Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 16 > Chapter 3 > Article 17 - Harassment and Stalking

• Accident and health insurance: means insurance of human beings against death or personal injury by accident, and each insurance of human beings against sickness, ailment, and any type of physical disability resulting from accident or disease, and prepaid dental service, but not including coverages required by the Workers' Compensation Law of this State. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Accommodation bondsman: means a person who has reached the age of eighteen years, is a resident of this State, who, aside from love and affection and release of the person concerned, receives no consideration for action as surety, and who endorses the bail bond after providing satisfactory evidence of ownership, value, and marketability of real property to the extent necessary to reasonably satisfy the official taking bond that the real or personal property will in all respects be sufficient to assure that the full principal sum of the bond will be realized in the event of breach of the conditions of the bond. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Adjuster: means an individual who determines the extent of insured losses and assists in settling or attempts to settle claims. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• administrator: means any person who collects charges or premiums from, or who adjusts or settles claims on, residents of this State in connection with life or health insurance coverage or annuities other than:
  
  (1) an employer on behalf of its employees or the employees of one or more subsidiaries or affiliated corporations of an employer;
  
  (2) a union on behalf of its members;
  
  (3) an insurer which is either licensed in this State or acting as an insurer with respect to a policy lawfully issued and delivered by it pursuant to the laws of a state in which the insurer was authorized to do insurance business, or a health maintenance organization licensed in this State;
  
  (4) a life or health agent or broker licensed in this State whose activities are limited exclusively to the sale of insurance;
  
  (5) a creditor on behalf of its debtors with respect to insurance covering a debt between the creditor and its debtors;
  
  (6) a trust, its trustees, agents, and employees acting thereunder, established in conformity with 29 U. See South Carolina Code 38-51-10
• 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.
• Alien insurer: means an insurer incorporated or organized under the laws of a country other than the United States of America, its states, commonwealths, territories, or insular possessions. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• 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.
• Annuity: means each contract or agreement to make periodic payments, whether in fixed or variable dollar amounts, or both, at specified intervals. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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.
• Appointment: means an individual designated by an official or authorized representative of an authorized insurer to act on its behalf as a producer. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• 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.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bail bond: means an undertaking by the defendant to appear in court as required upon penalty of forfeiting bail to the State in a stated amount and may include an unsecured appearance bond, a premium-secured appearance bond, an appearance bond secured by a cash deposit of the full amount of the bond, an appearance bond secured by a mortgage, and an appearance bond secured by at least one surety. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Bail bondsman: means a surety bondsman, professional bondsman, or an accommodation bondsman as defined in this chapter. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• 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.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Casualty insurance: means each insurance against legal liability of the insured for bodily injury to or death of another person, including workers' compensation insurance, and for damages to or loss or destruction of the property of another person; medical payments insurance when written in conjunction with insurance covering liability for the deaths or bodily injuries of another person; guaranteeing the fidelity of a person holding a position of public or private trust; loss of or damage to property caused by burglary, theft, larceny, robbery, fraud, or unlawful taking or secretion of property owned by or entrusted to the insured; loss of or damage to property of the insured resulting from the explosion of or damage to a fired or unfired boiler or other pressure vessel, engine, turbine, compressor, pump, wheel, or an apparatus generating, transmitting, or using electric power, and machinery or equipment connected with any of them; loss resulting from nonpayment of debts owed to merchants or another person extending credit. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Certificate: means a renewable certificate of registration granted by the director or his designee to a private review agent, authorizing the agent to perform utilization review activities in this State for two years. See South Carolina Code 38-70-10
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Commission: means the part of the premium paid to the producer as compensation for his services. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Insurance of South Carolina. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Designee or deputy director: means the person or persons appointed by the director, serving at the will and pleasure of the director as his designee, to supervise and carry out the functions and duties of the department as provided by law. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the person who is appointed by the Governor upon the advice and consent of the Senate and who is responsible for the operation and management of the department. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Director or his designee: means the director or his designee of the South Carolina Department of Insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-70-10
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Electronic contact: means any transfer of signs, signals, writings, images, sounds, data, intelligence, or information of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by any device, system, or mechanism including, but not limited to, a wire, radio, computer, electromagnetic, photoelectric, or photo-optical system. See South Carolina Code 16-3-1700
• Electronic monitoring: means monitoring a person by the use of a device which records or transmits oral or wire communications or an auditory sound, visual images, or information regarding the person's activities. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• 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}
• 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 commercial policies: means policies for commercial insureds as may be provided for in regulation issued by the director. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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.
• Family: means a spouse, child, parent, sibling, or a person who regularly resides in the same household as the targeted person. See South Carolina Code 16-3-1700
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Good cause: means the violation of a specific term of the bail bond not to include the nonpayment of fees. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• 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.
• Harassment in the first degree: means a pattern of intentional, substantial, and unreasonable intrusion into the private life of a targeted person that serves no legitimate purpose and causes the person and would cause a reasonable person in his position to suffer mental or emotional distress. See South Carolina Code 16-3-1700
• Harassment in the second degree: means a pattern of intentional, substantial, and unreasonable intrusion into the private life of a targeted person that serves no legitimate purpose and causes the person and would cause a reasonable person in his position to suffer mental or emotional distress. See South Carolina Code 16-3-1700
• 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: includes annuities. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurance agency: means a corporation, association, partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other legal entity in which more than one person has a financial interest. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurance company: means an "insurer". See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurer: includes a corporation, fraternal organization, burial association, other association, partnership, society, order, individual, or aggregation of individuals engaging or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance or surety business, including the exchanging of reciprocal or interinsurance contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurer: means any domestic, foreign, or alien surety company which has qualified generally to transact surety business and specifically to transact bail bond business in this State. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Judgement: The official decision of a court finally determining the respective rights and claims of the parties to a suit.
• 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.
• License: means a document issued by the state's director or his designee authorizing a person to act as an insurance producer for the lines of authority specified in the document. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Life insurance: means a contract of insurance upon the lives of human beings. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• motor vehicle physical damage appraiser: means a person, partnership, association, or corporation which practices as a business the appraising of damages to motor vehicles insured under automobile physical damage policies or on behalf of third party claimants. See South Carolina Code 38-49-10
• Negotiate: means the act of conferring directly with or offering advice directly to a purchaser or prospective purchaser of a particular contract of insurance concerning substantive benefits, terms, or conditions of the contract, provided that the person engaged in that act either sells insurance or obtains insurance from insurers for purchasers. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Pattern: means two or more acts occurring over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose. See South Carolina Code 16-3-1700
• Person: means a corporation, agency, partnership, association, voluntary organization, individual, or another entity, organization, or aggregation of individuals. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• person: means any individual, corporation, association, partnership, reciprocal exchange, interinsurer, Lloyd's insurer, fraternal benefit society, and any other legal entity engaged in the business of insurance, including agents, brokers, and adjusters. See South Carolina Code 38-57-20
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• 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.
• Policy: means a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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.
• Premium: means payment given in consideration of a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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.
• Principal: means a defendant or witness obligated to appear in court as required upon penalty of forfeiting bail under a bail bond. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Private review agent: means a person performing utilization reviews who is either under contract with or acting on behalf of, but not employed by:
  
  (a) a South Carolina business entity;
  
  (b) the State of South Carolina; or
  
  (c) a hospital. See South Carolina Code 38-70-10
• producer: means a person who represents an insurance company and is required to be licensed pursuant to § 38-43-10. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Professional bondsman: means any person who is approved and licensed under the provisions of this chapter and who pledges cash or approved securities with the clerk of court as security for bail bonds written in connection with a judicial proceeding and receives or is promised money or other things of value for the pledge. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Proxy voting: The practice of allowing a legislator to cast a vote in committee for an absent legislator.
• Public adjusting: means investigating, appraising or evaluating, and reporting to an insured in relation to a first party claim arising under insurance contracts, that insure the real or personal property, or both, of the insured. See South Carolina Code 38-48-10
• Public insurance adjuster: means any individual who, for salary, fee, commission, or other compensation, engages in public adjusting and who is licensed under § 38-48-20. See South Carolina Code 38-48-10
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• 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}
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Runner: means a person employed by a bail bondsman for the purpose of assisting the bail bondsman in presenting the defendant in court when required, assisting in the apprehension and surrender of the defendant to the court, keeping the defendant under necessary surveillance, and executing bonds on behalf of the licensed bondsman when the power of attorney has been recorded. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Sell: means to exchange a contract of insurance by any means, for money or its equivalent, on behalf of an insurance company. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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.
• Solicit: means attempting to sell insurance or asking or urging a person to apply for a particular kind of insurance from a particular company. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Stalking: means a pattern of words, whether verbal, written, or electronic, or a pattern of conduct that serves no legitimate purpose and is intended to cause and does cause a targeted person and would cause a reasonable person in the targeted person's position to fear:
  
  (1) death of the person or a member of his family;
  
  (2) assault upon the person or a member of his family;
  
  (3) bodily injury to the person or a member of his family;
  
  (4) criminal sexual contact on the person or a member of his family;
  
  (5) kidnapping of the person or a member of his family; or
  
  (6) damage to the property of the person or a member of his family. See South Carolina Code 16-3-1700
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Surety: includes insurance or a bond that covers obligations to pay the debts, or answer for the default, of another, including faithlessness in a position of public or private trust. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Surety: means one who, with the defendant, is liable for the amount of the bail bond upon forfeiture of bail. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Surety bondsman: means any person who is approved by and licensed by the director or his designee as an insurance agent, appointed by an insurer by power of attorney to execute or countersign bail bonds for the insurer in connection with judicial proceedings, and receives or is promised money or other things of value for the execution or countersignature. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Terminate: means the cancellation of the relationship between an insurance producer and the insurer or the termination of a producer's authority to transact insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Title insurance: means insurance of the owners of real property and other persons lawfully interested in the title insurance against loss by reason of defective titles and undisclosed liens and encumbrances affecting the property. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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.
• Utilization review: means a system for reviewing the necessary, appropriate, and efficient allocation of health care resources and services given or proposed to be given to a patient or group of patients. See South Carolina Code 38-70-10
• Utilization review program: means an overview of the activities performed by the private review agent. See South Carolina Code 38-70-10
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.