Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 41 > Chapter 31 > Article 1 - Rates of Contributions

• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• 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.
• Benefit ratio: means :
  
  (a) for the period of January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2013, the number calculated by dividing the sum of all benefits charged to an employer during the forty calendar quarters immediately preceding the calculation date by the sum of the employer's taxable payroll for the same period. See South Carolina Code 41-31-5
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Employment and Workforce. See South Carolina Code 41-31-5
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Eligible patient: means an individual who:
  
  (a) has a terminal illness, attested to by a treating physician;
  
  (b) has, in consultation with a treating physician, considered and exhausted all other treatment options currently approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration;
  
  (c) has received a recommendation from the treating physician for use of an investigational drug, biological product, or device for treatment of the terminal illness;
  
  (d) has given informed consent in writing to use the investigational drug, biological product, or device for treatment of the terminal illness or, if the individual is a minor or is otherwise incapable of providing informed consent, the parent or legal guardian has given informed consent in writing to use the investigational drug, biological product, or device; and
  
  (e) has documentation from the treating physician that the individual meets all of the criteria for this definition, including an attestation from the treating physician that the treating physician was consulted in the creation of the written, informed consent required under this chapter. See South Carolina Code 44-137-10
• 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.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• 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.
• Informed consent: means a written document that is signed by an eligible patient; or if the patient is a minor, by a parent or legal guardian; or if the patient is incapacitated or without sufficient mental capacity, by a designated health care agent pursuant to a health care power of attorney, that at a minimum includes:
  
  (a) an explanation of the currently approved products and treatments for the eligible patient's terminal illness;
  
  (b) an attestation that the eligible patient concurs with the treating physician in believing that all currently approved treatments are unlikely to prolong the eligible patient's life;
  
  (c) clear identification of the specific investigational drug, biological product, or device proposed for treatment of the eligible patient's terminal illness;
  
  (d) a description of the potentially best and worst outcomes resulting from use of the investigational drug, biological product, or device to treat the eligible patient's terminal illness, along with a realistic description of the most likely outcome. See South Carolina Code 44-137-10
• 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}
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• 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.
• 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}
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• 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.
• Terminal illness: means a progressive disease or medical or surgical condition that:
  
  (a) entails significant functional impairment;
  
  (b) is not considered by a treating physician to be reversible even with administration of available treatments approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration; and
  
  (c) will result in death without life-sustaining procedures. See South Carolina Code 44-137-10
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.