Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 5-50 - Health Clubs

• Accredited theater production: means a for-profit live stage presentation in a qualified production facility, as defined in this chapter that is either: (i) A pre-Broadway production, (ii) A post-Broadway production, or (iii) A national touring production. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• Accredited theater production certificate: means a certificate issued by the film office certifying that the production is an accredited theater production that meets the guidelines of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• 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.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• 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.
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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}
• Business day: means any day except Sunday or a legal holiday. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Certified historic structure: means a property which is located in the state of Rhode Island and is:

  (i)  Listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places; or

  (ii)  Listed individually in the state register of historic places; or

  (iii)  Located in a registered historic district and certified by either the commission or Secretary of the Interior as being of historic significance to the district. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.2-2

• Certified historic structure: means a property which is located in the state of Rhode Island and is:

  (i)  Listed individually on the national register of historic places; or

  (ii)  Listed individually in the state register of historic places; or

  (iii)  Located in a registered historic district and certified by either the commission or Secretary of the Interior as being of historic significance to the district. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2

• Certified maintenance or rehabilitation: means any maintenance or rehabilitation of a historic residence consistent with the historic character of that historic residence as determined in accordance with guidelines promulgated by the commission. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.1-2
• Certified rehabilitation: means any rehabilitation of a certified historic structure consistent with the historic character of such property or the district in which the property is located as determined by the commission guidelines. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• Claimant: means a homeowner or renter, sixty-five (65) years of age or older, and/or disabled, who has filed a claim under this chapter and was domiciled in this state for the entire calendar year for which he or she files a claim for relief under this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33-3
• Commission: means the state historical preservation commission created pursuant to § 42-45-2. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.1-2
• Commission: means the Rhode Island historical preservation and heritage commission created pursuant to § 42-45-2. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.2-2
• Commission: means the Rhode Island historical preservation and heritage commission created pursuant to § 42-45-2. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• 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.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• 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.
• 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.
• Department: means the department of attorney general, unless otherwise described. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Disability: means a condition that will exist for more than forty-five (45) days and prevents a buyer from utilizing the health club to the same extent the buyer did before the commencement of the condition. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Disabled: means those persons who are receiving a social security disability benefit. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33-3
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Exempt from real property tax: means , with respect to any certified historic structure, that the structure is exempt from taxation pursuant to § 44-3-3. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.2-2
• Exempt from real property tax: means , with respect to any certified historic structure, that the structure is exempt from taxation pursuant to § 44-3-3. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• 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.
• First user: means the first person to occupy a historic residence following the completion of a certified maintenance or rehabilitation. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.1-2
• 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.
• Gross rent: includes the rental of space paid to a landlord for parking of a mobile home, or docking or mooring a houseboat, exclusive of any charges for utilities, services, furniture, furnishings, or personal appliances furnished by the landlord as a part of the rental. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33-3
• 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.
• Hard construction costs: means the direct contractor costs for labor, material, equipment, and services associated with an approved project, contractor's overhead and profit, and other direct construction costs. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• Health club: means any corporation, partnership, unincorporated association, or other business enterprise offering facilities for the preservation, maintenance, encouragement, or development of physical fitness or well-being in return for the payment of a fee entitling the payer to the use of the facilities. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Health club contract: means a written statement where a buyer is entitled to membership in a health club or use of the facilities of a health club for a period longer than seven (7) days. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Historic residence: means a historic residential structure that is not of a character subject to federal depreciation allowance pursuant to Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.1-2
• Holding period: means twenty-four (24) months after the commission issues a certificate of completed work to the owner. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.2-2
• Holding period: means twenty-four (24) months after the commission issues a certificate of completed work to the owner. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• Homestead: means the dwelling, whether owned or rented, and so much of the land surrounding it, not exceeding one acre, as is reasonably necessary for use of the dwelling as a home, and may consist of a part of the multi-dwelling or multi-purpose building and a part of the land upon which it is built ("owned" includes a vendee in possession under a land contract and one or more joint tenants or tenants in common). See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33-3
• Household: means one or more persons occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single nonprofit housekeeping unit. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33-3
• Household income: means all income received by all persons of a household in a calendar year while members of the household. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33-3
• 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
• Income: means the sum of federal adjusted gross income as defined in the Internal Revenue Code of the United States, Rhode Island General Laws 44-33-3
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• National touring production: means a live stage production that, in its original or adaptive version, is performed in a qualified production facility and opens its U. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: includes affirmation; the word "sworn" includes affirmed; and the word "engaged" includes either sworn or affirmed. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-11
• 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.
• owned: includes a vendee in possession under a land contract and one or more joint tenants or tenants in common). See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33-3
• 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.
• Payroll: means all salaries, wages, fees, and other compensation including related benefits for services performed and costs incurred within Rhode Island. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• 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.
• Placed in service: means that substantial rehabilitation work has been completed which would allow for occupancy of the entire structure or some identifiable portion of the structure, or the owner has commenced depreciation of the qualified rehabilitation expenditures, whichever occurs first. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.2-2
• Placed in service: means that substantial rehabilitation work has been completed which would allow for occupancy of the entire structure or some identifiable portion of the structure, as established in the Part 2 application. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Principal residence: means the principal residence of the owner within the meaning of § 121 of the Internal Revenue Code [Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.2-2
• Principal residence: means the principal residence of the owner within the meaning of section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code [Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• Production and performance expenditures: means a contemporaneous exchange of cash or cash equivalent for goods or services related to development, production, performance, or operating expenditures incurred in this state for a qualified theater production including, but not limited to, expenditures for design, construction and operation, including sets, special and visual effects, costumes, wardrobes, make-up, accessories; costs associated with sound, lighting, staging, payroll, transportation expenditures, advertising and public relations expenditures, facility expenses, rentals, per diems, accommodations and other related costs. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• Property taxes accrued: means property taxes (exclusive of special assessments, delinquent interest, and charges for service) levied on a claimant's homestead in this state in 1977 or any calendar year thereafter. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33-3
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• purchaser: means a natural person who enters into a health club contract. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Qualified production facility: means a facility located in the state of Rhode Island in which live theatrical productions are, or are intended to be, exclusively presented that contains at least one stage, a seating capacity of one thousand (1,000) or more seats, and dressing rooms, storage areas, and other ancillary amenities necessary for the accredited theater production. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• Qualified rehabilitation expenditures: means any amounts expended in the rehabilitation of a certified historic structure properly capitalized to the building and either: (i) depreciable under the Internal Revenue Code, Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.2-2
• Qualified rehabilitation expenditures: means any amounts expended in the rehabilitation of a certified historic structure properly capitalized to the building and either:

  (i)  Depreciable under the Internal Revenue Code, Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2

• 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
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Registered historic district: means any district listed in the National Register of Historic Places, or the state register of historic places. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.2-2
• Registered historic district: means any district listed in the National Register of Historic Places or the state register of historic places. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• Remain idle: means that substantial work has ceased at the subject project; work crews have been reduced by more than twenty-five percent (25%) for reasons unrelated to scheduled completion of work in accordance with the project schedule, reasonably unanticipated physical conditions, or force majeure; or the project schedule that was originally submitted by the taxpayer to the commission has been extended by more than twelve (12) months for reasons other than reasonably unanticipated physical conditions or an event of force majeure (by way of example, and not in limitation, any delays, work stoppage, or workforce reduction caused by issues with project funding, finances, disputes, or violation of laws shall be deemed to cause a project to remain idle). See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• 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.
• Rent constituting property taxes accrued: means twenty percent (20%) of the gross rent actually paid in cash or its equivalent in any calendar year by a claimant and his or her household solely for the right of occupancy of their Rhode Island homestead in the calendar year, and which rent constitutes the basis, in the succeeding calendar year, of a claim for relief under this chapter by the claimant, but shall not include any part of the rent paid for occupancy of premises which are legally exempt from the payment of property taxes. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33-3
• Scattered site development: means a development project for which the developer seeks unified financing to rehabilitate dwelling units in two (2) or more buildings located in an area that is defined by a neighborhood revitalization plan and is not more than one mile in diameter. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• Seller: means any person, firm, corporation, partnership, unincorporated association, franchise, franchisor, or other business enterprise that operates a health club or offers or enters into contracts for health club services. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Social club: means a corporation or other entity and/or its affiliate that offers its facilities primarily to members for social or recreational purposes and the majority source of its revenue is from funds and/or dues paid by its members and/or an entity defined as a social club pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(7). See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Substantial construction: means that: (i) The owner of a certified historic structure has entered into a contract with the division of taxation and paid the processing fee; (ii) The commission has certified that the certified historic structure's rehabilitation will be consistent with the standards set forth in this chapter; and (iii) The owner has expended ten percent (10%) of its qualified rehabilitation expenditures, estimated in the contract entered into with the division of taxation for the project or its first phase of a phased project. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• Substantial rehabilitation: means , with respect to a certified historic structure, that the qualified rehabilitation expenses of the building during the twenty-four (24) month period selected by the taxpayer ending with or within the taxable year exceed fifty percent (50%) of the adjusted basis in such building and its structural components as of the beginning of such period. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.2-2
• Substantial rehabilitation: means , with respect to a certified historic structure, that the qualified rehabilitation expenses of the building during the twenty-four-month (24) period selected by the taxpayer ending with or within the taxable year exceed the adjusted basis in such building and its structural components as of the beginning of such period. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• 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.
• 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
• Trade or business: means an activity that is carried on for the production of income from the sale or manufacture of goods or performance of services, excluding residential rental activity. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33.6-2
• Transportation expenditures: means expenditures for the packaging, crating, and transportation both to the state for use in a qualified theater production of sets, costumes, or other tangible property constructed or manufactured out of state, and/or from the state after use in a qualified theater production of sets, costumes, or other tangible property constructed or manufactured in this state and the transportation of the cast and crew to and from the state. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• unit: refers to the parcel of property covered by a single tax statement of which the homestead is a part. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-33-3
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8