Terms Used In New York Laws > General Business > Article 36 - Protection of Underground Facilities

• Chairman: means the chairman of the dormitory authority. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1695
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• 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.
• Damage: means an impact upon or removal of support from an underground facility consequent to excavation or demolition which, according to the operating practices of the operator, would necessitate repair of such facility, destruction of any underground facility or its protective coating, housing or other protective device, and impact with or severance of an underground facility. See N.Y. General Business Law 760
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Demolition: means the wrecking, razing, rending, moving or removing of any structure. See N.Y. General Business Law 760
• 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}
• Excavation: means an operation for the purpose of movement or removal of earth, rock or other materials in or on the ground by use of mechanized equipment or by blasting, and includes, but is not limited to, auguring, backfilling, drilling, grading, plowing in, pulling in, trenching and tunneling; provided, however, that the movement of earth by tools manipulated only by human or animal power and the tilling of soil for agricultural purposes shall not be deemed excavation. See N.Y. General Business Law 760
• Excavator: means a person who is engaged in a trade or business which includes the carrying out of excavation or demolition; provided, however, that an individual employed by an excavator, and having no supervisory authority, other than the routine direction of employees, over an excavation or demolition, shall not be deemed an excavator for the purposes of this article. See N.Y. General Business Law 760
• 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.
• Local government: means a county, town, city or village. See N.Y. General Business Law 760
• One-call notification system: means an organization among whose purposes is establishing and carrying out procedures and programs to protect underground facilities from damage due to excavation and demolition including, but not limited to, receiving notices of intent to perform excavation and demolition, and transmitting the notices to one or more of its member operators of underground facilities in the specified area. See N.Y. General Business Law 760
• Operator: means a person who operates an underground facility or facilities to furnish any of the following services or materials: electricity, gases, steam, liquid petroleum products, telephone or telegraph communications, cable television, sewage removal, traffic control systems, or water. See N.Y. General Business Law 760
• 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.
• Person: means any individual, firm, corporation, association or partnership, cooperative association, joint venture, joint stock association, business trust, their lessees, trustees or receivers, governmental unit or public authority whether or not incorporated. See N.Y. General Business Law 760
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Underground facilities: means pipelines, conduits, ducts, cables, wires, manholes, vaults or other such facilities or their attachments, which have been installed underground by an operator to provide services or materials. See N.Y. General Business Law 760
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.