Arizona Laws 13-4301. Definitions
In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 13-4301
- Act: means a bodily movement. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Attorney for the state: means an attorney designated by the attorney general, by a county attorney or by a city attorney to investigate, commence and prosecute an action under this chapter. See Arizona Laws 13-4301
- 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
- Benefit: means anything of value or advantage, present or prospective. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Commercially reasonable: means a sale or disposal that would be commercially reasonable under Title 47, Chapter 9, Article 6. See Arizona Laws 13-4301
- Conduct: means an act or omission and its accompanying culpable mental state. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Economic loss: means any loss incurred by a person as a result of the commission of an offense. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- 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
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Injured person: means a person who has sustained economic loss, including medical loss, as a result of injury to his person, business or property by the conduct giving rise to the forfeiture of property, and who is not an owner of or an interest holder in the property. See Arizona Laws 13-4301
- Interest holder: means a person in whose favor there is a security interest or who is the beneficiary of a perfected encumbrance pertaining to an interest in property. See Arizona Laws 13-4301
- Omission: means the failure to perform an act as to which a duty of performance is imposed by law. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Owner: means a person who is not a secured party as defined in section 47-9102 and who has an interest in property, whether legal or equitable. See Arizona Laws 13-4301
- Peace officer: means any person vested by law with a duty to maintain public order and make arrests and includes a constable. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Peace officers: means sheriffs of counties, constables, marshals, policemen of cities and towns, commissioned personnel of the department of public safety, personnel who are employed by the state department of corrections and the department of juvenile corrections and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, peace officers who are appointed by a multicounty water conservation district and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, police officers who are appointed by community college district governing boards and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, police officers who are appointed by the Arizona board of regents and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, police officers who are appointed by the governing body of a public airport pursuant to section 28-8426 and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, peace officers who are appointed by a private postsecondary institution pursuant to section 15-1897 and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board and special agents from the office of the attorney general, or of a county attorney, and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Person: means a human being and, as the context requires, an enterprise, a public or private corporation, an unincorporated association, a partnership, a firm, a society, a government, a governmental authority or an individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Property: means anything of value, tangible or intangible. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Seizing agency: means any department or agency of this state or its political subdivisions that regularly employs peace officers and that employs the peace officer who seizes property for forfeiture, or such other agency as the seizing agency may designate in a particular case by its chief executive officer or the chief executive officer's designee. See Arizona Laws 13-4301
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
1. "Abandoned property":
(a) Means personal property that the owner has intentionally relinquished the right to and control over.
(b) Does not include property that is obtained as a result of a peace officer requesting, requiring or inducing a person to execute a document that purports to disclaim an interest in or right to the property or that relinquished interest in or rights to the property.
2. "Attorney for the state" means an attorney designated by the attorney general, by a county attorney or by a city attorney to investigate, commence and prosecute an action under this chapter.
3. "Commercially reasonable" means a sale or disposal that would be commercially reasonable under Title 47, Chapter 9, Article 6.
4. "Injured person" means a person who has sustained economic loss, including medical loss, as a result of injury to his person, business or property by the conduct giving rise to the forfeiture of property, and who is not an owner of or an interest holder in the property. Injured person does not include a person who is responsible for the conduct giving rise to forfeiture or a person whose interest would not be exempt from forfeiture if the person were an owner of or interest holder in the property.
5. "Interest holder" means a person in whose favor there is a security interest or who is the beneficiary of a perfected encumbrance pertaining to an interest in property.
6. "Owner" means a person who is not a secured party as defined in section 47-9102 and who has an interest in property, whether legal or equitable. A person who holds property for the benefit of or as agent or nominee for another is not an owner. A purported interest that is not in compliance with any statute requiring its recordation or reflection in public records in order to perfect the interest against a bona fide purchaser for value shall not be recognized as an interest against this state in an action pursuant to this chapter. An owner with power to convey property binds other owners, and a spouse binds his spouse, by his act or omission.
7. "Person known to have an interest" means a person whose interest in property is reflected in the public records in which his interest is required by law to be recorded or reflected in order to perfect his interest. If a person’s interest in property is not required by law to be reflected in public records in order to perfect his interest in the property, a person shall be known to have an interest only if his interest can be readily ascertained at the time the forfeiture action commences pursuant to this chapter.
8. "Personal property" includes all interests in property, as defined in section 13-105, in whatever form, except real property and fixtures as defined in section 47-9102.
9. "Seizing agency" means any department or agency of this state or its political subdivisions that regularly employs peace officers and that employs the peace officer who seizes property for forfeiture, or such other agency as the seizing agency may designate in a particular case by its chief executive officer or the chief executive officer’s designee.
10. "Seizure for forfeiture" means seizure of property by a peace officer and either:
(a) There is an assertion by the seizing agency or by an attorney for the state that the property is subject to forfeiture.
(b) The property has no evidentiary value.