Terms Used In Indiana Code > Title 24 > Article 5 > Chapter 0.5 - Deceptive Consumer Sales

• 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.
• Attorney: includes a counselor or other person authorized to appear and represent a party in an action or special proceeding. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consumer transaction: means a sale, lease, assignment, award by chance, or other disposition of an item of personal property, real property, a service, or an intangible, except securities and policies or contracts of insurance issued by corporations authorized to transact an insurance business under the laws of the state of Indiana, with or without an extension of credit, to a person for purposes that are primarily personal, familial, charitable, agricultural, or household, or a solicitation to supply any of these things. See Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2
• 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.
• Debt: has the meaning set forth in 15 U. See Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2
• Debt collector: has the meaning set forth in 15 U. See Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Directory assistance: means the disclosure of telephone number information in connection with an identified telephone service subscriber by means of a live operator or automated service. See Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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.
• Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a set of United States statutes added as Title VIII of the Consumer Credit Protection Act. Its purpose is to ensure ethical practices in the collection of consumer debts and to provide consumers with an avenue for disputing and obtaining validation of debt information in order to ensure the information's accuracy. It is often used in conjunction with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. ^{Source: OCC}
• in writing: include printing, lithographing, or other mode of representing words and letters. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Incurable deceptive act: means a deceptive act done by a supplier as part of a scheme, artifice, or device with intent to defraud or mislead. See Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Judgment: means all final orders, decrees, and determinations in an action and all orders upon which executions may issue. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• 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}
• Local telephone directory: refers to a telephone classified advertising directory or the business section of a telephone directory that is distributed by a telephone company or directory publisher to subscribers located in the local exchanges contained in the directory. See Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2
• Local telephone number: refers to a telephone number that has the three (3) number prefix used by the provider of telephone service for telephones physically located within the area covered by the local telephone directory in which the number is listed. See Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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 an individual, corporation, the state of Indiana or its subdivisions or agencies, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, nonprofit corporation or organization, or cooperative or any other legal entity. See Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2
• Personal property: includes goods, chattels, evidences of debt, and things in action. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Property: includes personal and real property. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• real property: include lands, tenements, and hereditaments. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Senior consumer: means an individual who is at least sixty (60) years of age. See Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2
• 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.
• Subject of a consumer transaction: means the personal property, real property, services, or intangibles offered or furnished in a consumer transaction. See Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2
• Supplier: means the following:

  Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2

• Telephone facsimile machine: means equipment that has the capacity to transcribe text or images, or both, from:

  Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2

• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Uncured deceptive act: means a deceptive act:

  Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2

• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the commonwealths, possessions, states in free association with the United States, and the territories. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Unsolicited advertisement: means material advertising the commercial availability or quality of:

  Indiana Code 24-5-0.5-2

• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5