Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 33 > Chapter 31 > Article 1 - General Provisions

• Actuary: means a person who is a member in good standing of the American Academy of Actuaries. See South Carolina Code 38-44-20
• Adjuster: means an individual who determines the extent of insured losses and assists in settling or attempts to settle claims. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Admitted insurer: means an insurer licensed to engage in the business of insurance in this State. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Affiliated group: means any group of entities that are all affiliated. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Alien insurer: means an insurer incorporated or organized under the laws of a country other than the United States of America, its states, commonwealths, territories, or insular possessions. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• 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.
• Appointment: means an individual designated by an official or authorized representative of an authorized insurer to act on its behalf as a producer. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Casualty insurance: means each insurance against legal liability of the insured for bodily injury to or death of another person, including workers' compensation insurance, and for damages to or loss or destruction of the property of another person; medical payments insurance when written in conjunction with insurance covering liability for the deaths or bodily injuries of another person; guaranteeing the fidelity of a person holding a position of public or private trust; loss of or damage to property caused by burglary, theft, larceny, robbery, fraud, or unlawful taking or secretion of property owned by or entrusted to the insured; loss of or damage to property of the insured resulting from the explosion of or damage to a fired or unfired boiler or other pressure vessel, engine, turbine, compressor, pump, wheel, or an apparatus generating, transmitting, or using electric power, and machinery or equipment connected with any of them; loss resulting from nonpayment of debts owed to merchants or another person extending credit. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Commission: means the part of the premium paid to the producer as compensation for his services. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Control: means :
  
  (a) the entity directly or indirectly or acting through one or more other persons owns, controls, or has the power to vote twenty-five percent or more of any class of voting securities of the other entity; or
  
  (b) the entity controls in any manner the election of a majority of the directors or trustees of the other entity. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• 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.
• Department: means the Department of Insurance of South Carolina. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Director: means the person who is appointed by the Governor upon the advice and consent of the Senate and who is responsible for the operation and management of the department. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Domestic insurer: means an insurer incorporated or organized under the laws of this State. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Eligible surplus lines insurer: means a nonadmitted insurer with which a licensed broker, or a licensed producer as provided in § 38-45-10(8)(b)(ii), may place surplus lines insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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}
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Exempt commercial purchaser: means any person purchasing commercial insurance that, at the time of placement, meets the following requirements:
  
  (a) the person employs or retains a qualified risk manager to negotiate insurance coverage;
  
  (b) the person has paid aggregate nationwide commercial property and casualty insurance premiums in excess of one hundred thousand dollars in the immediately preceding twelve months; and
  
  (c)(i) the person meets at least one of the following criteria:
  
  (A) the person possesses a net worth in excess of twenty million dollars, as that amount is adjusted pursuant to subsubitem (ii);
  
  (B) the person generates annual revenues in excess of fifty million dollars, as that amount is adjusted pursuant to subsubitem (ii);
  
  (C) the person employs more than five hundred full-time or full-time equivalent employees per individual insured or is a member of an affiliated group employing more than one thousand employees in the aggregate;
  
  (D) the person is a not-for-profit organization or public entity generating annual budgeted expenditures of at least thirty million dollars as that amount is adjusted pursuant to subsubitem (ii); or
  
  (E) the person is a municipality with a population in excess of fifty thousand persons. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• home state: means the home state, as determined pursuant to subitem (a), of the member of the affiliated group that has the largest percentage of premium attributed to it under the insurance contract. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Independently procured insurance: means insurance procured directly by an insured from a surplus lines insurer. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• insurance: includes annuities. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurance broker: means a property and casualty insurance producer licensed by the director or his designee who:
  
  (i) sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of an insured;
  
  (ii) takes or transmits other than for himself an application for insurance or a policy of insurance to or from an insured;
  
  (iii) advertises or otherwise gives notice that he receives or transmits a surplus lines application or policy;
  
  (iv) receives or delivers a policy of surplus lines insurance for an insured on behalf of a surplus lines insurer;
  
  (v) receives, collects, or transmits a premium of surplus lines insurance; or
  
  (vi) performs another act in the making of a surplus lines insurance contract for or with an insured. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Insurer: means a domestic insurer as defined in § 38-1-20(17). See South Carolina Code 38-44-20
• Insurer: includes a corporation, fraternal organization, burial association, other association, partnership, society, order, individual, or aggregation of individuals engaging or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance or surety business, including the exchanging of reciprocal or interinsurance contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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.
• License: means a document issued by the state's director or his designee authorizing a person to act as an insurance producer for the lines of authority specified in the document. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Municipal agent: means the Municipal Association of South Carolina or other designated agent of the municipality for the purpose set forth in this chapter. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Negotiate: means the act of conferring directly with or offering advice directly to a purchaser or prospective purchaser of a particular contract of insurance concerning substantive benefits, terms, or conditions of the contract, provided that the person engaged in that act either sells insurance or obtains insurance from insurers for purchasers. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Nonadmitted insurer: means an insurer not licensed to do an insurance business in this State. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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 a corporation, agency, partnership, association, voluntary organization, individual, or another entity, organization, or aggregation of individuals. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Policy: means a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Premium: means payment given in consideration of a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Premium tax: means , with respect to surplus lines or independently procured insurance coverage, any tax, fee, assessment, or other charge imposed by a governmental entity directly or indirectly based on any payment made as consideration for an insurance contract, including premium deposits, assessments, registration fees, and any other compensation given in consideration for a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• producer: means a person who represents an insurance company and is required to be licensed pursuant to § 38-43-10. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Property insurance: means each insurance against direct or indirect loss of or damage to a property resulting from fire, smoke, weather disturbances, climatic conditions, earthquake, volcanic eruption, rising waters, insects, blight, animals, war damage, riot, civil commotion, destruction by order of civil authority to prevent spread of conflagration or for other reason, water damage, vandalism, glass breakage, explosion of a water system, collision, theft of automobiles, and personal effects in them (but no other forms of theft insurance), loss of or damage to domestic or wild animals, and any other perils to property which in the discretion of the director or his designee form proper subjects of property insurance, if not specified in items (1), (7), (11), (35), (40), (54), or (59) of this section. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Qualified risk manager: means , with respect to a policyholder of commercial insurance, a person who meets all of the following requirements:
  
  (a) the person is an employee of, or third-party consultant retained by, the commercial policyholder;
  
  (b) the person provides skilled services in loss prevention, loss reduction, or risk and insurance coverage analysis, and purchase of insurance; and
  
  (c)(i)(A) the person has a bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college or university in risk management, business administration, finance, economics, or any other field determined by the director or other state regulatory official or entity to demonstrate minimum competence in risk management; and
  
  (B) has three years of experience in risk financing, claims administration, loss prevention, risk and insurance analysis, or purchasing commercial lines of insurance; or
  
  (aa) has a designation as a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) issued by the American Institute for CPCU/Insurance Institute of America;
  
  (bb) has a designation as an Associate in Risk Management (ARM) issued by the American Institute for CPCU/Insurance Institute of America;
  
  (cc) has a designation as Certified Risk Manager (CRM) issued by the National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research;
  
  (dd) has a designation as a RIMS Fellow (RF) issued by the Global Risk Management Institute; or
  
  (ee) any other designation, certification, or license determined by the director or other state insurance regulatory official or entity to demonstrate minimum competency in risk management;
  
  (ii)(A) has at least seven years of experience in risk financing, claims administration, loss prevention, risk and insurance coverage analysis, or purchasing commercial lines of insurance; and
  
  (B) has any one of the designations specified in subitems (c)(i)(B)(aa) through (c)(i)(B)(ee);
  
  (iii) has at least ten years of experience in risk financing, claims administration, loss prevention, risk and insurance coverage analysis, or purchasing commercial lines of insurance; or
  
  (iv) has a graduate degree from an accredited college or university in risk management, business administration, finance, economics, or any other field determined by the director or other state regulatory official or entity to demonstrate minimum competence in risk management. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• Solicit: means attempting to sell insurance or asking or urging a person to apply for a particular kind of insurance from a particular company. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• State: includes any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Surety: includes insurance or a bond that covers obligations to pay the debts, or answer for the default, of another, including faithlessness in a position of public or private trust. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Surplus lines insurance: means any property and casualty insurance permitted to be placed directly or through a surplus lines broker, or an insurance producer as provided in subitem (b)(ii), with a surplus lines insurer eligible to accept the insurance as defined in § 38-1-20(56). See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Surplus lines insurer: means an insurer not licensed to engage in the business of insurance in this State, but does not include a risk retention group, as that term is defined in Section 2(a)(4) of the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986 (15 U. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Terminate: means the cancellation of the relationship between an insurance producer and the insurer or the termination of a producer's authority to transact insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.