Terms Used In California Codes > Public Utilities Code > Division 1 > Part 1 > Chapter 3 - Rights and Obligations of Public Utilities

• Abstract of judgment: In a federal criminal proceeding, A certification from a U.S. District Court clerk that a judgment of restitution was entered against the defendant owing to the victim. If the defendant inherits, owns, or sells real property or holdings, these assets can then be attached at the state and local levels as well.
• Acquiring district: means a school district that has all or portions of one or more other school districts transferred into, or lapsed into, its boundaries pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 35511 or Section 35780. See California Education Code 35514
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• 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.
• Agency: means the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. See California Labor Code 18.5
• 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.
• Apprentice public insurance adjuster: means a person who is qualified in all respects as a public adjuster, except as to experience, education, or training. See California Insurance Code 15001
• 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
• 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}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• board: means the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 20
• Brand guarantor: means any person contracting for the performance of garment manufacturing, regardless of whether the person with whom they contract performs the manufacturing operations or hires contractors or subcontractors to perform the manufacturing operations, which include sewing, cutting, making, processing, repairing, finishing, assembling, dyeing, altering a garment's design, causing another person to alter a garment's design, affixing a label on a garment, or otherwise preparing any garment or any article of wearing apparel or accessories designed or intended to be worn by any individual, including, but not limited to, clothing, hats, gloves, handbags, hosiery, ties, scarfs, and belts, for sale or resale and other operations and practices in the apparel industry as may be identified in regulations of the Department of Industrial Relations consistent with the purposes of this part. See California Labor Code 2671
• Catastrophic disaster: means an event that results in large numbers of deaths and injuries. See California Insurance Code 15001
• City: includes city and county and "incorporated town" but does not include "unincorporated town" or "village. See California Public Utilities Code 19
• City: includes incorporated city, city and county, municipal corporation, municipality, town, and incorporated town. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 14
• Commission: means the Public Utilities Commission created by §. See California Public Utilities Code 20
• Commissioner: means the Insurance Commissioner. See California Insurance Code 14001
• Commissioner: means the Insurance Commissioner. See California Insurance Code 15001
• Commissioner: means the Insurance Commissioner of this State. See California Insurance Code 20
• Commissioner: means the Labor Commissioner. See California Labor Code 2671
• commissioner: means a member of the commission. See California Public Utilities Code 20
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contractor: includes a subcontractor that is primarily engaged in those operations. See California Labor Code 2671
• Controller: means the State Controller. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 21
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• County: includes "city and county. See California Insurance Code 14
• County: includes "city and county. See California Public Resources Code 14
• County: includes city and county. See California Public Utilities Code 18
• County: includes city and county. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 15
• 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.
• Department: means the Department of Insurance. See California Insurance Code 14001
• Department: means the Department of Insurance. See California Insurance Code 15001
• Department: means Department of Industrial Relations. See California Labor Code 19
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• 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.
• Districts: means school districts of every kind or class. See California Education Code 35514
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• employees: includes furloughed, pensioned, and superannuated employees of any common carrier subject to the provisions of this part, persons who have become disabled or infirm in the service of any such carrier, ex-employees traveling for the purpose of entering the service of any such carrier, and the remains of persons dying while in the employment of any such carrier. See California Public Utilities Code 521
• Energy Commission: means the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission. See California Public Utilities Code 20
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• 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}
• 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 market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• families: includes the families of such persons and the families of persons killed, and the surviving spouses until remarried and minor children during minority of persons who died while in the service of any such carrier. See California Public Utilities Code 521
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{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}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fingerprints: means an impression of the lines on the finger taken for the purposes of identification. See California Insurance Code 15001
• 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.
• Former district: means a school district that has been wholly included in another school district, or has had all of its territory made part of two or more other school districts, through any action taken pursuant to Section 35511 or through a lapsation pursuant to Section 35780. See California Education Code 35514
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garment manufacturing: means sewing, cutting, making, processing, repairing, finishing, assembling, dyeing, altering a garment's design, causing another person to alter a garment's design, affixing a label to a garment, or otherwise preparing any garment or any article of wearing apparel or accessories designed or intended to be worn by any individual, including, but not limited to, clothing, hats, gloves, handbags, hosiery, ties, scarfs, and belts, for sale or resale by any person or any persons contracting to have those operations performed and other operations and practices in the apparel industry as may be identified in regulations of the Department of Industrial Relations consistent with the purposes of this part. See California Labor Code 2671
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Home state: means the District of Columbia and any state or territory of the United States in which the public insurance adjuster's principal place of residence or principal place of business is located. See California Insurance Code 15001
• 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.
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• 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.
• Labor Commissioner: means Chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. See California Labor Code 21
• 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}
• Licensee: means a person licensed under this chapter. See California Insurance Code 14001
• Licensee: means a person licensed under this chapter. See California Insurance Code 15001
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Manager: means the individual under whose direction, control, charge, or management the business of a licensee is operated. See California Insurance Code 14001
• Manufactured home: includes both of the following:

  California Revenue and Taxation Code 20639.2

• manufacturer: means any person who is engaged in garment manufacturing who is not a contractor. See California Labor Code 2671
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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}
• New district: means a school district that is formed from all or portions of one or more other school districts by an action to reorganize taken pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 35511. See California Education Code 35514
• 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.
• nonresident: means a person who is not a resident of this state at the time of the performance of the act referred to in Section 15045. See California Insurance Code 15052
• 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.
• Original district: means a school district as it existed before an action to reorganize pursuant to Section 35511 or before an action to lapse a school district pursuant to Section 35780. See California Education Code 35514
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• owned: includes (1) the interest of a vendee in possession under a land sale contract provided that the contract or memorandum thereof is recorded and only from the date of recordation of the contract or memorandum thereof in the office of the county recorder where the residential dwelling is located, (2) the interest of the holder of a life estate provided that the instrument creating the life estate is recorded and only from the date of recordation of the instrument creating the life estate in the office of the county recorder where the residential dwelling is located, but "owned" does not include the interest of the holder of any remainder interest or the holder of a reversionary interest in the residential dwelling, (3) the interest of a joint tenant or a tenant in common in the residential dwelling or the interest of a tenant where title is held in tenancy by the entirety or a community property interest where title is held as community property, and (4) the interest, including the interest of a beneficiary of a special needs trust, in the residential dwelling in which the title is held in trust, as described in subdivision (d) of Section 62, provided that the Controller determines that the state's interest is adequately protected. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 20583
• partnership: shall include limited liability company, registered limited liability partnership, and foreign limited liability partnership, except where the context or the specific provisions of this division otherwise require. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 28.5
• Person: includes any individual, firm, company, association, organization, partnership, limited liability company, and corporation. See California Insurance Code 15001
• Person: means any person, association, organization, partnership, business trust, limited liability company, or corporation. See California Labor Code 18
• Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or association, and includes, but is not limited to, employers, manufacturers, jobbers, wholesalers, contractors, subcontractors, and any other person or entity engaged in the business of garment manufacturing. See California Labor Code 2671
• Person: includes any person, firm, partnership, general partner of a partnership, limited liability company, registered limited liability partnership, foreign limited liability partnership, association, corporation, company, syndicate, estate, trust, business trust, or organization of any kind. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 19
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• 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.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• property: includes property real and personal. See California Civil Code 14
• 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.
• 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.
• Reorganized district: means a school district that is a "new district" an "acquiring district" or a "divided district. See California Education Code 35514
• Resident: means residing in this State, "nonresident" means not residing in this State. See California Insurance Code 30
• Residential dwelling: means a dwelling occupied as the principal place of residence of the claimant and so much of the land surrounding it as is reasonably necessary for use of the dwelling as a home, owned by the claimant, the claimant and spouse, or by the claimant and either another individual eligible for postponement under this chapter or an individual described in subdivision (a), (b), or (c) of Section 20511 and located in this state. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 20583
• 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.
• Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by §. See California Labor Code 12.2
• Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by §. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 12.2
• State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Insurance Code 28
• state of emergency: means a state of emergency or local emergency as defined in §. See California Insurance Code 16000
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Tenancy by the entirety: A type of joint tenancy between husband and wife that is recognized in some States. Neither party can sever the joint tenancy relationship; when a spouse dies, the survivor acquires full title to the property.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Violation: includes a failure to comply with any requirement of the code. See California Labor Code 22
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.