Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 38 > Chapter 75 - Property, Casualty, and Title Insurance Generally

• Alteration: means any change made to an existing facility, other than the repair or replacement of damaged, worn, or broken parts necessary for normal maintenance. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Associate: means any one of the following:
  
  (a) a business organized for profit in which a producer of title business is a director, officer, partner, employee, or owner of one percent or more of the equity capital thereof;
  
  (b) an employee of a producer of title business;
  
  (c) a franchisor or franchisee of a producer of title business;
  
  (d) a spouse, parent, or child of a producer of title business;
  
  (e) a person, other than an individual, that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, a producer of title business;
  
  (f) a person with whom a producer of title business or any associate of such producer has any agreement, arrangement, or understanding or pursues any course of conduct, the purpose or substantial effect of which is to evade the provisions of this article. See South Carolina Code 38-75-905
• Association: means the South Carolina Wind and Hail Underwriting Association established pursuant to the provisions of this article. See South Carolina Code 38-75-310
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the 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
• Coastal area: means :
  
  (a) all areas in Beaufort County and Colleton County which are east of the west bank of the intracoastal waterway;
  
  (b) the following areas in Georgetown County: all areas between the Harrell Siau Bridge and the Georgetown-Horry County border which are east of a line paralleling U. See South Carolina Code 38-75-310
• Coinsurance: means a stipulation or requirement that the insured undertakes to be his own insurer to the extent that he fails to maintain insurance of a given percentage of the value of the property against loss or damage. 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Department: means the South Carolina Division of Labor. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• 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
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation or the director's designee. See South Carolina Code 41-8-10
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation or his designee or representative. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• Dumbwaiter: means a hoisting and lowering mechanism equipped with a car which moves in guides in a substantially vertical direction, when the floor area does not exceed nine square feet and which is used exclusively for carrying materials. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• Elevator: means a hoisting and lowering mechanism equipped with a car or platform which moves in guides in a substantially vertical direction and which serves two or more floors of a building or structure. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• Employer: means every person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, receiver, or other officer of a court of this State, the State or any political subdivision thereof, and any agent or officer of the above classes employing any person in this State. See South Carolina Code 41-10-10
• 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}
• Escalator: means a power-driven, inclined, continuous stairway used for raising or lowering passengers. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• Essential property insurance: means insurance against direct loss to property as defined and limited in the wind and hail insurance policy and forms approved by the director or his designee; and after January 1, 1995, at the request of the insured, coverage for:
  
  (a) actual loss of business income;
  
  (b) additional living expense; or
  
  (c) fair rental value loss. See South Carolina Code 38-75-310
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Facility: means any elevator, dumbwaiter, escalator, moving walk, handicap lift, or manlift subject to regulation under the provisions of this chapter and includes hoistways, rails, guides, and all other related mechanical and electrical equipment. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Financial interest: means any interest, legal or beneficial, that entitles the holder directly or indirectly to one percent or more of the net profits or net worth of the entity in which the interest is held. See South Carolina Code 38-75-905
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Handicap lift: means a lift whose sole purpose is the transportation of handicapped or disabled individuals. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Inspector: means an inspector employed by the department for the purpose of administering this chapter. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• Insurable property: means immovable property at fixed locations in coastal areas of the State as that term is defined, or tangible personal property located in it, which property is determined by the association to be in an insurable condition as determined by reasonable underwriting standards, but not to include farm or manufacturing property, or motor vehicles which are eligible to be licensed for highway use. See South Carolina Code 38-75-310
• insurance: includes annuities. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurance-support organization: means a person who regularly engages, in whole or in part, in the practice of assembling or collecting information about natural persons for the primary purpose of providing the information to an insurer or agent for insurance transactions, including: (i) the furnishing of consumer reports or investigative consumer reports to an insurer or agent for use in connection with an insurance transaction; or (ii) the collection of personal information from insurers, agents, or other insurance-support organizations for the purpose of detecting or preventing fraud, material misrepresentation, or material nondisclosure in connection with insurance underwriting or insurance claim activity. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• 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
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• 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
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Manlift: means a device consisting of a power-driven endless belt, provided with steps or platforms and handholds attached to it for the transportation of persons from floor to floor. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• Modeling organization: means a corporation, unincorporated association, partnership, or individual, whether located within or outside this State, that prepares a catastrophe model that is used by an insurer in a rate filing. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Moving walk: means a type of passenger-carrying device on which passengers stand or walk, and in which the passenger-carrying surface remains parallel to its direction in motion and is uninterrupted. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• Net direct premiums: means gross direct premiums excluding reinsurance assumed and ceded written on property other than farm or manufacturing in this State for fire and extended coverage insurance, including the fire and extended coverage components of homeowners policy and commercial multiple peril package policies, less return premiums upon canceled contracts, dividends paid or credited to policyholders, or the unused or unabsorbed portion of premium deposits. See South Carolina Code 38-75-310
• New installation: means a facility, the construction or relocation of which is begun, or for which an application for a new installation permit is filed, on or after the effective date of regulations relating to those permits adopted by the Director under authority of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• 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.
• 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
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plan of operation: means the plan of operation of the association approved or promulgated by the department pursuant to the provisions of this article. See South Carolina Code 38-75-310
• 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
• Private employer: means any:
  
  (1) person or entity that transacts business in this State, is required to have a license issued by an agency, department, board, commission, or political subdivision of this State that issues licenses for the purposes of operating a business in this State, and employs one or more employees in this State, as defined in § 12-8-10;
  
  (2) person or entity carrying on any employment and the legal representative of a deceased person or the receiver or trustee of any person; or
  
  (3) person or entity for whom an individual performs a service or sells a good, of whatever nature, as an employee, as defined in § 12-8-10. See South Carolina Code 41-8-10
• producer: means any person, including any officer, director, or owner of five percent or more of the equity or capital of any person engaged in this State in the trade, business, occupation, or profession of any one of the following:
  
  (a) buying or selling interests in real property;
  
  (b) making loans secured by interests in real property;
  
  (c) acting as broker, agent, representative, or attorney of a person who buys or sells any interest in real property or who lends or borrows money with such interest as security. See South Carolina Code 38-75-905
• 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
• Provisions of this chapter: include regulations promulgated by the Director pursuant to this chapter. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• Proxy voting: The practice of allowing a legislator to cast a vote in committee for an absent legislator.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Seacoast area: means all areas within Horry, Georgetown, Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester, Colleton, Beaufort, and Jasper Counties. See South Carolina Code 38-75-310
• 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
• Special inspector: means an inspector licensed by the Director and not employed by the department. See South Carolina Code 41-16-20
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Title insurance: means insurance of the owners of real property and other persons lawfully interested in the title insurance against loss by reason of defective titles and undisclosed liens and encumbrances affecting the property. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Wages: means all amounts at which labor rendered is recompensed, whether the amount is fixed or ascertained on a time, task, piece, or commission basis, or other method of calculating the amount and includes vacation, holiday, and sick leave payments which are due to an employee under any employer policy or employment contract. See South Carolina Code 41-10-10