Terms Used In Delaware Code > Title 18 > Chapter 42 - Delaware Insurance Guaranty Association Act

• Administrator: means the Insurance Coverage Administrator, hereinafter established by § 6505 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6501
• Affiliate: means a person who directly or indirectly, through 1 or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by or is under common control with an insolvent insurer on December 31 of the year next preceding the date the insurer becomes an insolvent insurer. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4205
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Association: means the Delaware Insurance Guaranty Association created under § 4206 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4205
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Benefit member: shall mean an adult member who is designated by the laws or rules of the society to be a benefit member under a benefit contract. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6204
• Certificate: shall mean the document issued as written evidence of the benefit contract. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6204
• Claimant: means any insured making a first-party claim or any person instituting a liability claim; provided that no person who is an affiliate of an insolvent insurer may be a claimant. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4205
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Insurance of this State. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4205
• Commissioner: shall mean the Commissioner of Insurance of this State. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6204
• Committee: means the Insurance Coverage Determination Committee, hereinafter established by § 6502 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6501
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Control: means the possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract other than a commercial contract for goods or nonmanagement services or otherwise, unless the power is the result of an official position with or corporate office held by the person. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4205
• 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.
• Covered claim: means an unpaid claim, including one for unearned premiums, submitted by a claimant, which arises out of and is within the coverage, and subject to the applicable limits, of an insurance policy to which this chapter applies, issued by an insurer, if such insurer becomes an insolvent insurer after July 5, 1991, and:

  1. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4205

• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• dollars: means lawful money of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• 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}
• 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.
• Fund: means the State Self-Insurance Fund as provided for by subchapter III of this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6501
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• 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}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Insolvent insurer: means an insurer licensed to transact insurance in this State, either at the time the policy was issued or when the insured event occurred, and against whom an order of liquidation with a finding of insolvency has been entered after July 5, 1991, by a court of competent jurisdiction in the state of domicile or in this State under Chapter 59 of this title and which order of liquidation has not been stayed or been the subject of a writ of supersedeas or other comparable order. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4205
• Laws: shall mean the society's certificate of incorporation, constitution and bylaws, however designated. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6204
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Lodge: shall mean subordinate member units of the society, known as camps, courts, councils, branches or by any other designation. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6204
• Member insurer: means any person who:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4205

• Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Net direct written premiums: means direct gross premiums written in this State on insurance policies to which this chapter applies, less return premiums thereon and dividends paid or credited to policyholders on such direct business. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4205
• 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.
• Ocean marine insurance: includes any form of insurance, regardless of the name, label, or marketing designation of the insurance policy, which insures against maritime perils or risks and other related perils or risks, which are usually insured against by traditional marine insurance, such as hull and machinery, marine builders risk, and marine protection and indemnity. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4205
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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: means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, governmental entity or voluntary organization. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 4205
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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}
• Rules: shall mean all rules, regulations or resolutions adopted by the supreme governing body or board of directors, which are intended to have general application to the members of the society. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6204
• 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.
• Society: shall mean fraternal benefit society, unless otherwise indicated. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 6204
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Year: means a calendar year, and is equivalent to the words "year of our Lord. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302