Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes > Title 9-A > Article 12 - Legal Funding Practices

• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Education or the commissioner's designee. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 1
• Consumer: means a person or entity residing or domiciled in this State with a pending civil claim or action and represented by an attorney. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 9-A Sec. 12-102
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dealer: means a person located within this State who sells goods or solicits or advertises the sale of goods to the public. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 10 Sec. 1361
• Department: means the Department of Education. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 1
• Distributor: means a person who sells or distributes goods to dealers of those goods. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 10 Sec. 1361
• Elementary school: means that portion of a school that provides instruction in any combination of kindergarten through grade 8. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 1
• Franchise: means an oral or written arrangement for a definite or indefinite period pursuant to which a manufacturer grants to a dealer or distributor of goods a license to use a trade name, trademark, service mark or related characteristic and in which there is a community of interest in the marketing of goods and related services at wholesale, retail, by leasing or otherwise. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 10 Sec. 1361
• Franchisee: means a person, dealer or distributor of goods located within this State to whom a franchise is offered or granted. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 10 Sec. 1361
• Franchisor: means a manufacturer who grants a franchise to a distributor or dealer of goods. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 10 Sec. 1361
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Good faith: means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing in the trade as defined and interpreted in the Uniform Commercial Code, Title 11, section 1?1201, subsection (20). See Maine Revised Statutes Title 10 Sec. 1361
• Goods: means residential, recreational, agricultural, farm, commercial or business equipment, machinery or appliances that use electricity, gas, wood, a petroleum product or a derivative of a petroleum product for operation. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 10 Sec. 1361
• Kindergarten: means a one-year or 2-year childhood education program, for children at least 5 years of age, immediately prior to grade one. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 1
• Legal funding: means a transaction in which a company makes a cash payment to a consumer in exchange for the right to receive an amount out of the potential proceeds of any realized settlement, judgment, award or verdict the consumer may receive in a civil claim or action. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 9-A Sec. 12-102
• Litigation funding provider: means a person or entity, wherever located, that provides legal funding to a consumer. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 9-A Sec. 12-102
• Manufacturer: means a person, partnership, firm, association, corporation or trust, resident or nonresident, who manufactures, assembles or imports goods for distribution through distributors or a partnership, firm, association, joint venture, corporation or trust, resident or nonresident, that is controlled by such an entity. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 10 Sec. 1361
• Person: means a natural person, corporation, partnership, trust or other entity and, in the case of an entity, includes any other entity in which it has a majority interest or effective control as well as the individual officers, directors and other persons in active control of the activities of each entity. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 10 Sec. 1361
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Public preschool program: means a program offered by a public elementary school pursuant to chapter 203 that provides instruction to children who are 4 years of age, including but not limited to a Head Start program that is approved as a component of the public preschool program. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 1
• Public school: means a school that is governed by a school board of a school administrative unit and funded primarily with public funds. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 1
• Sale: means the issuance, transfer, agreement for transfer, exchange, pledge, hypothecation or mortgage in any form, whether by transfer in trust or otherwise, of goods or interest in goods or of any franchise related to those goods and any option, subscription or other contract, solicitation looking to a sale or offer or attempt to sell in any form, whether spoken or written. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 10 Sec. 1361
• School administrative unit: means the state-approved unit of school administration and includes a municipal school unit, school administrative district, community school district, regional school unit or any other municipal or quasi-municipal corporation responsible for operating or constructing public schools, except that it does not include a career and technical education region. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 1
• School board: means the governing body with statutory powers and duties for a school administrative unit. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 1
• Secondary school: means that portion of a school that provides instruction in any combination of grades 9 through 12. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 1
• 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.
• State board: means the State Board of Education. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 1
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Superintendent: means the person in a school administrative unit or school union appointed and having the authority and responsibility under this Title and other applicable statutes. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 1
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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}
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.