Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 56 > Chapter 47 - Workers' Compensation Fraud Act

• Actual malice: means the knowledge that information is false, or reckless disregard of whether it is false. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney: means the person designated and authorized by subscribers as the attorney-in-fact having authority to obligate them on reciprocal insurance contracts. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• 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.
• Conservatorship: is a proceeding in which a court removes the decision-making powers and duties, in whole or in part, in a least restrictive manner, from a person with a disability who lacks capacity to make decisions in one or more important areas and places responsibility for one or more of those decisions in a conservator or co-conservators. See Tennessee Code 34-1-101
• 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.
• Court: means any court having jurisdiction to hear matters concerning guardians or conservators. See Tennessee Code 34-1-101
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the department of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Income: means money or property that a fiduciary receives as current return from a principal asset. See Tennessee Code 35-6-102
• Insurance policy: means the written instrument in which are set forth the terms of any binder of coverage or contract of insurance, including a binder or contract issued by a state-assigned risk plan, or other forms of workers' compensation insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
• Insurance professional: means sales agents, managing general agents, brokers, producers, adjusters and third party administrators. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
• Insurance transaction: means a transaction by, between or among an:
  (A) Insurer or a person who acts on behalf of an insurer. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
• Insurer: means any person purporting to engage in the business of insurance or authorized to do business in this state or subject to regulation by the state, who undertakes to indemnify another against loss, damage or liability arising from a contingent or unknown event related to causes arising under title 50, chapter 6. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age and who has not otherwise been emancipated. See Tennessee Code 34-1-101
• 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 or practice: means repeated, routine or generalized in nature, and not merely isolated or sporadic. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
• Person: means any individual, nonhuman entity or governmental agency. See Tennessee Code 34-1-101
• Person: means a natural person, company, corporation, unincorporated association, partnership, professional corporation, agency of government or any other entity. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Practitioner: means a licensee of this state authorized to practice medicine and surgery, psychology, chiropractic or law or any other licensee of state or person required to be licensed in this state whose services are compensated either in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, by insurance proceeds. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
• Premium: includes any payments, whether due within the insurance policy term or otherwise, and deductible payments whether advanced by the insurer or insurance professional and subject to reimbursement by the insured or otherwise, any self-insured retention or payments, whether advanced by the insurer or insurance professionals and subject to reimbursement by the insured or otherwise, and any collateral or security to be provided to collateralize obligations to pay any of the above. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
• Principal: means property held in trust for distribution to a remainder beneficiary when the trust terminates. See Tennessee Code 35-6-102
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Reckless: means without reasonable belief of the truth, or, for the purposes of §. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
• 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
• 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
• Respondent: means a person who is a minor or is alleged to be a person with a disability for whom a fiduciary is being sought. See Tennessee Code 34-1-101
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• 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
• 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
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• 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