Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 56 > Chapter 9 > Part 3 - Formal Proceedings

• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• 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.
• 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
• 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: 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
• 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
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• 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.
• 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.
• Creditor: is a person having any claim, whether matured or unmatured, liquidated or unliquidated, secured or unsecured, absolute, fixed or contingent. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• 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.
• Delinquency proceeding: means any proceeding instituted against an insurer for the purpose of liquidating, rehabilitating, reorganizing or conserving the insurer, and any summary proceeding under §. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• 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.
• Doing business: includes any of the following acts, whether effected by mail or otherwise:
  (A) The issuance or delivery of contracts of insurance to persons resident in this state. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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}
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Federal home loan bank: means an institution chartered under the Federal Home Loan Bank Act ( 12 U. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Foreign: when used without limitation, includes all companies formed by authority of any other state or government. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Foreign guaranty association: means any entities similar to a guaranty association now in existence in or hereafter created by the legislature of any other state. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Formal delinquency proceeding: means any liquidation or rehabilitation proceeding. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• 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
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Guaranty association: means the Tennessee insurance guaranty association created by chapter 12, part 1 of this title, the life and health insurance guaranty association created by chapter 12, part 2 of this title, and any other similar entity now or hereafter created by the general assembly of this state for the payment of claims of insolvent insurers. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• insolvent: means :
  (A) For an insurer issuing only assessable fire insurance policies:

  (i) The inability to pay any obligation within thirty (30) days after it becomes payable. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• Insurer: means any person who has done, purports to do, is doing or is licensed to do an insurance business, and is or has been subject to the authority of, or to liquidation, rehabilitation, reorganization, supervision, or conservation by, any insurance commissioner. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• liabilities: include , but are not limited to, reserves required by statute or by department general regulations or specific requirements imposed by the commissioner upon a subject company at the time of admission or subsequent thereto. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• 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.
• Netting agreement: means :
  (A) A contract or agreement, including terms and conditions incorporated by reference in it, including a master agreement, which master agreement, together with all schedules, confirmations, definitions, and addenda to it and transactions under any of them, shall be treated as one (1) netting agreement, that documents one (1) or more transactions between the parties to the agreement for or involving one (1) or more qualified financial contracts and that provides for the netting, liquidation, setoff, termination, acceleration, or close-out, under or in connection with one (1) or more qualified financial contracts or present or future payment or delivery obligations or payment or delivery entitlements under one (1) or more qualified financial contracts, including liquidation or close-out values relating to those obligations or entitlements, among the parties to the netting agreement. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• 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.
• Person: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds-type organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Qualified financial contract: means any commodity contract, forward contract, repurchase agreement, securities contract, swap agreement, and any similar agreement that the commissioner determines to be a qualified financial contract for the purposes of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• 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
• Receiver: means receiver, liquidator, rehabilitator or conservator as the context requires. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• Reciprocal: means the aggregation of subscribers under a common name. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• 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
• 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.
• 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
• Secured claim: means any claim secured by mortgage, trust deed, pledge, deposit as security, escrow, or otherwise, but not including special deposit claims or claims against general assets. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• 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.
• 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: means any state, district or territory of the United States and the Panama Canal Zone. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subscriber: means a person obligated under a reciprocal insurance agreement. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• Subscription: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transfer: includes the sale and every other and different mode, direct or indirect, of disposing of or of parting with property or with an interest therein, or with the possession thereof or of fixing a lien upon property or upon an interest therein, absolutely or conditionally, voluntarily, by or without judicial proceedings. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Usury: Charging an illegally high interest rate on a loan. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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