Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 8 > Chapter 145 - Supervision, Rehabilitation, and Liquidation of Insurers

• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney: means the attorney-in-fact of a reciprocal insurer. See
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• 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.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the State Labor Relations Board established under section 921 of this title. See
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Collective bargaining unit: means the employees of an employer, being either all of the employees, the members of a department or agency, or such other unit or units as the Board may determine are most appropriate to best represent the interests of employees. See
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Financial Regulation. See
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Financial Regulation. See
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Financial Regulation. See
• 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.
• 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.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
• Credit Score: A number, roughly between 300 and 800, that measures an individual's credit worthiness. The most well-known type of credit score is the FICO score. This score represents the answer from a mathematical formula that assigns numerical values to various pieces of information in your credit report. ^{Source: OCC}
• Creditor: is a person having any claim, whether matured or unmatured, liquidated or unliquidated, secured or unsecured, absolute, fixed, or contingent. See
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Delinquency proceeding: means any proceeding instituted against an insurer for the purpose of liquidating, rehabilitating, reorganizing, or conserving such insurer, and any summary proceeding under sections 7041 and 7042 of this title. See
• Department: means the Department of Financial Regulation. See
• 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.
• Doing business: as used in this chapter only, includes any of the following acts, whether effected by mail or otherwise:

• Domestic: when applied to a corporation, company, association, or copartnership shall mean organized under the laws of this State; "foreign" when so applied, shall mean organized under the laws of another state, government, or country. See
• Domiciliary state: means the state in which an insurer is incorporated or organized or, in the case of an alien insurer, its state of entry. See
• 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}
• Employee: means a State employee as defined by subdivision (5) of this section except as the context requires otherwise. See
• Employee organization: means an organization of any kind in which employees participate and that exists for the purpose of representing its members, if certified by the Board as an exclusive representative for the purposes of collective bargaining. See
• Employer: means the State of Vermont, excluding the Legislative and Judiciary Departments, represented by the Governor or designee, the Office of the Defender General represented by the Defender General or designee, Vermont State Colleges represented by the Chancellor or designee, and the University of Vermont represented by the President or designee. See
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• 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 country: means any other jurisdiction not in any state. See
• Foreign guaranty association: means any similar entities now in existence in or hereafter created by the legislature of any other state. See
• 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}
• 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
• gender identity: means an individual's actual or perceived gender identity, or gender-related characteristics intrinsically related to an individual's gender or gender-identity, regardless of the individual's assigned sex at birth. See
• general assets: include all such property or its proceeds in excess of the amount necessary to discharge the sum or sums secured thereby. See
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Grievance: means an employee's, group of employees', or the employee's collective bargaining representative's expressed dissatisfaction, presented in writing, with aspects of employment or working conditions under a collective bargaining agreement or the discriminatory application of a rule or regulation, that has not been resolved to a satisfactory result through informal discussion with immediate supervisors. See
• Guaranty association: means the Vermont Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association created in accordance with the provisions of chapter 101, subchapter 9 of this title, the Vermont Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association created in accordance with the provisions of chapter 112 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
• hospital service corporation: includes any corporation organized under the provisions of this chapter and also any unincorporated association furnishing hospital, medical, surgical, or nursing services, or any combination of these, to subscribers or members, except as provided in section 4519 of this title. See
• 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}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• insolvent: means :

• insurance contract: means any contract of insurance, indemnity, medical, dental, optometric, or hospital service, suretyship, or annuity issued, proposed for issuance, or intended for issuance by any person. See
• 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
• Judgement: The official decision of a court finally determining the respective rights and claims of the parties to a suit.
• 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.
• Justice: when applied to a person, other than a Justice of the Supreme Court, shall mean a justice of the peace for the county for which he or she is elected or appointed. See
• 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: includes reserves required by statute or by general regulations of the Department or specific requirements imposed by the Commissioner upon a subject company at the time of admission or subsequent to its admission. See
• 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.
• Month: shall mean a calendar month and "year" shall mean a calendar year and be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Municipality: shall include a city, town, town school district, incorporated school or fire district or incorporated village, and all other governmental incorporated units. See
• National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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 any individual, corporation, association, partnership, reciprocal exchange, interinsurer, Lloyds insurer, fraternal benefit society, and any other legal entity engaged in the business of insurance, including agents, brokers, appraisers, and adjusters. See
• Person: includes one or more individuals, the State of Vermont, Vermont State Colleges, University of Vermont, Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, employee organizations, labor organizations, partnerships, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, or any other natural or legal entity whatsoever. See
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• 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}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• premiums: as used in this chapter means premiums, rates, or other required contributions by whatever name known. See
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• real estate: shall include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and all rights thereto and interests therein, and pews or slips in places of public worship shall be treated as real estate. See
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Receiver: means receiver, liquidator, rehabilitator, or conservator as the context requires. See
• Reciprocal state: means any state other than this State in which in substance and effect subsection 7057(a) and sections 7093, 7094, and 7096 through 7098 of this title are in force, and in which provisions are in force requiring that the commissioner or equivalent official be the receiver of a delinquent insurer, and in which some provision exists for the avoidance of fraudulent conveyances and preferential transfers. See
• 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.
• Representatives: includes any individual or individuals certified by the Board to represent employees or employee organizations in collective bargaining or grievance proceedings. See
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• said: when used by way of reference to a person or thing shall apply to the same person or thing last mentioned. See
• seal: shall include an impression of the official seal made upon paper alone or by means of a wafer or wax affixed thereto. See
• 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
• 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.
• sexual orientation: means female or male homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality. See
• Society: means a fraternal benefit society. See
• State: means any state, district, or territory of the United States and the Panama Canal Zone. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• State employee: means any individual employed on a permanent or limited-status basis by the State of Vermont, the Vermont State Colleges, the University of Vermont, the State's Attorneys' offices, or as a full-time deputy sheriff paid by the State pursuant to 24 V. See
• 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.
• sworn: shall include affirmed. See
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Town: shall include city and wards or precincts therein; "selectboard members" and "board of civil authority" shall extend to and include the mayor and aldermen of cities; "trustees" shall extend to and include bailiffs of incorporated villages; and the laws applicable to the inhabitants and officers of towns shall be applicable to the inhabitants and similar officers of all municipal corporations. See
• Transfer: shall include 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
• Usury: Charging an illegally high interest rate on a loan. ^{Source: OCC}
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.