Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 8 > Chapter 35 - Retirement-Membership

• Abusive civil action: means a civil action filed by a plaintiff against a defendant with whom the plaintiff shares a civil action party relationship primarily to harass or maliciously injure the defendant and at least one (1) of the following factors are applicable:
  (A) Claims, allegations, and other legal contentions made in the civil action are not warranted by existing law or by a reasonable argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law, or the establishment of new law. See Tennessee Code 29-41-101
• Abusive civil action plaintiff: means a person who files a civil action that a court of record has determined to be an abusive civil action and against whom prefiling restrictions have been imposed pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 29-41-101
• Accumulated contributions: means the sum of all the amounts deducted from the compensation of a member, together with any amount transferred to the account of the member established pursuant to chapters 34-37 of this title from the respective account of the member under one (1) or more of the superseded systems, with interest thereon, as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• Affiliate: means :
  (A) With respect to an individual:

  (i) A companion of the individual. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• AMA guides to the evaluation of permanent impairment: means the most recent version of the American Medical Association's "Guidelines for Assessment of Permanent Medical Impairment" at the time of the performance of any examination or test required under this part. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment: means the American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment in effect at the time of the performance of any examination or test on the exposed person required under this part. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• 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.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• 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
• Approved inspection agency: means a person, organization or local government approved by the commissioner to be especially qualified by reason of facilities, personnel, experience, and demonstrated reliability, to investigate, test, evaluate and inspect modular building units, systems, or the component parts of modular building units together with the plans, specifications, and quality control procedures to ensure that such units, systems, or component parts are in full compliance with the standards adopted by the commissioner pursuant to this part and to label such units complying with those standards. See Tennessee Code 68-126-303
• Art supplies: includes :
  (A) Any raw or processed material or manufactured product marketed or being represented by the manufacturer, repackager or retailer as being suitable for use in any phase of the creation of any work of visual or graphic art of any medium. See Tennessee Code 68-131-303
• Asbestos: means chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite asbestos, anthophyllite asbestos, actinolite asbestos, asbestiform winchite, asbestiform richterite, asbestiform amphibole minerals, and any of these minerals that have been chemically treated or altered, including all minerals defined as asbestos in 29 CFR 1910 at the time the asbestos action is filed. See Tennessee Code 29-34-602
• Asbestos action: means a claim for damages or other civil or equitable relief presented in a civil action arising out of, based on or related to the health effects of exposure to asbestos, including loss of consortium, wrongful death, mental or emotional injury, risk or fear of disease or other injury, costs of medical monitoring or surveillance and any other derivative claim made by or on behalf of a person exposed to asbestos or a representative, spouse, parent, child, or other relative of that person. See Tennessee Code 29-34-602
• Asbestos trust: means a government-approved or court-approved trust, qualified settlement fund, compensation fund, or claims facility created as a result of an administrative or legal action, a court-approved bankruptcy, or pursuant to 11 U. See Tennessee Code 29-34-602
• Asbestosis: means bilateral diffuse interstitial fibrosis of the lungs caused by inhalation of asbestos fibers. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• 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 general: means the attorney general and reporter and any assistant thereto by whatever name known, any district attorney general and any assistant thereto by whatever name called, and any officer or full-time employee of the general assembly or any committee thereof established by statute, who is duly licensed to practice law in Tennessee, whose duty it is to provide facilities for drafting bills or to assist individual legislators in drafting bills or who renders legal advice and services to the members of the general assembly or committees thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Average final compensation: means the average annual earnable compensation of a member during the five (5) consecutive years of the member's creditable service affording the highest such average, or during all of the years in the member's creditable service if less than five (5) years. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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}
• Beneficiary: means any person, persons or institution receiving a retirement allowance or other benefit as provided in chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Bicycle: means every device propelled by human power upon which any person may ride, having two (2) tandem wheels, either of which is more than twenty inches (20") in diameter. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• board: means the board provided for in part 3 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Board-certified: means the medical doctor is currently certified by one of the medical specialty boards approved by either the American Board of Medical Specialties or the American Osteopathic Board of Osteopathic Specialties. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Board-certified oncologist: means a medical doctor who is certified in the subspecialty of medical oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine or the American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Board-certified pathologist: means a medical doctor who holds primary certification in anatomic pathology or clinical pathology from the American Board of Pathology or the American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Board-certified pulmonary specialist: means a medical doctor who is certified in the subspecialty of pulmonary medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine or the American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Boiler: means and includes a closed vessel or vessels intended for use in heating water or other liquids or for generating steam or other vapors under pressure or vacuum by the direct application of heat from combustible fuels, electricity, or nuclear energy, and also includes an unfired pressure vessel, meaning a vessel in which pressure is obtained from an external source or from an indirect application of heat. See Tennessee Code 68-122-102
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Changeable message sign: means an outdoor advertising device that displays a series of messages at intervals by means of digital display or mechanical rotating panels. See Tennessee Code 54-21-102
• Chest x ray: means chest films taken in accordance with all applicable state and federal regulatory standards and taken in the posterior-anterior view. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• Civil action: means all suits or claims of a civil nature in a court of record, whether cognizable as cases at law or in equity or admiralty. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Civil action: means a civil action, as defined in Rule 2 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. See Tennessee Code 29-41-101
• Civil action defendant: means a person or persons against whom a civil action has been filed that a court of record has determined to be an abusive civil action and imposed prefiling restrictions against the abusive civil action plaintiff pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 29-41-101
• 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 labor and workforce development. See Tennessee Code 68-122-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance or the commissioner's designee. See Tennessee Code 68-126-202
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of revenue. See Tennessee Code 55-1-111
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 68-126-303
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance or the commissioner's designee. See Tennessee Code 68-126-402
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of transportation or the commissioner's designee. See Tennessee Code 54-21-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of transportation. See Tennessee Code 54-5-103
• Commissioner: means any person in office as a member of the public service commission, as prescribed by title 65, chapter 1, prior to June 30, 1996. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• Companion: means :
  (A) The spouse of an individual. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Competent medical authority: means a medical doctor who meets the following requirements:
  (i) The medical doctor is board-certified in occupational medicine, a board-certified oncologist, a board-certified pathologist, or a board-certified pulmonary specialist. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Component: means any assembly, sub-assembly, or combination of elements for use as a part of a modular building unit, which may include the structural, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, fire protection, or other structurally integrated system or systems thereof affecting life safety. See Tennessee Code 68-126-303
• 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.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• County judge: means any person who is, or when such office existed was, a judge of a general sessions court, trial justice court, county chair, county judge, probate judge, or judge of a juvenile and/or domestic relations court, and whose compensation for such judicial service is paid wholly by a county of the state, or any person who is a county attorney who receives regular monthly or quarterly compensation from a county of the state, or any county manager or county administrator who receives regular monthly or quarterly compensation from a county of the state. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• County official: means a county clerk, a clerk of a circuit court, a criminal court, or a probate court, a clerk and master of a chancery court, a clerk of a general sessions court where such general sessions court has an independent clerk who serves such court only, a register of deeds, a county trustee, a sheriff, a county road superintendent elected by a county legislative body, by a county road commission or commissioners, or by popular vote, and an assessor of property, any county commissioner elected by popular vote, serving in a county having a county commission form of government. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Court: means a chancery court in this state. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Creditable service: means prior service plus membership service, as provided in part 6 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Date of establishment: means the date as of which the retirement system is established as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Dealer: means every person engaged in the business of buying, selling or exchanging vehicles of a type required to be registered and who has an established place of business for that purpose in this state. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of labor and workforce development. See Tennessee Code 68-122-102
• Department: means the department of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 68-126-303
• Department: means the department of transportation. See Tennessee Code 54-21-102
• Destroyed: means , with respect to a nonconforming outdoor advertising device, that, in the case of wooden sign structures, sixty percent (60%) or more of the upright supports of a sign structure are physically damaged such that normal repair practices would call for replacement of the broken supports or, in the case of metal sign structures, replacement of at least thirty percent (30%) of the length above ground of each broken, bent, or twisted support. See Tennessee Code 54-21-102
• Digital display: means a type of changeable message sign that displays a series of messages at intervals through the electronic coding of lights or light emitting diodes or any other means that does not use or require mechanical rotating panels. See Tennessee Code 54-21-102
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• DLCO: means diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, which is the measurement of carbon monoxide transfer from inspired gas to pulmonary capillary blood. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• Earnable compensation: includes , but is not limited to, any bonus or incentive payment. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Economic damages: means damages, to the extent they are provided by applicable law, for: objectively verifiable pecuniary damages arising from medical expenses and medical care, rehabilitation services, mental health treatment, custodial care, loss of earnings and earning capacity, loss of income, burial costs, loss of use of property, repair or replacement of property, obtaining substitute domestic services, loss of employment, loss of business or employment opportunities, and other objectively verifiable monetary losses. See Tennessee Code 29-39-101
• Employer: means :
  (A) The state or any department, commission, institution, board or agency of the state government by which a member is paid, with respect to members in its employ. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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}
• Erect: means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw, or in any other way bring into being or establish, but does not apply to changes of copy treatment on an existing outdoor advertising device. See Tennessee Code 54-21-102
• 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}
• Essential parts: means all integral and body parts of a vehicle of a type required to be registered, the removal, alteration or substitution of which would tend to conceal the identity of the vehicle or substantially alter its appearance, model, type or mode of operation. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Established place of business: means the place actually occupied either continuously or at regular periods by a dealer or manufacturer where the books and records are kept and a large share of the business is transacted. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• 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.
• Executory contract: means a contract, including a lease, under which each party has an unperformed obligation and the failure of a party to complete performance would constitute a material breach. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Exposed person: means a person whose exposure to silica or mixed dust is the basis for a silicosis claim or mixed dust disease claim under this part. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Exposed person: means a person whose exposure to asbestos or to asbestos-containing products is the basis for an asbestos action. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• Facilities where the public congregates: means sports and entertainment arenas, musical amphitheatres, stadiums, community and convention halls, specialty event centers, amusement facilities, fairgrounds, zoos, institutions of higher education, and specialty event centers in public parks. See Tennessee Code 68-120-502
• 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.
• farm products: means forage and sod crops. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Fees and other expenses: means those reasonable attorney's fees and expert witness fees as determined by the court plus reasonable expenses and court costs, but does not include any portion of an attorney's fees or salary paid by a unit of local, state, or federal government for the attorney's services in the case. See Tennessee Code 29-37-103
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Firefighter: means a person in the employ of a political subdivision participating under chapter 35, part 2 of this title who is a member of the fire department of such political subdivision, and is trained in firefighting and actively engaged in such work or subject to call for such services, providing such person's primary livelihood is derived from such work. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• Food service establishment: means a food service establishment as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 68-120-502
• 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}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• FVC: means the maximal volume of air expired with maximum effort from a position of full inspiration. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• General employee: means any person who is a state official, including legislative officials elected by the general assembly, or who is employed in the service of, and whose compensation is payable in whole or in part by, the state, including employees under supervision of the state whose compensation is paid, in whole or in part, from federal or other funds, or any person in the employ of a political subdivision participating under chapter 35, part 2 of this title, or of the Tennessee County Services Association, but does not include any teacher, state police officer, wildlife officer, firefighter, police officer, state judge, county judge, attorney general, governor, or county official or public service commissioner, or any person performing services on a contractual or percentage basis. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Governmental unit: means an office, department, division, bureau, board, commission, or other agency of this state or a subdivision of this state. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• 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}
• 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.
• Hazardous materials: includes :
  (A) Materials designated as hazardous by any governmental agency. See Tennessee Code 68-131-201
• Highway: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way when any part thereto is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Hotel: means an establishment as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 68-120-502
• Illegal drug: means a drug, the distribution of which is a violation of state law. See Tennessee Code 29-38-104
• Illegal drug market: means the support system of illegal drug related operations, from production to retail sales, through which an illegal drug reaches the user. See Tennessee Code 29-38-104
• ILO scale: means the system for the classification of chest x-rays set forth in the International Labour Office's "Guidelines for the Use of ILO International Classification of Radiographs of Pneumoconioses" 2000 edition, or if amended, the version in effect at the time of the performance of any examination or test on the exposed person required under this part. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• 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}
• Individual drug user: means the individual whose illegal drug use is the basis of an action brought under this chapter. See Tennessee Code 29-38-104
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Installation: means the assembly of modular building units on-site and/or the process of affixing modular building-related components to land, a foundation, footings, utilities, or an existing building. See Tennessee Code 68-126-303
• Installer: means a licensed manufactured home installer, or a licensed manufactured home retailer. See Tennessee Code 68-126-402
• Internal Revenue Code: means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, codified in United States Code, title 26, as amended. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Interstate system: means that portion of the national system of interstate and defense highways, located within this state, as officially designated, or as may hereafter be designated, by the commissioner, and approved by the secretary of transportation of the United States, pursuant to title 23 of the United States Code. See Tennessee Code 54-21-102
• 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.
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Lien: means an interest in property that secures payment or performance of an obligation. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Livestock: means all equine as well as animals that are being raised primarily for use as food or fiber for human utilization or consumption including, but not limited to, cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and poultry. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Local government: means any political subdivision of this state with authority to establish standards and requirements applicable to the construction, installation, alteration and repairs of buildings. See Tennessee Code 68-126-303
• Local government: means an incorporated municipality or county or subdivision of either. See Tennessee Code 29-37-103
• Local retirement fund: means any teachers' retirement fund or other arrangement for payment of retirement benefits to teachers, except this retirement system, supported wholly or in part by contributions made by an employer as defined by chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Low speed vehicle: means any four-wheeled electric vehicle, excluding golf carts, whose top speed is greater than twenty miles per hour (20 mph) but not greater than twenty-five miles per hour (25 mph), including neighborhood vehicles. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Lung cancer: means a malignant tumor in which the primary site of origin of the cancer is inside the lungs. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• manufactured home: includes any structure that meets all the requirements of this subdivision (2), except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the secretary and complies with the standards established under this title. See Tennessee Code 68-126-202
• Manufacturer: means any person engaged in manufacturing or assembling new manufactured homes. See Tennessee Code 68-126-202
• Manufacturer: means every person engaged in the business of constructing or assembling vehicles of a type required to be registered at an established place of business in this state. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Medium speed vehicle: means any four-wheeled electric or gasoline-powered vehicle, excluding golf carts, whose top speed is greater than thirty miles per hour (30 mph), but whose maximum speed allowed is thirty-five miles per hour (35 mph) only on streets with a forty mile per hour (40 mph) or less posted speed limit pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Member: means any person included in the membership of the retirement system, as provided in chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Membership service: means service rendered while a member of the retirement system. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Mixed dust: means a mixture of dusts composed of silica and one (1) or more other fibrogenic dusts capable of inducing pulmonary fibrosis if inhaled in sufficient quantity. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Mixed dust disease claim: includes a claim made by or on behalf of any person who has been exposed to mixed dust, or any representative, spouse, parent, child, or other relative of that person, for injury, including mental or emotional injury, death, or loss to the person, risk of disease or other injury, costs of medical monitoring or surveillance, or any other effects on the person's health that are caused by the person's exposure to mixed dust. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Modular building unit: means a structural unit, or preassembled component unit, including the necessary electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilating and other service systems, manufactured off-site and transported to the point of use for installation or erection, with or without other specified components, as a finished building. See Tennessee Code 68-126-303
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage: means a record, however denominated, that creates or provides for a consensual lien on real property or rents, even if the mortgage also creates or provides for a lien on personal property. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagee: means a person entitled to enforce an obligation secured by a mortgage. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Mortgagor: means a person that grants a mortgage or a successor in ownership of the real property described in the mortgage. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Motorized bicycle: means a vehicle with two (2) or three (3) wheels, an automatic transmission, and a motor with a cylinder capacity not exceeding fifty cubic centimeters (50cc) which produces no more than two (2) brake horsepower and is capable of propelling the vehicle at a maximum design speed of no more than thirty miles per hour (30 mph) on level ground. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• 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.
• Nonconforming: means an outdoor advertising device that does not conform to the zoning, size, lighting, or spacing criteria established by and in accordance with either the current agreement entered into between the commissioner and the secretary of transportation of the United States, or in accordance with the original agreement entered into on or about November 11, 1971, as authorized in §. See Tennessee Code 54-21-102
• Noneconomic damages: means damages, to the extent they are provided by applicable law, for: physical and emotional pain. See Tennessee Code 29-39-101
• Nonmalignant condition: means a condition, other than a diagnosed cancer, that is caused or may be caused by either silica or mixed dust, whichever is applicable. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Nonmalignant condition: means any condition that can be caused by asbestos other than a diagnosed cancer. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• 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.
• Operator: means :
  (A) For purposes of a conventionally operated vehicle, every person, other than a chauffeur, who drives or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a highway or who is exercising control over or steering a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Owner: means a person who holds the legal title of a vehicle, or in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale or lease thereof, with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee or lessee, or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this chapter and chapter 10, parts 1-5 of this title. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Owner: means the person for whose property a receiver is appointed. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Part-time employee: includes any interim teacher who is employed on a temporary basis to teach for a regular teacher who is on unpaid leave. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• Pathological evidence of silicosis: means a statement by a board-certified pathologist that more than one (1) representative section of lung tissue uninvolved with any other disease process demonstrates a pattern of round silica nodules and birefringent crystals or other demonstration of crystal structures consistent with silica, consisting of well-organized concentric whorls of collagen surrounded by inflammatory cells, in the lung parenchyma and that there is no other more likely explanation for the presence of the fibrosis. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Period of illegal drug use: means , in relation to the individual user, the time of the individual's first use of an illegal drug to the accrual of the cause of action. See Tennessee Code 29-38-104
• Person: means any individual, firm, association, corporation, or legal entity. See Tennessee Code 68-126-402
• Person: includes any individual, partnership, corporation, association or other entity. See Tennessee Code 68-131-201
• Person: means and includes an individual, a partnership, an association, a corporation, or other entity. See Tennessee Code 54-21-102
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Person: means a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, corporation, or an engaged ADS. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Person: means an individual, governmental entity, corporation, firm, trust, partnership, or incorporated or unincorporated association, existing under or authorized by the laws of this state, another state, or foreign country. See Tennessee Code 29-38-104
• Person: means an individual. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Personal 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
• Personal use: means use of property by a person or entity not for business purposes and the use of which is not substantially connected with a trade or business or an activity for the production or collection of income. See Tennessee Code 68-126-202
• Physical disability: means having a disability on account of sight disabilities, hearing disabilities, disabilities of incoordination, disabilities of aging, and any other disability that significantly reduces mobility, flexibility or perceptiveness. See Tennessee Code 68-120-203
• Physical impairment: means a condition of an exposed person as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Place of illegal drug activity: means , in relation to the individual drug user, each state house of representatives legislative district in which the individual possesses or uses an illegal drug, or in which the individual resides, attends school, or is employed during the period of the individual's illegal drug use, unless the defendant proves otherwise by clear and convincing evidence. See Tennessee Code 29-38-104
• Place of participation: means , in relation to a defendant in an action brought under this chapter, each state house of representatives legislative district in which the person participates in the illegal drug market, or in which the person resides, attends school, or is employed during the period of the person's participation in the illegal market. See Tennessee Code 29-38-104
• Plaintiff: means a person asserting an asbestos action, a decedent if the action is brought through or on behalf of an estate, or a parent or guardian if the action is brought through or on behalf of a minor or an incompetent person. See Tennessee Code 29-34-602
• 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.
• Pole trailer: means every vehicle without motive power designed to be driven by another vehicle and attached to the towing vehicle by means of a reach or pole, or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle, and ordinarily used for transporting long or irregularly shaped loads, such as poles, pipes or structural members capable, generally, of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connections. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Police officer: means a person in the employ of a political subdivision participating under chapter 35, part 2 of this title who is a member of the police department of such political subdivision and is trained in police work and actively engaged in such work. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Predicted lower limit of normal: means the test value that is the calculated standard convention lying at the fifth percentile, below the upper ninety-five percent (95%) of the reference population, based on age, height, and gender, according to the recommendations by the American Thoracic Society and as referenced in the applicable AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, primarily National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) predicted values, or as amended. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• Premises owner: means a person who owns, in whole or in part, leases, rents, maintains, or controls privately owned lands, ways, or waters, or any buildings and structures on those lands, ways, or waters, and all privately owned and state-owned lands, ways, or waters leased to a private person, firm, or organization, including any buildings and structures on those lands, ways, or waters. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Prior class member: means a member who, on the day preceding the date of establishment, shall have been a member of a superseded system and who elects to remain covered by the benefit and contribution provisions of the superseded system, or who fails to elect to become covered by the benefit and contribution provisions of the retirement system applicable to new employees, as the case may be, in accordance with chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Prior service: means service rendered prior to the date of membership in the retirement system for which credit was given under the terms of one (1) or more of the superseded systems as provided in part 6 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Proceeds: means the following property:
  (A) Whatever is acquired on the sale, lease, license, exchange, or other disposition of receivership property. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Property: includes proceeds, products, offspring, rents, or profits of or from the property. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public building: means any building, structure, or improved area owned or leased by the state of Tennessee or its political subdivisions, and any building, structure, or improved area used primarily by the general public as a place of gathering or amusement, including, but not limited to, theaters, restaurants, hotels, factories, office buildings, stadiums, hospitals, voting areas, shopping areas, convention centers and all other public accommodations. See Tennessee Code 68-120-203
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Public school: means any school conducted within the state under the authority and supervision of a duly elected or appointed city or county school board, and any educational institution supported by and under the control of the state. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Qualified physician: means a board-certified internist, pathologist, pulmonary specialist, or specialist in occupational and environmental medicine, as may be appropriate to the actual diagnostic specialty in question, who:
  (A) Has conducted a physical examination of the exposed person and has taken or has directed to be taken under the physician's supervision, direction and control, a detailed occupational, exposure, medical, smoking, and social history from the exposed person, or the physician has reviewed the pathology material and has taken or has directed to be taken under the physician's supervision, direction and control, a detailed history from the person most knowledgeable about the information forming the basis of the asbestos action. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• Radiological evidence of diffuse bilateral pleural thickening: means a quality 1 or 2 chest x ray under the ILO system, showing diffuse bilateral pleural thickening of at least b2 on the ILO scale and blunting of at least one (1) costophrenic angle as classified by a certified B-reader. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• Ready-removable: means a structure without any foundation, footings, or other support mechanisms that allow a structure to be easily relocated but which may include electrical wiring. See Tennessee Code 68-126-303
• 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 a person appointed by the court as the court's agent, and subject to the court's direction, to take possession of, manage, and, if authorized by this chapter or court order, transfer, sell, lease, license, exchange, collect, or otherwise dispose of receivership property. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Receivership: means a proceeding in which a receiver is appointed. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Receivership property: includes any proceeds, products, offspring, rents, or profits of or from the property. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• 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
• Regular interest: means interest at such rate or rates compounded annually as may be set from time to time by the board of trustees in accordance with §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• Rents: means :
  (A) Sums payable for the right to possess or occupy, or for the actual possession or occupation of, real property of another person. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• 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
• Responsible authority: means the local building inspector and:
  (A) The state building commission, with respect to state public buildings, as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 68-120-203
• Responsible authority: means those entities set forth in §. See Tennessee Code 68-120-502
• Retailer: means any person:
  (i) Engaged in the sale, leasing, or distribution of new manufactured homes primarily to persons who in good faith purchase or lease a manufactured home for purposes other than resale. See Tennessee Code 68-126-202
• Retirement: means withdrawal from membership with a retirement allowance granted under chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Retirement allowance: means the sum of the member annuity and the state annuity. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Retirement system: means the Tennessee consolidated retirement system as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Road: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Secretary: means the secretary of the United States department of housing and urban development. See Tennessee Code 68-126-202
• Security agreement: means an agreement that creates or provides for a lien. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• Semitrailer: means every vehicle with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and so constructed that some part of its weight and that of its load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Service: means service as a general employee, a teacher, a state police officer, a wildlife officer, a firefighter, a police officer, a state judge, a county judge, an attorney general, a commissioner or a county official which is paid for by an employer, and also includes service for which a former member of the general assembly is entitled to under former §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Service retirement date: means the date on which a member first becomes eligible for a service retirement allowance, or would first become eligible for a service retirement allowance if the member were to remain in service until such date, as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Set up: means installation of the manufactured home according to the manufacturer's installation instructions or those provided in §. See Tennessee Code 68-126-202
• 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.
• Sign: means an outdoor sign, light, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, placard, poster, billboard, or other thing which is designed, intended, or used to advertise or inform any part of the advertising or informative contents of which is visible from any place on the main traveled way of an interstate system or primary system. See Tennessee Code 54-21-102
• 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
• Silica: means a respirable crystalline form of the naturally occurring mineral form of silicon dioxide, including, but not limited to, quartz, cristobalite, and tridymite. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Silica claim: includes a claim made by or on behalf of any person who has been exposed to silica, or any representative, spouse, parent, child, or other relative of that person, for injury, including mental or emotional injury, death, or loss to the person, risk of disease or other injury, costs of medical monitoring or surveillance, or any other effects on the person's health that are caused by the person's exposure to silica. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Silicosis: means a lung disease caused by the pulmonary response to inhaled silica. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Small business: means a business entity that is:
  (i) A natural person who is licensed by one (1) or more state agencies or boards and whose claim under this chapter arises from such licensing, but the person shall not have a net worth of more than three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) at the time the civil action is filed. See Tennessee Code 29-37-103
• Specified illegal drug: means cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine, or any other drug the distribution of which is a violation of state law. See Tennessee Code 29-38-104
• Spirometry: means a test of air capacity of the lung through a spirometer to measure the volume of air inspired and expired. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Tennessee Code 29-40-102
• State agency: means any entity of the state as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 29-37-103
• State annuity: means annual payments for life derived from contributions by an employer. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• State judge: means any person in office as a judge of a court of record in this state, whose salary for the judge's judicial position has been paid during the period of the judge's service wholly from the treasury of the state, including the administrative director of the courts. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• State police officer: means any commissioned member of the department of safety, and any agent of the Tennessee bureau of investigation. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• Street: means the entire width between boundary lines of every way when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Structure: means any building or improvement and its components, systems, fixtures, and appurtenances at the time of completion or construction. See Tennessee Code 68-126-303
• Student: means any person enrolled in a course of study in a school or in a post-secondary educational institution who as a condition of such enrollment is employed in a full-time position. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Substantial contributing factor: means both of the following:
  (i) Exposure to silica or mixed dust is the predominate cause of the physical impairment alleged in the silica claim or mixed dust disease claim, whichever is applicable. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Substantial occupational exposure to mixed dust: means employment for a cumulative period of at least five (5) years in an industry and an occupation in which, for a substantial portion of a normal work year for that occupation, the exposed person did any of the following:
  (A) Handled mixed dust. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Substantial occupational exposure to silica: means employment for a cumulative period of at least five (5) years in an industry and an occupation in which, for a substantial portion of a normal work year for that occupation, the exposed person did any of the following:
  (A) Handled silica. See Tennessee Code 29-34-303
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Superseded system: means , where applicable, the Tennessee state retirement system, the Tennessee teachers' retirement system, the Tennessee judges' retirement system, the retirement system for county paid judges of Tennessee, the attorneys general retirement system of Tennessee, the public service commissioners' retirement system, and the Tennessee retirement system for county officials, any one (1) of them, or any combination thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Supporting test results: means copies of the following documents and images:
  (A) Pulmonary function tests, including printouts of the flow volume loops, volume time curves, DLCO graphs, lung volume tests and graphs, quality control data, and other pertinent data for all trials and all other elements required to demonstrate compliance with the equipment, quality, interpretation, and reporting standards set forth in this part. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• Temporary employment: means any general employee can be considered as a temporary employee for a period not to exceed six (6) months before becoming eligible for membership in the retirement system, except as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Timed gas dilution: means a method for measuring total lung capacity in which the subject breathes into a spirometer containing a known concentration of an inert and insoluble gas for a specific time, and the concentration of that inert and insoluble gas in the lung is compared to the concentration of that type of gas in the spirometer. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Total lung capacity: means the volume of gas contained in the lungs at the end of a maximal inspiration. See Tennessee Code 29-34-702
• Tractor: means any self-propelled vehicle designed or used as a traveling power plant or for drawing other vehicles, but having no provision for carrying loads independently. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Trailer: means every vehicle with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and so constructed that no part of its weight rests upon the towing vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Traveled way: means the portion of a roadway for the movement of vehicles, exclusive of shoulders. See Tennessee Code 54-21-102
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Truck: means every motor vehicle designed, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Trust claims materials: means a final executed proof of claim and all other documents and information related to a claim against an asbestos trust, including claims forms and supplementary materials, affidavits, depositions and trial testimony, work history, medical and health records, documents reflecting the status of a claim against an asbestos trust, and if the asbestos trust claim has settled, all documents relating to the settlement of the asbestos trust claim. See Tennessee Code 29-34-602
• Trust governance documents: means all documents that relate to eligibility and payment levels for an asbestos trust, including claims payment matrices, trust distribution procedures, or plans for reorganization. See Tennessee Code 29-34-602
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Vehicle: means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Wildlife officer: means any commissioned employee of the wildlife resources agency engaged in law enforcement activities on a day-to-day basis. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• 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