Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 20 > Chapter 4 > Part 1 - Venue of Actions

• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Board: means a G&. See Tennessee Code 48-69-103
• board of directors: means the governing board of a corporation, whether denominated the board of directors or otherwise, except that no person or group of persons is the board of directors because of powers delegated to that person or group pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 48-51-201
• Business: includes every trade, occupation, profession, investment activity and other lawful purpose for gain or the preservation of assets whether or not carried on for profits. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• Bylaws: means the code or codes of rules (other than the charter) adopted pursuant to chapters 51-68 of this title for the regulation or management of the affairs of the corporation irrespective of the name or names by which such rules are designated. See Tennessee Code 48-51-201
• Charitable purpose: means a purpose that:
  (A) Would make a corporation operated exclusively for that purpose eligible to be exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. See Tennessee Code 48-51-201
• Charter: includes amended and restated charters and articles of merger. See Tennessee Code 48-11-201
• Class: when used with reference to membership interests, means a category of membership interests that differs in one (1) or more rights or preferences from another category of membership interests of the LLC. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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.
• Court: includes every court and judge having jurisdiction in the case. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• 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.
• Directors: means natural persons, designated in the charter or bylaws or elected or appointed by the incorporators, and their successors and natural persons elected or appointed to act as members of the board, irrespective of the names or titles by which such persons are described. See Tennessee Code 48-51-201
• Dissolution: means that the LLC has incurred an event under §. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• Distribution: means a direct or indirect transfer of money or other property (except its own membership interests) with or without consideration, or an incurrence or issuance of indebtedness, (whether directly or indirectly, including through a guaranty) by an LLC to or for the benefit of any of its members in respect of membership interests. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• Distribution cooperative: means an electric cooperative that has been heretofore incorporated under the former Electric Cooperative Law, formerly compiled in title 65, chapter 25, part 1, or that has been or hereafter is incorporated under the Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperative Act, compiled in title 65, chapter 25, or that has been or is created as an electric cooperative, electric power association or other similar nonprofit organization or association under the laws of another state, and that is also engaged, in whole or in part, in the distribution of electrical power at retail to its members as the ultimate end-users of such electrical power and energy. See Tennessee Code 48-69-103
• Employee: includes an officer but not a director. See Tennessee Code 48-11-201
• Energy acquisition corporation: means an entity created and operating pursuant to the authority established in the Energy Acquisitions Corporation Act, compiled in title 7, chapter 39. See Tennessee Code 48-69-103
• Entity: includes the following, whether foreign or domestic: LLCs. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• 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.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• 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.
• Foreign corporation: means a corporation for profit incorporated under a law other than the laws of this state. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• Governmental electric system: means a state, municipal, county or other political subdivision or local governmental entity of this state or of any other state that is engaged, in whole or in part, in the distribution of electrical power at retail to its customers as the ultimate end-users of the electrical power and energy, and "governmental electric system" may, at the election of the G&. See Tennessee Code 48-69-103
• Interest: means either or both of the following rights under the organic law of an unincorporated entity:
  (A) The right to receive distributions from the entity either in the ordinary course or upon liquidation. See Tennessee Code 48-11-201
• 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.
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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}
• Lease-sale: means an agreement whereby the possession and use of assets and properties would be transferred to a lessee-purchaser for a stated or determinable period in time, during or at the end of which the lessee-purchaser would have the right and be obligated, or would have the option, to purchase and acquire, or would without further act acquire fee simple title to the assets and properties for a price expressly stated in the agreement or for a price determinable by a formula contained in the agreement, whether or not any portion of any lease-hold or rental payments would be creditable as a part of the price. See Tennessee Code 48-69-103
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Member: means a person reflected in the required records of an LLC as the owner of some governance rights of a membership interest of the LLC. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• Member: means a distribution cooperative or governmental electric system, as applicable, having the right through its duly appointed agent or representative to vote for the directors of a G&. See Tennessee Code 48-69-103
• Membership: means the rights and obligations a member has pursuant to a corporation's charter, bylaws and chapters 51-68 of this title. See Tennessee Code 48-51-201
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Mutual benefit corporation: means a domestic corporation which becomes by operation of law a mutual benefit corporation pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 48-51-201
• 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.
• Patron: means a person agreeing to receive or already receiving, or who in the past has received, one (1) or more of the services rendered by a G&. See Tennessee Code 48-69-103
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Person: includes any natural person, firm, association, corporation, cooperative, membership corporation, distribution cooperative, electric power association, business trust, partnership and federal, state or local governments, or departments, agencies or any other political subdivision thereof, including, without limitation, an energy acquisition corporation. See Tennessee Code 48-69-103
• Person: includes individual and entity. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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.
• Principal office: means the office (in or out of this state) so designated in the annual report where the principal executive offices of a domestic or foreign corporation are located. See Tennessee Code 48-11-201
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Public benefit corporation: means a domestic corporation which becomes by operation of law a public benefit corporation pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 48-51-201
• real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Representative: means a governor, manager, employee or other agent of a foreign LLC. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• Secretary: means the corporate officer to whom the bylaws or the board of directors has delegated responsibility under §. See Tennessee Code 48-11-201
• Secretary of state: means the person who holds the office of secretary of state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subsidiary: means a corporation more than fifty percent (50%) of whose outstanding voting shares are owned by its parent and/or the parent's other wholly-owned subsidiaries. See Tennessee Code 48-11-201
• Termination: means the end of an LLC's existence as a legal entity and occurs when the articles of termination are filed with the secretary of state under §. See Tennessee Code 48-202-101
• 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.
• TVA area: means the area of the Tennessee Valley authority as described in §. See Tennessee Code 48-69-103
• United States: includes district, authority, bureau, commission, department, and any other agency of the United States. See Tennessee Code 48-11-201
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Voting power: means the total number of votes entitled to be cast for the election of directors at the time the determination of voting power is made, excluding a vote which is contingent upon the happening of a condition or event that has not occurred at the time. See Tennessee Code 48-51-201
• written: means any information in the form of a document. See Tennessee Code 48-11-201
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105