Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 3 > Chapter 18 - Article V Conventions

• Accumulated contributions: means the sum of all the amounts deducted from the compensation of a member, together with any amount transferred to the account of the member established pursuant to chapters 34-37 of this title from the respective account of the member under one (1) or more of the superseded systems, with interest thereon, as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Administrator: means :
  (A) An individual, either employed by, or contracted with, the sponsor or the plan to provide administrative services on behalf of the plan. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Adult: means an individual who is at least eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Advisory council: means the traumatic brain injury advisory council established pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 68-55-101
• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Age of majority: means eighteen (18) years of age or older. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Agent: means an individual:
  (A) Authorized to make healthcare decisions on the principal's behalf by a power of attorney for healthcare or an advance directive. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Agriculture: means :
  (i) The land, buildings and machinery used in the commercial production of farm products and nursery stock. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Alternate delegate: means an individual elected as an alternate delegate as provided by this chapter. See Tennessee Code 3-18-102
• 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.
• Anatomical gift: means a donation of all or part of a human body to take effect after the donor's death for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appointing authority: means a commissioner, department, officer or agency having power to make appointments to, and separations from, positions in state service. See Tennessee Code 8-30-103
• 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.
• Article V convention: means a convention for proposing amendments to the . See Tennessee Code 3-18-102
• 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.
• Attorney general: means the attorney general and reporter and any assistant thereto by whatever name known, any district attorney general and any assistant thereto by whatever name called, and any officer or full-time employee of the general assembly or any committee thereof established by statute, who is duly licensed to practice law in Tennessee, whose duty it is to provide facilities for drafting bills or to assist individual legislators in drafting bills or who renders legal advice and services to the members of the general assembly or committees thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Average final compensation: means the average annual earnable compensation of a member during the five (5) consecutive years of the member's creditable service affording the highest such average, or during all of the years in the member's creditable service if less than five (5) years. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• 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.
• Bedding: means any mattress, mattress pad, mattress protector pad, box spring, upholstered spring, upholstered sofa bed, quilted pad, comforter, bolster, cushion, pillow, featherbed, sleeping bag, or any other bag, case, or covering that is:
  (A) Made of leather, textile, or other material. See Tennessee Code 68-15-201
• board: means the board provided for in part 3 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Board of appeals: refers to the state employees' appeals board established by §. See Tennessee Code 8-30-103
• Caucus: From the Algonquian Indian language, a caucus meant "to meet together." An informal organization of members of the legislature that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.
• class of positions: means a group of positions in state service determined by the commissioner to have sufficiently similar duties, authority, and responsibility such that:
  (A) The same qualifications may be reasonably required for. See Tennessee Code 8-30-103
• 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
• Comfort exchange policy: means a policy offered by a mattress manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer to a mattress buyer authorizing the buyer to exchange the mattress for a different firmness or for other reasons, within a certain period. See Tennessee Code 68-15-201
• Commissioner: means any person in office as a member of the public service commission, as prescribed by title 65, chapter 1, prior to June 30, 1996. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Commissioner: refers to the commissioner of human resources appointed under §. See Tennessee Code 8-30-103
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of health. See Tennessee Code 68-55-101
• 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.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• 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.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• County: means the county in which any such city or territory to be incorporated under chapters 30-36 of this title is located, or in which the major portion of the population of any such city or territory to be incorporated is located as indicated by the last federal census. See Tennessee Code 6-30-102
• County judge: means any person who is, or when such office existed was, a judge of a general sessions court, trial justice court, county chair, county judge, probate judge, or judge of a juvenile and/or domestic relations court, and whose compensation for such judicial service is paid wholly by a county of the state, or any person who is a county attorney who receives regular monthly or quarterly compensation from a county of the state, or any county manager or county administrator who receives regular monthly or quarterly compensation from a county of the state. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• County mayor: means and includes "county executive" unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• County official: means a county clerk, a clerk of a circuit court, a criminal court, or a probate court, a clerk and master of a chancery court, a clerk of a general sessions court where such general sessions court has an independent clerk who serves such court only, a register of deeds, a county trustee, a sheriff, a county road superintendent elected by a county legislative body, by a county road commission or commissioners, or by popular vote, and an assessor of property, any county commissioner elected by popular vote, serving in a county having a county commission form of government. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Covered compensation: means , with respect to any calendar year, the amount of a member's earnable compensation subject to contributions under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (26 U. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Creditable service: means prior service plus membership service, as provided in part 6 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Date of establishment: means the date as of which the retirement system is established as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Days: means calendar days, unless otherwise noted. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Decedent: includes a stillborn infant and, subject to restrictions imposed by law other than this part, a fetus. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Defective condition: means a condition of a product that renders it unsafe for normal or anticipatable handling and consumption. See Tennessee Code 29-28-102
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Delegate: means an individual elected as provided by this chapter to represent Tennessee at an Article V convention. See Tennessee Code 3-18-102
• Department: refers to the department of human resources pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 8-30-103
• Department: means the department of health. See Tennessee Code 68-55-101
• Department: means the department of health. See Tennessee Code 68-55-501
• disabled: means the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than twelve (12) months. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Disinterested witness: means a witness other than the spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandchild, grandparent, or guardian of the individual who makes, amends, revokes, or refuses to make an anatomical gift. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Document of gift: includes a statement or symbol on a driver license, identification card, or donor registry. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Donor: means an individual whose body or part is the subject of an anatomical gift. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Donor registry: means a database that contains records of anatomical gifts. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Driver license: means a license or permit issued by the department of safety to operate a vehicle, whether or not conditions are attached to the license or permit. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Earnable compensation: includes , but is not limited to, any bonus or incentive payment. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Election: includes all elections, local, municipal, primary, general, state, federal and special and any election in the state or any county, municipality or other political subdivision thereof, but does not include referenda or issues submitted to a vote of the people, political convention or caucus. See Tennessee Code 2-19-201
• Employer: means :
  (A) The state or any department, commission, institution, board or agency of the state government by which a member is paid, with respect to members in its employ. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executive service: means all other positions that have not been placed under the preferred service and as are described in §. See Tennessee Code 8-30-103
• extra services: means any duties other than summer school or regular duties. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Eye bank: means a person that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of human eyes or portions of human eyes. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Filling material: means :
  (A) Hair. See Tennessee Code 68-15-201
• Firefighter: means a person in the employ of a political subdivision participating under chapter 35, part 2 of this title who is a member of the fire department of such political subdivision, and is trained in firefighting and actively engaged in such work or subject to call for such services, providing such person's primary livelihood is derived from such work. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• General employee: means any person who is a state official, including legislative officials elected by the general assembly, or who is employed in the service of, and whose compensation is payable in whole or in part by, the state, including employees under supervision of the state whose compensation is paid, in whole or in part, from federal or other funds, or any person in the employ of a political subdivision participating under chapter 35, part 2 of this title, or of the Tennessee County Services Association, but does not include any teacher, state police officer, wildlife officer, firefighter, police officer, state judge, county judge, attorney general, governor, or county official or public service commissioner, or any person performing services on a contractual or percentage basis. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• Guardian: means a person appointed by a court to make decisions regarding the support, care, education, health, or welfare of an individual. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• Health care provider: means a Tennessee licensed medical doctor (M. See Tennessee Code 68-55-501
• Hospital: means a facility licensed as a hospital under the law of any state or a facility operated as a hospital by the United States, a state, or a subdivision of a state. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• House of representatives: means the house of representatives of the general assembly. See Tennessee Code 3-18-102
• 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.
• Insured: means any individual, other than the primary insured, who receives benefits under the plan. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Internal Revenue Code: means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, codified in United States Code, title 26, as amended. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• 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.
• Know: means to have actual knowledge. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Manufacturer: means the designer, fabricator, producer, compounder, processor or assembler of any product or its component parts. See Tennessee Code 29-28-102
• Mattress: means any quilted pad, mattress, mattress pad, bunk quilt or cushion, stuffed and filled with wool, hair or other soft material, to be used on a couch or other bed for sleeping or reclining purposes. See Tennessee Code 68-15-201
• Medical advisors: means the physicians, companies, or organizations provided for in part 4 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Member: means any person included in the membership of the retirement system, as provided in chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Membership service: means service rendered while a member of the retirement system. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Minor: means an individual who is under eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• New: means an article of bedding or filling material that has not been previously used for any purpose. See Tennessee Code 68-15-201
• next of kin: includes , in order, the decedent's spouse. See Tennessee Code 68-30-301
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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.
• Officer: means the mayor, aldermen, city attorney and city judge. See Tennessee Code 6-1-101
• Official station: means the town or city where the employee performs a majority of the employee's duties. See Tennessee Code 8-30-103
• Organ procurement organization: means a person designated by the secretary of the United States department of health and human services as an organ procurement organization. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Paired delegate: means the delegate with whom an alternate delegate is paired as provided by this chapter. See Tennessee Code 3-18-102
• Parent: means a parent whose parental rights have not been terminated. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Part: means an organ, an eye, or tissue of a human being. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• 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 an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Person: means any individual or governmental entity, corporation, association, organization, nonprofit institution or other entity or such entities' representatives. See Tennessee Code 68-55-501
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Personal representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Physical or mental impairment: means one which is medically determinable. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Physician: means an individual authorized to practice medicine or osteopathy under the law of any state. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Plain language: means writing designed to ensure the reader understands the meaning of the passage as quickly, easily, and completely as possible, avoiding verbose, convoluted language, and jargon. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• plan: includes those to which the primary insured pays to the plan a nominal fee for the primary insured and any insureds whose relationship to the primary insured allows them to receive benefits under the plan. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Plan document: means a document by which a plan is established and operated. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Plan participant: means either a primary insured or insured. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• 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.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Police officer: means a person in the employ of a political subdivision participating under chapter 35, part 2 of this title who is a member of the police department of such political subdivision and is trained in police work and actively engaged in such work. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Pool alarm: means a device which emits a sound of at least fifty decibels (50 dB) when a person or an object weighing fifteen pounds (15 lbs. See Tennessee Code 68-14-802
• post-employment benefits: means non-pension benefits paid on behalf of former state employees, former state employees' beneficiaries, authorized local education agency employees or the authorized local education agency employees' beneficiaries after separation from service. See Tennessee Code 8-27-801
• 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}
• Preferred service: means all offices and positions of employment in the state service that have been placed under the preferred service provisions of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-30-103
• Primary insured: means the individual employed by, or contracted with, the sponsor and to whom, based on the individual's status as an employee or contractor, the plan provides benefits. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Prior class member: means a member who, on the day preceding the date of establishment, shall have been a member of a superseded system and who elects to remain covered by the benefit and contribution provisions of the superseded system, or who fails to elect to become covered by the benefit and contribution provisions of the retirement system applicable to new employees, as the case may be, in accordance with chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Prior service: means service rendered prior to the date of membership in the retirement system for which credit was given under the terms of one (1) or more of the superseded systems as provided in part 6 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probate court: means the court having jurisdiction over the administration of the estates of decedents. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Procurement organization: means an eye bank, organ procurement organization, or tissue bank. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Product: means any tangible object or goods produced. See Tennessee Code 29-28-102
• Product liability action: includes , but is not limited to, all actions based upon the following theories: strict liability in tort. See Tennessee Code 29-28-102
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Prospective donor: means an individual who is dead or near death and has been determined by a procurement organization to have a part that could be medically suitable for transplantation, therapy, research, or education. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Public school: means any school conducted within the state under the authority and supervision of a duly elected or appointed city or county school board, and any educational institution supported by and under the control of the state. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• 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
• Reasonably available: means able to be contacted by a procurement organization without undue effort and willing and able to act in a timely manner consistent with existing medical criteria necessary for the making of an anatomical gift. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Recipient: means an individual into whose body a decedent's part has been or is intended to be transplanted. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• 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
• 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}
• Refusal: means a record under §. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Regular interest: means interest at such rate or rates compounded annually as may be set from time to time by the board of trustees in accordance with §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Reimbursement interest: means the plan's right of recovery of benefit amounts paid by the plan on behalf of the plan participant from the participant's recovery from a third-party tortfeasor arising from the injury or illness of the plan participant caused by such tortfeasor. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• 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.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• 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: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Residential dwelling: means a one-family or two-family dwelling structure. See Tennessee Code 68-14-802
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Retirement: means withdrawal from membership with a retirement allowance granted under chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Retirement allowance: means the sum of the member annuity and the state annuity. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Retirement system: means the Tennessee consolidated retirement system as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Road: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• RSRI: means a form drafted by the plan in plain language and included in the SPD that the plan participant, their attorney, or other party in interest, may use to request that the plan provides notice of its subrogation or reimbursement interest. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• sale: includes any of the following activities, or any combination of them:
  (A) Sell. See Tennessee Code 68-15-201
• Secondhand: means any article of bedding or material, or part of bedding or material, of which prior use of any kind has been made, including, but not limited to, a mattress that has been returned by a buyer to a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer pursuant to a comfort exchange policy. See Tennessee Code 68-15-201
• Seller: includes a retailer, wholesaler, or distributor, and means any individual or entity engaged in the business of selling a product, whether such sale is for resale, or for use or consumption. See Tennessee Code 29-28-102
• Senate: means the senate of the general assembly. See Tennessee Code 3-18-102
• Service: means service as a general employee, a teacher, a state police officer, a wildlife officer, a firefighter, a police officer, a state judge, a county judge, an attorney general, a commissioner or a county official which is paid for by an employer, and also includes service for which a former member of the general assembly is entitled to under former §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• Settlement: means an agreement reached between a plan participant and the plan, or between the plan participant and a third-party tortfeasor or the third-party insurer, or both. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Sign: means , with the present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:
  (A) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Significant duties: means that the duties are useful in the accomplishment of a job or the operation of a business but also that they have a degree of economic value. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• SMM: means a summary of any material amendment to the plan adopted by the sponsor, including, but not limited to, changes in deductibles, co-pays, and eligibility requirements. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• SPD: means a summary of the plan document, which may or may not be part of the plan document. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Sponsor: means a county, municipality, municipal corporation, or special school district in this state that establishes and funds a plan. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• 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
• State agency: means an authority, board, branch, commission, committee, department, division, or other instrumentality in state service that is subject to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-30-103
• State annuity: means annual payments for life derived from contributions by an employer. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• State judge: means any person in office as a judge of a court of record in this state, whose salary for the judge's judicial position has been paid during the period of the judge's service wholly from the treasury of the state, including the administrative director of the courts. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• State police officer: means any commissioned member of the department of safety, and any agent of the Tennessee bureau of investigation. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Student: means any person enrolled in a course of study in a school or in a post-secondary educational institution who as a condition of such enrollment is employed in a full-time position. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Subrogation interest: means the right to recovery that the plan has in any litigation or settlement arising from the injury or illness of a plan participant caused by a third-party tortfeasor. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Subscription: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Substantial gainful activity: means the performance of significant duties over a reasonable period of time of work for remuneration or profit or in work of a type generally performed for remuneration or profit. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Superseded system: means , where applicable, the Tennessee state retirement system, the Tennessee teachers' retirement system, the Tennessee judges' retirement system, the retirement system for county paid judges of Tennessee, the attorneys general retirement system of Tennessee, the public service commissioners' retirement system, and the Tennessee retirement system for county officials, any one (1) of them, or any combination thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Swimming pool: means any structure that is intended for swimming or recreational bathing and contains water over thirty-six inches (36") deep, including, but not limited to, in-ground, aboveground, and on-ground swimming pools, hot tubs and nonportable spas. See Tennessee Code 68-14-802
• TBI coordinator: means the person designated by the commissioner pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 68-55-101
• Teacher: means any person employed in a public school system as a teacher, helping teacher, teacher's aide, librarian, principal, supervisor, director of schools, or member of the administrative staff. See Tennessee Code 2-19-201
• Technician: includes an enucleator. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• third party: means a person or entity that contracts with either the plan or the third-party administrator to provide payment for claims of healthcare items or services for plan participants. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Third-party insurer: means an insurer that provides insurance coverage to a third-party tortfeasor, regardless of whether the coverage is personal or commercial, including, but not limited to, automobile, income replacement, premises liability, home owners, umbrella, group life, health, workers compensation, hospitalization, and disability. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Third-party tortfeasor: means an individual or entity who commits a tort against a plan participant that causes a plan participant to require medical treatment for which the plan makes payments to a provider of medical services for the benefit, or on behalf, of the plan participant. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Tissue: means a portion of the human body other than an organ or an eye. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• Tissue bank: means a person that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of tissue. See Tennessee Code 68-30-102
• 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.
• TPA: means an organization with which the plan contracts to process claims or manage certain other aspects of the plan, including, but not limited to, customer service, plan design, benefits notification, subrogation services, general plan administration, and appeals review. See Tennessee Code 8-27-901
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• 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.
• Trustees: means the four (4) trustees designated in §. See Tennessee Code 8-27-801
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Unreasonably dangerous: means that a product is dangerous to an extent beyond that which would be contemplated by the ordinary consumer who purchases it, with the ordinary knowledge common to the community as to its characteristics, or that the product because of its dangerous condition would not be put on the market by a reasonably prudent manufacturer or seller, assuming that the manufacturer or seller knew of its dangerous condition. See Tennessee Code 29-28-102
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Wildlife officer: means any commissioned employee of the wildlife resources agency engaged in law enforcement activities on a day-to-day basis. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• youth athletic activity: means an athletic activity organized by a city, county, business or nonprofit organization where the majority of the participants are under eighteen (18) years of age, and are engaging in an organized athletic game or competition against another team, club or entity or in practice or preparation for an organized game or competition against another team, club or entity. See Tennessee Code 68-55-501