Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 501 > Part VI - Miscellaneous Provisions

• Accident: means only an unexpected or unusual event or result that happens suddenly. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• adopted: means legal adoption prior to the time of the injury. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• 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.
• affiliated: includes , but is not limited to, the officers, directors, executives, shareholders active in management, employees, and agents of the affiliated corporation. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Agency: means the Agency for Health Care Administration. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• 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.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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}
• carrier: as used in this chapter , means an insurer as defined in this subsection. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Child: includes a posthumous child, a child legally adopted prior to the injury of the employee, and a stepchild or acknowledged child born out of wedlock dependent upon the deceased, but does not include married children unless wholly dependent on the employee. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Compensation: means the money allowance payable to an employee or to his or her dependents as provided for in this chapter. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consumer: means an individual; child, by and through its parent or legal guardian; business; firm; association; joint venture; partnership; estate; trust; business trust; syndicate; fiduciary; corporation; any commercial entity, however denominated; or any other group or combination. See Florida Statutes 501.203
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• 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 Legal Affairs. See Florida Statutes 501.203
• Department: means the Department of Financial Services; the term does not include the Financial Services Commission or any office of the commission. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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.
• Disability: means incapacity because of the injury to earn in the same or any other employment the wages which the employee was receiving at the time of the injury. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• 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:
• Division: means the Division of Workers' Compensation of the Department of Financial Services. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Domestic individual self-insurer: means an individual self-insurer:
  (a) Which is a corporation formed under the laws of this state;
  (b) Who is an individual who is a resident of this state or whose primary place of business is located in this state; or
  (c) Which is a partnership whose principals are residents of this state or whose primary place of business is located in this state. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Employee: includes any person who is an officer of a corporation and who performs services for remuneration for such corporation within this state, whether or not such services are continuous. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Employer: means the state and all political subdivisions thereof, all public and quasi-public corporations therein, every person carrying on any employment, and the legal representative of a deceased person or the receiver or trustees of any person. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Employment: includes :
  1. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• 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.
• Foreign individual self-insurer: means an individual self-insurer:
  (a) Which is a corporation formed under the laws of any state, district, territory, or commonwealth of the United States other than this state;
  (b) Who is an individual who is not a resident of this state and whose primary place of business is not located in this state; or
  (c) Which is a partnership whose principals are not residents of this state and whose primary place of business is not located in this state. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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 self-insurer: means any employer who has secured payment of compensation pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Injury: means personal injury or death by accident arising out of and in the course of employment, and such diseases or infection as naturally or unavoidably result from such injury. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• insolvent: means :
  (a) With respect to an individual self-insurer:

  1. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Insolvent member: means an individual self-insurer which is a member of the Florida Self-Insurers Guaranty Association, Incorporated, or which was a member and has withdrawn pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Insurer: means a group self-insurers' fund authorized by…. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• 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.
• 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.
• minor: includes any person who has not attained the age of 18 years. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Misconduct: includes , but is not limited to, the following, which shall not be construed in pari materia with each other:
  (a) Conduct evincing such willful or wanton disregard of an employer's interests as is found in deliberate violation or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of the employee; or
  (b) Carelessness or negligence of such a degree or recurrence as to manifest culpability, wrongful intent, or evil design, or to show an intentional and substantial disregard of an employer's interests or of the employee's duties and obligations to the employer. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• oath: includes affirmations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Order: means a cease and desist order issued by the enforcing authority as set forth in…. See Florida Statutes 501.203
• 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.
• Permanent impairment: means any anatomic or functional abnormality or loss determined as a percentage of the body as a whole, existing after the date of maximum medical improvement, which results from the injury. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Person: means individual, partnership, association, or corporation, including any public service corporation. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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).
• Self-insurer: means :
  (a) Any employer who has secured payment of compensation pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• 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.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Wages: means the money rate at which the service rendered is recompensed under the contract of hiring in force at the time of the injury and includes only the wages earned and reported for federal income tax purposes on the job where the employee is injured and any other concurrent employment where he or she is also subject to workers' compensation coverage and benefits, together with the reasonable value of housing furnished to the employee by the employer which is the permanent year-round residence of the employee, and gratuities to the extent reported to the employer in writing as taxable income received in the course of employment from others than the employer and employer contributions for health insurance for the employee or the employee's dependents. See Florida Statutes 440.02
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01