Terms Used In Indiana Code > Title 34 > Article 13 - Causes of Action: Claims Against the Government

• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• 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.
• 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
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• demonstrates: means meets the burdens of going forward with the evidence and of persuasion. See Indiana Code 34-13-9-4
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• eligible person: refers to a person or the estate of a person that properly filed a claim with the state, in the form prescribed by the attorney general, before December 31, 2011, for physical injury or death resulting from an occurrence. See Indiana Code 34-13-8-1
• 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}
• exercise of religion: includes any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief. See Indiana Code 34-13-9-5
• 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.
• governmental entity: includes the whole or any part of a branch, department, agency, instrumentality, official, or other individual or entity acting under color of law of any of the following:

  Indiana Code 34-13-9-6

• Highway: includes county bridges and state and county roads, unless otherwise expressly provided. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• 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}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• occurrence: refers to one (1) or more acts or omissions by the state or employees of the state in connection with a single event occurring after July 31, 2011, and before September 1, 2011, that resulted in the death of seven (7) or more persons. See Indiana Code 34-13-8-2
• 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: includes the following:

  Indiana Code 34-13-9-7

• 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.
• provider: means one (1) or more individuals, partnerships, associations, organizations, limited liability companies, corporations, and other organized groups of persons. See Indiana Code 34-13-9-7.5
• public school: refers to a:

  Indiana Code 34-13-3.5-3

• 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.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• supplemental fund: refers to the supplemental state fair relief fund established by section 9 of this chapter. See Indiana Code 34-13-8-3
• 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.
• 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.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.