Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 33 > Chapter 46 - Telephone Cooperative Act

• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Admitted insurer: means an insurer licensed to do business in this State. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Articles of incorporation: means the articles of conversion of a corporation converted to a telephone cooperative pursuant to Article 8 of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 33-46-20
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• 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.
• Commodity: means any subject of commerce;
  
  (2) "Producer" means any grower, baker, maker, manufacturer, bottler, packer, converter, processor or publisher;
  
  (3) "Wholesaler" means any person selling a commodity other than a producer or retailer; and
  
  (4) "Retailer" means any person selling a commodity to consumers for use. See South Carolina Code 39-7-20
• 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.
• 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.
• Dealership: means the business of selling or attempting to effect the sale by a dealer of new equipment, or the right, whether by written or oral arrangement with a manufacturer, distributor, or wholesaler for a definite or indefinite period of time, to sell or attempt to effect the sale of new equipment. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• Dealership agreement: means an oral or written arrangement for a definite or indefinite period in which a manufacturer, distributor, or wholesaler grants to an equipment dealer a license to use a trade name, service mark, or related characteristic, and in which there is a community of interest in the marketing of equipment or services related to it at wholesale, retail, leasing, or otherwise. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• 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
• 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
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Distributor: means a person who sells or distributes new equipment to equipment dealers or who maintains distributor representatives within the State. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• Distributor branch: means a branch office maintained by a distributor that sells or distributes new equipment to equipment dealers. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• Distributor representative: means a representative employed by a distributor branch or distributor. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• Equipment: means machinery, implements, or mechanical devices or apparatuses used in farming, construction, or industry and any outdoor power equipment, but not including:
  
  (a) motor vehicles required to be registered pursuant to § 56-3-110;
  
  (b) motorcycles as defined in § 56-16-10;
  
  (c) outdoor power equipment whose primary source of power is a two-cycle or electric motor;
  
  (d) "all terrain vehicles" or "ATVs" that are three-and-four-wheeled motorized vehicles, generally characterized by large, low-pressure tires, a seat designed to be straddled by the operator and handlebars for steering, which are intended for off-road use by an individual rider on various types of nonpaved terrain;
  
  (e) cranes; or
  
  (f) pneumatic tires, tubes, and flaps and related products and components associated with tires, including tires used in farm, construction, industrial, outdoor power, mining, and other on-and-off road applications. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• equipment dealer: means a person who sells or attempts to effect the sale of equipment, but not including a:
  
  (a) distributor or wholesaler;
  
  (b) receiver, trustee, administrator, executor, guardian, or other person appointed by or acting pursuant to the judgment or order of a court;
  
  (c) public officer while performing his official duties;
  
  (d) person disposing of equipment acquired for his own use and used in good faith, not for the purpose of avoiding the law;
  
  (e) finance company or other financial institution that sells repossessed equipment;
  
  (f) single line dealer primarily engaged in the retail sale and service of off-road construction and earth-moving equipment. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• 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
• Factory branch: means a branch office maintained by a manufacturer that makes or assembles equipment for sale to distributors or equipment dealers or that is maintained for directing and supervising the representatives of the manufacturer. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• Factory representative: means a representative employed by a manufacturer or by a factory branch for the purpose of selling or promoting the sale of equipment or for supervising, servicing, instructing, or contracting with equipment dealers or prospective equipment dealers. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• 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}
• 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.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• Improper means: include theft, bribery, misrepresentation, breach or inducement of a breach of a duty to maintain secrecy, duties imposed by the common law, statute, contract, license, protective order, or other court or administrative order, or espionage through electronic or other means. See South Carolina Code 39-8-20
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• 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
• 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
• 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.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• 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.
• Manufacturer: means a person engaged in the business of manufacturing or assembling new and unused equipment. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• Member: means each incorporator of a cooperative and each person admitted to and retaining membership therein and includes a husband and wife admitted to joint membership. See South Carolina Code 33-46-20
• Misappropriation: means :
  
  (a) acquisition of a trade secret of another by a person by improper means;
  
  (b) acquisition of a trade secret of another by a person who knows or has reason to know that the trade secret was acquired by improper means; or
  
  (c) disclosure or use of a trade secret of another without express or implied consent by a person who:
  
  (i) used improper means to acquire knowledge of the trade secret; or
  
  (ii) at the time of disclosure or use, knew or had reason to know that his knowledge of the trade secret was:
  
  (A) derived from or through a person who had utilized improper means to acquire it;
  
  (B) acquired by mistake or under circumstances giving rise to a duty to maintain its secrecy or limit its use; or
  
  (C) derived from or through a person who owed a duty to the person seeking relief to maintain its secrecy or limit its use; or
  
  (iii) before a material change of his position, knew or had reason to know that it was a trade secret and that knowledge of it had been acquired by accident or mistake. See South Carolina Code 39-8-20
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• multi-line dealer: is a ny individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or other legal entity that has:
  
  (i) purchased less than fifty percent of its total new product inventory from a single supplier under all agreements with that supplier; and
  
  (ii) a total annual average sales volume in excess of fifty million dollars. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• New equipment: means equipment that has not been sold previously to a person other than a distributor or wholesaler or equipment dealer for resale. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• 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.
• Owner: means the person or entity in whom or in which rightful legal or equitable title to the trade secret is reposed. See South Carolina Code 39-8-20
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means 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 natural person, firm, association, corporation, business trust, partnership, federal agency, state or political subdivision, or agency thereof, or any body politic. See South Carolina Code 33-46-20
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision or agency, or any other legal or commercial entity. See South Carolina Code 39-8-20
• Person: means a natural person, corporation, partnership, trust, or other entity, including any other entity in which it has a majority interest or of which it has control, as well as the individual officers, directors, and other persons in active control of the activities of each entity. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Policy: means a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Premium: means payment given in consideration of a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• 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.
• Sale: means the issuance, transfer, agreement for transfer, exchange, pledge, hypothecation, or mortgage, whether by transfer in trust or any other form, of any equipment or interest in it or of a dealership agreement or sales agreement related to it, and any option, subscription, or contract, or solicitation, looking to a sale, or offer or attempt to sell, whether spoken or written, or any other form. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• single line dealer: is a ny individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or other legal entity that has:
  
  (i) purchased seventy-five percent or more of its total new product inventory from a single supplier under all agreements with that supplier; and
  
  (ii) a total annual average sales volume in excess of forty-five million dollars for the preceding two years with that single supplier for the territory for which the individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or other legal entity is responsible; or
  
  (g) a person or business who sells only component parts of equipment;
  
  (h) multi-line dealer primarily engaged in the retail sale and service of industry and outdoor power equipment. See South Carolina Code 39-6-20
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Telephone cooperative: means a corporation which is financed, now or formerly, in whole or in part by the Department of Agriculture made under the provisions of the Rural Electric Act of 1936, Title 26, Section 922 of the United States Code, and acts amendatory thereto for the purposes of owning or operating in this State equipment or facilities for the transmission of intelligence through a communication service system including, but not limited to, telephone services, mobile radio, and cable television on a cooperative basis as is tax exempt pursuant to Internal Revenue Service Code 501(c)(12) or an association of like corporations exempt from tax pursuant to 501(c)(6), or operated under a cooperative basis pursuant to Subchapter T of the Internal Revenue Code and originally incorporated pursuant to Title 33, Chapter 45 of the South Carolina Code of Laws or this chapter. See South Carolina Code 33-46-20
• Telephone service: means the providing of communication service including, but not limited to, the transmission of voice, sounds, signals, pictures, writing, or signs of all kinds through the use of electricity or the electromagnetic spectrum between the transmitting and receiving apparatus, together with any communication services requiring band-width capacity, community antenna, and cable television services and including all lines, wires, radio, lights, electromagnetic impulse and all facilities, systems, or other means used in the rendition of such services, but not including message telegram service or radio broadcasting services or facilities within the meaning of Section 3(o) of the Federal Communications Act of 1934, as amended (47 USC Section 153(o)). See South Carolina Code 33-46-20
• 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.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trade secret: means :
  
  (a) information including, but not limited to, a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, product, system, or process, design, prototype, procedure, or code that:
  
  (i) derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by the public or any other person who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use, and
  
  (ii) is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy. See South Carolina Code 39-8-20
• 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.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.