or performance of an obligation, but the term does not include a security interest. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Lot: means a parcel or a single article that is the subject matter of a separate lease or delivery, whether or not it is sufficient to perform the lease contract. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Manufacturer: means any person, whether a resident or nonresident of this state, who manufactures or assembles motor vehicles, or who manufactures or assembles chassis for recreational vehicles, or who manufactures or installs on previously assembled truck or recreational vehicle chassis special bodies or equipment which, when installed, forms an integral part of the motor vehicle, or a distributor or an importer as those terms are defined in…. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Merchant lessee: means a lessee who is a merchant with respect to goods of the kind subject to the lease. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• minor: includes any person who has not attained the age of 18 years. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Motor vehicle: means a new vehicle, propelled by power other than muscular power, which is sold in this state to transport persons or property, and includes a recreational vehicle or a vehicle used as a demonstrator or leased vehicle if a manufacturer's warranty was issued as a condition of sale, or the lessee is responsible for repairs, but does not include vehicles run only upon tracks, off-road vehicles, trucks over 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, motorcycles, mopeds, electric bicycles, or the living facilities of recreational vehicles. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Nonconformity: means a defect or condition that substantially impairs the use, value, or safety of a motor vehicle, but does not include a defect or condition that results from an accident, abuse, neglect, modification, or alteration of the motor vehicle by persons other than the manufacturer or its authorized service agent. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• 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.
• Parcel: means any real property that is subject to any covenant or restriction of a property owners' association. See Florida Statutes 712.01
• Per stirpes: The legal means by which the children of a decedent, upon the death of an ancestor at a level above that of the decedent, receive by right of representation the share of the ancestor
• Person: includes the singular or plural, natural or corporate, private or governmental, including the state and any political subdivision or agency thereof as the context for the use thereof requires or denotes and including any property owners' association. See Florida Statutes 712.01
• person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Present value: means the amount as of a date certain of one or more sums payable in the future, discounted to the date certain. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Procedure: means an informal dispute-settlement procedure established by a manufacturer to mediate and arbitrate motor vehicle warranty disputes. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Program: means the mediation and arbitration pilot program for recreational vehicles established in this chapter. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Purchase: includes taking by sale, lease, mortgage, security interest, pledge, gift, or any other voluntary transaction creating an interest in goods. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Purchase price: means the cash price as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Reasonable offset for use: means the number of miles attributable to a consumer up to the date of a settlement agreement or arbitration hearing, whichever occurs first, multiplied by the base selling or sale price of the vehicle as reflected on the purchase invoice, exclusive of taxes, government fees, and dealer fees, or in the case of a lease, the agreed upon value as reflected in the lease agreement and divided by 120,000, except in the case of a recreational vehicle, in which event it shall be divided by 60,000. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Reasonably equivalent to the motor vehicle to be replaced: means the manufacturer's suggested retail price of the replacement vehicle shall not exceed 105 percent of the manufacturer's suggested retail price of the motor vehicle to be replaced. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Recreational vehicle: means a motor vehicle primarily designed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel use, but does not include a van conversion. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• 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.
• Replacement motor vehicle: means a motor vehicle which is identical or reasonably equivalent to the motor vehicle to be replaced, as the motor vehicle to be replaced existed at the time of acquisition. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
• Root of title: means any title transaction purporting to create or transfer the estate claimed by any person which is the last title transaction to have been recorded at least 30 years before the time when marketability is being determined. See Florida Statutes 712.01
• Seller: means a person who sells or contracts to sell goods. See Florida Statutes 672.103
• 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.
• Sole ownership: The type of property ownership in which one individual holds legal title to the property and has full control of it.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Sublease: means a lease of goods the right to possession and use of which was acquired by the lessor as a lessee under an existing lease. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Supplier: means a person from whom a lessor buys or leases goods to be leased under a finance lease. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Supply contract: means a contract under which a lessor buys or leases goods to be leased. See Florida Statutes 680.1031
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Title transaction: means any recorded instrument or court proceeding that affects title to any estate or interest in land and that describes the land sufficiently to identify its location and boundaries. See Florida Statutes 712.01
• 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.
• 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.
• Warranty: means any written warranty issued by the manufacturer, or any affirmation of fact or promise made by the manufacturer, excluding statements made by the dealer, in connection with the sale of a motor vehicle to a consumer which relates to the nature of the material or workmanship and affirms or promises that such material or workmanship is free of defects or will meet a specified level of performance. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• 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