Terms Used In Minnesota Statutes > Chapter 15C - False Claims Against the State

• Academic Health Center: means the seven professional schools in health care related disciplines at the University of Minnesota. See Minnesota Statutes 352F.02
• Accumulated deductions: means the total of the sums deducted from the salary of a member and the total amount of assessments paid by a member in lieu of such deductions, credited to the member's individual fund, less amounts paid to the member or any person in the member's behalf in the form of refundments, annuity payments or benefit payments and less any other amounts deducted pursuant to law. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Actuarial equivalent: means the condition of one annuity or benefit having an equal actuarial present value as another annuity or benefit, determined as of a given date with each actuarial present value based on the appropriate mortality table adopted by the board of trustees based on the experience of the association as recommended by the actuary retained under section 356. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• 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: has the meaning given in section 256P. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Allowable service: has the meaning provided in Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 352. See Minnesota Statutes 352F.02
• Allowable service: has the meaning provided in section 353. See Minnesota Statutes 353F.02
• Allowable service: means :

  (1) any service rendered by a teacher for any calendar month when the member receives salary from which deductions are made, deposited and credited in the fund;

  (2) any service rendered by a person for any calendar month where payments in lieu of salary deductions are made, deposited and credited into the fund as provided in Minnesota Statutes 1980, section 354. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05

• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Annual base salary: means :

  (1) for an independent school district or educational cooperative, the lowest full-time Bachelor of Arts (BA) base contract salary for the previous fiscal year for that employing unit;

  (2) for a charter school, the lowest starting annual salary for a full-time teacher employed during the previous fiscal year for that employing unit; and

  (3) for a state agency or professional organization, the lowest starting annual salary for a full-time Teachers Retirement Association covered position for the previous fiscal year for that employing unit. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05

• Annuity: means a retirement annuity, optional survivors annuity, or spouses annuity. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• 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.
• Applicant: means a person who has submitted to a county agency an application and whose application has not been acted upon, denied, or voluntarily withdrawn. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Application: means the submission by or on behalf of a family to a county agency of a completed, signed, and dated form, prescribed by the commissioner, that indicates the desire to receive assistance. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Approved actuary: means an actuary who meets the definition in section 356. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• APRN: means an individual licensed as an advanced practice registered nurse by the Board of Nursing as defined in section 148. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Association: means the combined membership of all teachers who qualify and participate in the retirement program provided for in this chapter. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Basic member: means any teacher not covered by any agreement or modification made between the state and the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• 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}
• Benefit: means an allowance paid or payable by the association to a surviving dependent spouse or a dependent child which is a fixed amount and also includes an allowance paid or payable by the association to a member or former member who is permanently and totally disabled. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• board: means the board of trustees of the Teachers Retirement Association. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Board: means the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20
• Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities: means the governing board for the state universities, the community colleges, and the technical colleges established by section 136F. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20
• Caregiver: means a minor child's birth or adoptive parent or parents and stepparent who live in the home with the minor child. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Chancellor: means the chancellor of the board. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of human services or the commissioner's designated representative. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Common disaster: A sudden and extraordinary misfortune that brings about the simultaneous or near-simultaneous deaths of two or more associated persons, such as husband and wife.
• 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.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Coordinated member: means any teacher covered by any agreement or modification made between the state and the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, making the provisions of the federal Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Act applicable to such member. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Countable income: means earned and unearned income that is described in section 256P. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• County agency: means the agency designated by the county board to implement financial assistance for current programs and for MFIP and the agency responsible for enforcement of child support collection, and a county or multicounty agency that is authorized under sections 393. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• court administrator: means the court administrator of the court in which the action or proceeding is pending, and "court administrator's office" means that court administrator's office. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• 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.
• Covered employment: means employment by an employee in the fiscal year in which the employee first attains eligible employee status, as determined under section 354B. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Date of application: has the meaning given in section 256P. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Minnesota Department of Human Services. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent child: means a biological or adopted child of a deceased member who has not reached the age of 18, or who is under age 22 and is a full-time student throughout the normal school year, unmarried and dependent for more than one-half of support upon the member. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• 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.
• Designated beneficiary: means the person, trust, or organization designated by a retiree or member to receive the benefits to which a beneficiary is entitled under this chapter. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Disqualified: means being ineligible to receive MFIP due to noncooperation with program requirements. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Documentation: means a written statement or record that substantiates or validates an assertion made by a person or an action taken by a person, agency, or entity. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• DWP: has the meaning given in section 256J. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Earned income: has the meaning given in section 256P. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Effective date of privatization: means the date that the operation of a medical facility is assumed by another employer or the date that a medical facility is purchased by another employer and active membership in the Public Employees Retirement Association consequently terminates. See Minnesota Statutes 353F.02
• Eligible unclassified administrative position: means the following:

  (1) the chancellor of the board;

  (2) a president of a state college or university;

  (3) an administrator employed in a state university or college, by the board, or by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education; or

  (4) other managers and professionals in academic and academic support programs in the unclassified service employed in a state university or college, by the board, or by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20

• Eligible unclassified faculty position: means employment by an employing unit in:

  (1) a classification under section 179A. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20

• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• 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}
• estimated market value: has the meaning given in section 273. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Executive director: means the executive director of the Public Employees Retirement Association. See Minnesota Statutes 353F.02
• Fairview: means Fairview Hospital and Healthcare Services, a Minnesota nonprofit corporation, and its successors. See Minnesota Statutes 352F.02
• Family: includes :

  (1) the following individuals who live together: a minor child or a group of minor children related to each other as siblings, half siblings, stepsiblings, or adoptive siblings, together with their natural, adoptive parents, stepparents, or caregiver as defined in subdivision 11; and

  (2) a pregnant woman with no other children. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08

• Family violence: means the following, if committed against a family or household member by a family or household member:

  (1) physical harm, bodily injury, or assault;

  (2) the infliction of fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, or assault; or

  (3) terroristic threats, within the meaning of section 609. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08

• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• First class city teacher retirement fund association: means a retirement plan, fund, and plan administration established under chapter 354A. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20
• 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}
• Former spouse: means a person who is no longer a spouse of a member due to dissolution of the marriage, legal separation, or annulment. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Formula program: means a retirement program which provides benefits based on certain percentages multiplied by the years of service and average salary of a member as described in section 354. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Formula service credit: means any allowable service credit as defined in subdivision 13 except:

  (1) any service rendered for which contributions were not made in full as determined by the ratio between the amounts of money credited to the teacher's account in a fiscal year and the retirement contribution payable for the fiscal year under sections 354. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05

• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• fund: means the teachers retirement fund referred to in this chapter. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• hearing: means the evidentiary hearing conducted by the department human services judge to resolve disputes as specified in section 256J. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Home: means the primary place of residence used by a person as the base for day-to-day living and does not include locations used as mail drops. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Household: means a group of persons who live together. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Income: means cash or in-kind benefit, whether earned or unearned, received by or available to an applicant or participant that is not property under section 256P. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• indefinite duration: is a period of at least one year. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• 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}
• 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}
• Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
• Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Markup: The process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
• Medical facility: means a facility that has the primary purpose of providing medical care and that satisfies the definition of governmental subdivision under section 353. See Minnesota Statutes 353F.02
• Member of the association: means every teacher who contributes to the teachers retirement fund as provided in this chapter who has not retired, or a teacher who exercises an option to elect coverage under another public pension plan enumerated in section 356. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• MFIP: means the assistance program authorized in this chapter. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Minor child: means a child who is living in the same home of a parent or other caregiver, is not the parent of a child in the home, and is either less than 18 years of age or is under the age of 19 years and is a full-time student in a secondary school or pursuing a full-time secondary level course of vocational or technical training designed to fit students for gainful employment. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• 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.
• Normal retirement age: means age 65 for a person who first became a member of the association or a member of a pension fund listed in section 356. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Optional survivors annuity: means the payments made by the association to a survivor of a former member pursuant to an optional annuity form selected by such member at or before retirement which varies in amount depending primarily upon both employee and employer contributions made by and in behalf of the particular member. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Overpayment: means the portion of an assistance payment issued by the county agency that is greater than the amount for which the assistance unit is eligible. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parent: means a child's biological or adoptive parent who is legally obligated to support that child. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Participant: includes any of the following:

  (1) a person who is currently receiving cash assistance or the food portion available through MFIP;

  (2) a person who withdraws a cash or food assistance payment by electronic transfer or receives and cashes an MFIP assistance check or food coupons and is subsequently determined to be ineligible for assistance for that period of time is a participant, regardless whether that assistance is repaid;

  (3) the caregiver relative and the minor child whose needs are included in the assistance payment;

  (4) a person in an assistance unit who does not receive a cash and food assistance payment because the case has been suspended from MFIP; and

  (5) a person who receives cash payments under family stabilization services under section 256J. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08

• Participant: means a person who is employed in covered employment by the board and who elects coverage by the plan under section 354B. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20
• Payment month: means the calendar month for which the assistance payment is paid. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Person trained in domestic violence: means an individual who works for an organization that is designated by the Minnesota Center for Crime Victims Services as providing services to victims of domestic violence, or a county staff person who has received similar specialized training, and includes any other person or organization designated by a qualifying organization under this section. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plan: means the individual retirement account plan established by this chapter. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20
• Plan administrator: means the board employee or an independent contract agent designated by the board to perform the primary administrative functions relating to the plan. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20
• 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.
• 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}
• 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.
• Privatization: means a medical facility that privatizes when the facility ceases to be a governmental subdivision for any reason other than that the medical facility closes or permanently ceases to operate. See Minnesota Statutes 353F.02
• Privatized former public employee: means a person who:

  (1) was employed by the privatized former public employer on the day before the effective date of privatization; or

  (2) terminated employment with the privatized former public employer on the day before the effective date; and

  (3) was a participant in the general employees retirement plan of the Public Employees Retirement Association at the time of termination of employment with the privatized former public employer. See Minnesota Statutes 353F.02

• Privatized former public employer: means a medical facility that was included in the definition of governmental subdivision under section 353. See Minnesota Statutes 353F.02
• Probate: Proving a will
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Prospective budgeting: has the meaning given in section 256P. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• public assistance: as used in this chapter and chapters 257, 518, 518A, and 518C, includes any form of assistance provided under the AFDC program formerly codified in sections 256. See Minnesota Statutes 256.741
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Public member: means a person who is not, or never was, a member of the profession or occupation being licensed or regulated or the spouse of any such person, or a person who does not have or has never had, a material financial interest in either the providing of the professional service being licensed or regulated, or an activity directly related to the profession or occupation being licensed or regulated. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Ranking minority member: The highest ranking (and usually longest serving) minority member of a committee or subcommittee.
• Recoupment: means the action of the county agency to reduce a family's monthly assistance payment to recover overpayments caused by client or agency error and overpayments received while an appeal is pending. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Retirement: means the withdrawal of a member from active teaching service who is paid a retirement annuity thereafter and commences with the date designated by the retirement board when the retirement annuity first accrues to the former member after withdrawal from active teaching service and application for an annuity under section 354. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Retirement annuity: means the payments made by the association to a former member after retirement. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
• Sabbatical leave: means a sabbatical leave as specified in the applicable collective bargaining agreement or personnel policy of the board for its employees. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20
• salary: means the periodic compensation, upon which member contributions are required before deductions for deferred compensation, supplemental retirement plans, or other voluntary salary reduction programs. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• 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.
• Small business: means a business entity organized for profit, including but not limited to any individual, partnership, corporation, joint venture, association or cooperative, which entity:

  (1) is not an affiliate or subsidiary of a business dominant in its field of operation; and

  (2) has 20 or fewer full-time employees; or

  (3) in the preceding fiscal year has not had more than the equivalent of $1,000,000 in annual gross revenues; or

  (4) if the business is a technical or professional service, shall not have had more than the equivalent of $2,500,000 in annual gross revenues in the preceding fiscal year. See Minnesota Statutes 645.445

• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Surviving spouse: means the spouse of a deceased member or a disabilitant who was legally married to the member at the time of death. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Tax: means any fee, charge, exaction, or assessment imposed by a governmental entity on an individual, person, entity, transaction, good, service, or other thing. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Teacher: means :

  (1) a person who renders service as a teacher, supervisor, principal, superintendent, librarian, nurse, counselor, social worker, therapist, or psychologist in:

  (i) a public school of the state other than in Independent School District No. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05

• teaching: includes the service performed by any person coming within the definition of "teacher" as set forth in subdivision 2. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
• Terminated hospital employee: means a person who:

  (1) was employed on the day before the effective date by the University of Minnesota at the University of Minnesota Hospital and clinics or the Academic Health Center and was paid on a biweekly payroll;

  (2) terminated employment with the University of Minnesota on the day before the effective date or in the case of employees of the Academic Health Center, terminated employment with the University of Minnesota after the effective date but immediately transferred employment to the University of Minnesota Physicians or University Affiliated Family Physicians; and

  (3) was a participant in the general state employees retirement plan of the Minnesota State Retirement System at the time of termination of employment with the University of Minnesota. See Minnesota Statutes 352F.02

• Termination of teaching service: means the withdrawal of a member from active teaching service by resignation or the termination of the member's teaching contract by the employer. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• 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.
• Total and permanent disability: means the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to be of long continued and indefinite duration. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
• 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.
• Transitional standard: means the basic standard for a family without earned income and is a combination of the cash portion and food portion as specified in section 256J. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• 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.
• Unclaimed plan account amounts: means the accounts of any plan participant who has terminated employment by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System or who has died, or of the surviving spouse, beneficiary, or estate of the participant if the plan administrator is unable to locate the applicable recipient in accordance with Internal Revenue Service due diligence requirements. See Minnesota Statutes 354B.20
• Unearned income: has the meaning given in section 256P. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• University Affiliated Family Physicians: means the private practice group of the Department of Family Practice in the university's medical school. See Minnesota Statutes 352F.02
• University of Minnesota: means University of Minnesota Hospital and clinics, the hospitals and clinics operated by the regents of the University of Minnesota. See Minnesota Statutes 352F.02
• University of Minnesota Physicians: means the multispecialty single group medical practice group in which medical school faculty will practice medicine beginning in 1997. See Minnesota Statutes 352F.02
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Vendor: means a provider of goods or services. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Vendor payment: means a payment authorized by a county agency to a vendor. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Verification: means the process a county agency uses to establish the accuracy or completeness of information from an applicant, participant, third party, or other source as that information relates to program eligibility or an assistance payment. See Minnesota Statutes 256J.08
• Years of allowable service: means the total number of years of allowable service under section 353. See Minnesota Statutes 353F.02