Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 31 > Chapter 4 > Part 4 - Commencement of Prescription

• Adjuster: means an individual who investigates or adjusts losses on behalf of an insurer as an independent contractor or as an employee of:

              (a) An adjustment bureau;

              (b) An association;

              (c) A property and casualty producer;

              (d) An independent contractor;

              (e) An insurer; or

              (f) A managing general agent. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1661

• 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.
• Agency: means and includes the boards, commissions, departments, agencies, offices, officers, and other instrumentalities, or any or all of these, within the executive branch of state government which are abolished by this Title or which are transferred and placed within departments of the state government created and established or continued by this Title or transferred to and placed within the office of the governor as provided by this Title. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 36:3
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Assistant secretary: means the officer designated by law or by the secretary of each department to carry out the duties and functions of an office within certain departments, except an office of management and finance and the office of state police of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 36:3
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• automated claims adjudication system: means a preprogrammed computer system designed for the collection, data entry, calculation and system generated final resolution of consumer electronic products insurance claims which:

              (i) May be utilized only by a licensed adjuster or licensed producer, or supervised individuals operating pursuant to this Paragraph;

              (ii) Must comply with all claims payment requirements of the Louisiana Insurance Code; and

              (iii) Must be certified as compliant with this Section by a licensed adjuster that is an officer of a licensed business entity under this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1662

• Board: means the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:751
• Board: means the Louisiana State Board of Optometry Examiners. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:1041
• Business entity: means a corporation, association, partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other legal entity. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1692
• Business entity: means a corporation, association, partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership or other legal entity. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1661
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Commission: means the Louisiana Workforce Commission. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Dental assistant: means a person who is employed by a licensed practicing dentist and performs the duties authorized by the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry only under his direct on-premises supervision, direction, and responsibility. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:751
• Dental hygienist: means a person licensed under the provision of this Chapter to perform those duties authorized by the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry as set forth in rules and regulations promulgated by the board in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:751
• Dentistry: means the evaluation, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment, including nonsurgical, surgical, or related procedures, of diseases, disorders, or conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial areas or the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body provided by a dentist within the scope of his education, training, and experience, in accordance with the ethics of the profession and applicable law. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:751
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Deputy secretary: means the officer authorized to be appointed by the secretary to serve as his principal administrative assistant. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 36:3
• 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:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Enrolled bill: The final copy of a bill or joint resolution which has passed both chambers in identical form. It is printed on parchment paper, signed by appropriate officials, and submitted to the President/Governor for signature.
• 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.
• Expanded duty dental assistant: means a person who is employed by a licensed practicing dentist and has passed an expanded function for dental assistants course approved by the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry that shall not consist of less than thirty classroom hours, or who has graduated from a dental assisting program accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association provided the program teaches functions as provided for in LAC 46:XXXIII. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:751
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fingerprints: means an impression of the lines on the finger taken for purpose of identification. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1692
• Fingerprints: means an impression of the lines on the finger taken for purpose of identification. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1661
• First-party claim: means a claim made by an insured or a policyholder under an insurance policy or contract that arises out of the occurrence of the contingency or loss covered by the policy or contract. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1692
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• 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.
• Home state: means the District of Columbia or any state or territory of the United States in which the public adjuster's principal place of residence or principal place of business is located. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1692
• Home state: means the District of Columbia and any state or territory of the United States in which the adjuster's principal place of residence or principal place of business is located. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1661
• Individual: means a natural person. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1692
• Individual: means a natural person. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1661
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Insurer: means any type of insurer, whether authorized or unauthorized, conducting business in this state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1661
• 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}
• 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.
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensed optometrist: means a person licensed and holding a certificate issued under the provisions of this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:1041
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Office: means each principal operational unit within a department, except the executive office of the secretary. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 36:3
• Ophthalmic surgery: means a procedure upon the human eye in which in vivo human tissue is injected, cut, burned, frozen, sutured, vaporized, coagulated, or photodisrupted by the use of surgical instrumentation such as, but not limited to, a scalpel, cryoprobe, laser, electric cautery, or ionizing radiation. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:1041
• Optometry: means that practice in which a person employs primary eye care procedures including ophthalmic surgery such as YAG laser capsulotomy, laser peripheral iridotomy, and laser trabeculoplasty, except for those surgery procedures specifically excluded in Subsection D of this Section; measures the powers and range of vision of the human eye using subjective or objective means, including the use of lenses and prisms before the eye and autorefractors or other automated testing devices to determine its accommodative and refractive state and general scope of function; and the adaptation, sale, and dispensing of frames and lenses in all their forms, including plano or zero power contact lenses, to overcome errors of refraction and restore as near as possible, normal human vision, or for orthotic, prosthetic, therapeutic, or cosmetic purposes with respect to contact lenses. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:1041
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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 an individual or a business entity. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1692
• Person: means an individual or a business entity. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1661
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Pharmacy services administrative organization: means an entity that provides a contracted pharmacy with administrative, contracting, or payment services relating to prescription drug benefits. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1660.1
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Public adjuster: means any person who, for any compensation, direct or indirect, engages in public adjusting. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1692
• Public adjusting: means either of the following:

  (a)  Investigating, appraising, or evaluating and reporting to an insured in relation to a first-party claim for which coverage is provided by an insurance contract that insures the property of the insured. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1692

• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• 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.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Secretary: means the officer appointed by the governor as the executive head and chief administrative officer of certain departments created and provided for by this Title. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 36:3
• Secretary: means the secretary of the commission. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.
• Undersecretary: means the officer designated to direct and be responsible for the functions of the office of management and finance of certain departments. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 36:3
• Uniform business entity application: means the current version of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Uniform Business Entity Application for resident and nonresident business entities. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1661
• Uniform business entity application: means the current version of the NAIC uniform application for business entity license for resident and nonresident business entities. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1692
• Unlicensed person: means a person who is not licensed by the board who illegally practices dentistry or dental hygiene. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:751
• unprofessional conduct: means :

              (1) Advertisement of fees for or of free dental services without:

              (a) Fully disclosing all procedures to be included by the dentist in the advertised service, including but not limited to necessary diagnosis, radiographs, restorative treatment, laboratory fees, and post-operative care. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:775

• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.