Terms Used In Michigan Laws > Chapter 600 > Act 236 of 1961 > Chapter 58 - Limitation of Actions

• Adverse information: means information indicating that the cosigner has not complied with the contractual provisions of an obligation. See Michigan Laws 445.271
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• Business day: means Monday through Friday and does not include Saturday, Sunday, or the following business holidays: New Year's day, Martin Luther King's birthday, Washington's birthday, Memorial day, Independence day, Labor day, Columbus day, Veterans' day, Thanksgiving day, and Christmas day. See Michigan Laws 445.111
• Collection action: means requesting a cosigner to pay all or part of the obligation. See Michigan Laws 445.271
• Collection agency: means a person that is directly engaged in collecting or attempting to collect a claim owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another, or repossessing or attempting to repossess a thing of value owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another person, arising out of an expressed or implied agreement. See Michigan Laws 445.251
• Commission: means the public service commission. See Michigan Laws 445.111
• 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.
• 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.
• Cosigner: means a natural person who renders himself or herself liable for the obligation of another person without compensation. See Michigan Laws 445.271
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• counterclaim: as used in this act , includes setoff and recoupment. See Michigan Laws 600.111
• Credit bureau: An agency that collects individual credit information and sells it for a fee to creditors so they can make a decision on granting loans. Typical clients include banks, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and other financing companies. (Also commonly referred to as consumer-reporting agency or credit-reporting agency.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• debt: means an obligation or alleged obligation for the payment of money or thing of value arising out of an expressed or implied agreement or contract for a purchase made primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. See Michigan Laws 445.251
• debtor: means an individual who is obligated or allegedly obligated to pay a debt. See Michigan Laws 445.251
• 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.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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.
• Do-not-call list: means a do-not-call list of consumers and their residential telephone numbers maintained by the commission, by a vendor designated by the commission, or by an agency of the federal government, under section 1a. See Michigan Laws 445.111
• employer: includes any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee. See Michigan Laws 445.102
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Existing customer: means an individual who has purchased goods or services from a person, who is the recipient of a voice communication from that person, and who either paid for the goods or services within the 12 months preceding the voice communication or has not paid for the goods and services at the time of the voice communication because of a prior agreement between the person and the individual. See Michigan Laws 445.111
• 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}
• Federally insured depository institution: means a state or national bank, state or federal savings bank, state or federal savings and loan association, or state or federal credit union that holds deposits insured by an agency of the United States. See Michigan Laws 445.111
• 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.
• Fixed location: means a place of business where the seller or an agent, servant, employee, or solicitor of that seller primarily engages in the sale of goods or services of the same kind as would be sold at the residence of a buyer. See Michigan Laws 445.111
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• grantee: may be construed as including every person to whom any such interest or estate passes in like manner. See Michigan Laws 8.3e
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• grantor: may be construed as including every person from or by whom any estate in lands passes in or by any deed. See Michigan Laws 8.3e
• 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 solicitation sale: means a sale of goods or services of more than $25. See Michigan Laws 445.111
• in writing: shall be construed to include printing, engraving, and lithographing; except that if the written signature of a person is required by law, the signature shall be the proper handwriting of the person or, if the person is unable to write, the person's proper mark, which may be, unless otherwise expressly prohibited by law, a clear and classifiable fingerprint of the person made with ink or another substance. See Michigan Laws 8.3q
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• judgment: as used in this act , includes decree. See Michigan Laws 600.112
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• 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}
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Obligation: means an indebtedness incurred by an individual for personal, family, or household purposes. See Michigan Laws 445.271
• 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: includes any individual, firm, co-partnership, joint adventure, association, municipal or private corporation whether organized for profit or not, company, estate, trust, or any other group or combination acting as a unit, and the plural as well as the singular number, unless the intention to give a more limited meaning is disclosed by the context. See Michigan Laws 445.102
• Person: means an individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, governmental entity, or other legal entity. See Michigan Laws 445.111
• Person: means an individual, sole proprietorship, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, or other legal entity. See Michigan Laws 445.251
• Person: means an individual, firm, partnership, association, or corporation. See Michigan Laws 445.271
• person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, as well as to individuals. See Michigan Laws 8.3l
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Primary obligor: means a person, other than a cosigner, who signs an obligation as a debtor. See Michigan Laws 445.271
• principal: means a person that offers or extends credit creating a debt or a person to which a debt is owed or due or asserted to be owed or due. See Michigan Laws 445.251
• Probate: Proving a will
• 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.
• Regulated person: means a person whose collection activities are confined and are directly related to the operation of a business other than that of a collection agency including any of the following: