(a) In sections 42-270 to 42-271a, inclusive, and 42-390 to 42-434, inclusive:

Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 42-391

  • another: may extend and be applied to communities, companies, corporations, public or private, limited liability companies, societies and associations. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1
  • 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.
  • Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. Source: OCC
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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

(1) “Conspicuous”, with reference to a provision or statement, means so written, displayed or presented that a reasonable person against which it is to operate should have noticed it. Whether a provision or statement is conspicuous is a decision for the court. Conspicuous provisions or statements include the following:

(A) A heading in capitals equal in size to or greater in size than the surrounding text, or in contrasting type, font or color to the surrounding text of the same or lesser size; and

(B) Language in the body of a record or display in larger type than the surrounding text, or in contrasting type, font or color to the surrounding text of the same size, or set off from surrounding text of the same size by symbols or other marks that call attention to the language.

(2) “Consumer lease” means a lease in which:

(A) The lessee is obligated for a term of more than four months and for a total contractual obligation of one hundred fifty thousand dollars or less, excluding residual value, payments for options to renew or purchase and payments to persons other than the holder, whether or not the lessee has the option to purchase or otherwise become the owner of the goods at the expiration of the lease; and

(B) When the lease is consummated, the goods are intended by the lessee primarily for personal, family or household purposes.

(3) “Federal Consumer Leasing Act” means chapter 5 of Title I of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, 15 USC Sections 1667 to 1667f, inclusive, as amended. The term includes regulations issued by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection pursuant to that act, Regulation M, 12 C.F.R. part 213, as amended.

(4) “Good faith” means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing.

(5) “Goods” means all things that are movable at the time of identification to a consumer lease, or are fixtures. The term does not include money, documents, letters of credit, letter-of-credit rights, instruments, investment property, accounts, chattel paper, deposit accounts, general intangibles or minerals or the like, including oil and gas, before extraction.

(6) “Guarantor” means an individual who becomes obligated to perform as an additional obligor under a consumer lease because the original lessee either does not meet the lessor’s credit standards or is in default under the lease. The term does not include:

(A) An individual who agrees or requests to become obligated as a colessee; or

(B) An assignor of a consumer lease.

(7) “Holder” means a lessor or, if the lessor’s interest is assigned, the assignee for the period of the assignee’s ownership of the interest.

(8) “Lease” means a transfer of the right to possession and use of goods for a period in return for consideration. The term does not include a sale on approval, a sale or return or another sale, or the retention or creation of a security interest. The term includes a sublease.

(9) “Lessee” means an individual who acquires, applies for, or is offered the right to possession and use of goods under a consumer lease. The term includes a legal representative of, fiduciary for or successor in interest to, an individual who is a lessee, but does not include a guarantor on a consumer lease.

(10) “Lessor” means a person that transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a consumer lease.

(11) “Motor vehicle” means a vehicle required by law to be registered under § 14-12.

(12) “Open-end consumer lease” means a consumer lease in which the lessee’s liability at the expiration of the lease is based on the difference between the residual value and the realized value of the leased goods.

(13) “Realized value” means a valuation of the goods at the time the holder assesses liability on the lessee in connection with termination of the lease, as determined under § 42-420.

(14) “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(15) “Sign” means:

(A) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol with the present intent to authenticate a record; or

(B) To attach or logically associate an electronic symbol, sound or process to or with a record with the present intent to authenticate a record.

(16) “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.

(b) The following terms used in sections 42-270 to 42-271a, inclusive, and 42-390 to 42-434, inclusive, have the meanings ascribed in the Uniform Commercial Code:

“Accession”. § 42a-9-102(a).

“Agreement”. § 42a-1-201(b).

“Contract”. § 42a-1-201(b).

“Investment property”. § 42a-9-102(a).

“Money”. § 42a-1-201(b).

“Person”. § 42a-1-201(b).

“Person related to”. § 42a-9-102(a).

“Security interest”. § 42a-1-201(b).

“Send”. § 42a-1-201(b).

(c) The following terms used in sections 42-270 to 42-271a, inclusive, and 42-390 to 42-434, inclusive, have the meanings ascribed in the federal Consumer Leasing Act:

(1) “Adjusted capitalized cost”;

(2) “Capitalized cost reduction”;

(3) “Gross capitalized cost”;

(4) “Rent charge”; and

(5) “Residual value”.