Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 5-14 - Hotels

• Accredited state: means a state in which the insurance department or regulatory agency has qualified as meeting the minimum financial regulatory standards promulgated and established from time to time by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). See Rhode Island General Laws 27-48-2
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Authorized governmental agency: includes :

  (i)  The office of the attorney general;

  (ii)  The state police;

  (iii)  Any police or fire department of a municipality;

  (iv)  The U. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-49-2

• 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.
• captive insurers: means insurance companies owned by another organization whose exclusive purpose is to insure risks of the parent organization and affiliated companies or, in the case of groups and associations, insurance organizations owned by the insured whose exclusive purpose is to insure risks to member organizations and/or group members and their affiliates. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-48-2
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of insurance or the commissioner's equivalent of the state of domicile of any insurer. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-47-1
• Commissioner: means the director of the department of business regulation or the commissioner, director, or superintendent of insurance in any other state. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-46-2
• Completed operations liability: means liability arising out of the installation, maintenance, or repair of any product at a site which is not owned or controlled by:

  (i)  Any person who performs that work; or

  (ii)  Any person who hires an independent contractor to perform that work; but shall include liability for activities which are completed or abandoned before the date of the occurrence giving rise to the liability. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-46-2

• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• controlled: has the meaning ascribed in § 27-35-1. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-48-2
• Controlled insurer: means a licensed insurer that is controlled, directly or indirectly, by a producer. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-48-2
• Controlling producer: means a producer who, directly or indirectly, controls an insurer. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-48-2
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Director: means the director of the department of business regulation, or the director's designee. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-48-2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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.
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• Hazardous financial condition: means that, based on its present or reasonably anticipated financial condition, a risk retention group, although not yet financially impaired or insolvent, is unlikely to be able:

  (i)  To meet obligations to policyholders with respect to known claims and reasonably anticipated claims; or

  (ii)  To pay other obligations in the normal course of business. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-46-2

• hotel: means a hotel, motel, resort, boarding house, or bed and breakfast that is kept, used, or advertised as, or held out to the public as, a place where sleeping or housekeeping accommodations are supplied for pay to guests for leisure, business, or group occupancy. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-14-3
• Impaired: is a financial situation in which the assets of an insurer are less than the sum of the insurer's minimum required capital, minimum required surplus, and all liabilities as determined in accordance with the requirements for the preparation and filing of the annual statement of an insurer under chapter 12 of this title. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-47-1
• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• 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.
• Insurance: means primary insurance, excess insurance, reinsurance, surplus lines insurance, and any other arrangement for shifting and distributing risk, which is determined to be insurance under the laws of this state. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-46-2
• Insured: means a person, corporation, or other entity for which automobile insurance coverage is provided by an insurer. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-49-2
• insurer: means any person, firm, association, or corporation duly licensed to transact a property or casualty insurance business in this state. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-48-2
• Insurer: means any insurance company or other insurer licensed to do business in this state. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-47-1
• Insurer: means any domestic insurer or foreign insurer, licensed to provide automobile insurance coverage pursuant to the provisions of this title, or otherwise liable for any loss due to motor vehicle theft or motor vehicle insurance fraud. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-49-2
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal risk liability: means liability for damages because of injury to any person, damage to property, or other loss or damage resulting from any personal, familial, or household responsibilities or activities, rather than from responsibilities or activities referred to in subsection (6) of this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-46-2
• Producer: means an insurance broker or brokers or any other person, firm, association, or corporation, when, for any compensation, commission, or other thing of value, that person, firm, association, or corporation acts or aids in any manner in soliciting, negotiating, or procuring the making of any insurance contract on behalf of an insured other than the person, firm, association, or corporation. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-48-2
• Product liability: means liability for damages because of any personal injury, death, emotional harm, consequential economic damage, or property damage, including damages resulting from the loss of use of property, arising out of the manufacture, design, importation, distribution, packaging, labeling, lease, or sale of a product, but does not include the liability of any person for those damages if the product involved was in the possession of the person when the incident giving rise to the claim occurred. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-46-2
• Purchasing group: means any group which:

  (i)  Has as one of its purposes the purchase of liability insurance on a group basis;

  (ii)  Purchases the insurance only for its group members and only to cover their similar or related liability exposure, as described in subsection (10)(iii);

  (iii)  Is composed of members whose business or activities are similar or related with respect to the liability to which members are exposed by virtue of any related, similar, or common business, trade, product, services, premises, or operations; and

  (iv)  Is domiciled in any state. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-46-2

• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: may be construed to include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and rights thereto and interests therein. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-10
• Relevant: means having a tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the investigation or determination of the issue more probable or less probable than it would be without the information. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-49-2
• 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.
• Risk retention group: means any corporation or other limited liability association:

  (i)  Whose primary activity consists of assuming and spreading all, or any portion, of the liability exposure of its group members;

  (ii)  Which is organized for the primary purpose of conducting the activity described under subsection (11)(i);

  (iii)  Which:

  (A)  Is chartered and licensed as a liability insurance company and authorized to engage in the business of insurance under the laws of any state; or

  (B)  Before January 1, 1985, was chartered or licensed and authorized to engage in the business of insurance under the laws of Bermuda or the Cayman Islands and, before that date, had certified to the insurance commissioner of at least one state that it satisfied the capitalization requirements of that state, except that the group shall be considered to be a risk retention group only if it has been engaged in business continuously since that date and only for the purpose of continuing to provide insurance to cover product liability or completed operations liability, as the terms were defined in the Product Liability Risk Retention Act of 1981 before the date of the enactment of the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986, Rhode Island General Laws 27-46-2

• 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.
• State: means any state of the United States or the District of Columbia. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-46-2
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8