Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 43 > Chapter 38 - Tennessee Processing Cooperative Law

• Address: means mailing address, including a zip code. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Agriculture: means :
  (i) The land, buildings and machinery used in the commercial production of farm products and nursery stock. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• articles of organization: means articles of organization as originally filed and subsequently amended. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Association: means an organization conducting business under a cooperative plan under the laws of this state. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• assumed name: means any name used by the cooperative, other than the cooperative true name, except that the following shall not constitute the use of an assumed name:
  (A) The identification by a cooperative of its business with a trademark or service mark of which it is the owner or licensed user. See Tennessee Code 43-38-105
• 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.
• blighted: as used in this part , except in this section and in the definitions in §. See Tennessee Code 13-20-212
• board of directors: means the board of directors of a cooperative. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Bonds: means any bonds, interim certificates, notes, debentures, or other obligations of the authority issued pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Business: means any lawful activity conducted primarily:
  (A) For the purchase, sale, lease and rental of personal and real property, and for the manufacturing, processing, or marketing of products, commodities, or any other personal property. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Business entity: means a corporation, limited liability company, limited liability partnership or other legal entity, association or body vested with the power or function of a legal entity. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Bylaws: means a written agreement described in §. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• City: means the city or town which is, or is about to be, included in the territorial boundaries of an authority when created hereunder. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of agriculture. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Commissioner: means one (1) of the members of an authority appointed in accordance with this chapter. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Community facilities: includes real and personal property, and buildings and equipment for recreation or social assemblies, for educational, health or welfare purposes and necessary utilities when designed primarily for the benefit and use of the housing authority and/or the occupants of the dwelling accommodations. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• 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.
• Contract: means any agreement of an authority with or for the benefit of an obligee whether contained in a resolution, trust indenture, mortgage, lease, bond or other instrument. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Cooperative: means an association organized under this title conducting business on a cooperative plan as provided under this chapter. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Cooperative: means a cooperative whose members have obtained rights to dissent under §. See Tennessee Code 43-38-801
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• dilapidation: means extreme deterioration and decay due to lack of repairs to and care of the area. See Tennessee Code 13-20-201
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dissenter: means a member who is entitled to dissent from cooperative action under §. See Tennessee Code 43-38-801
• Distribution: means a direct or indirect transfer of money or other property, except its own membership interests, with or without consideration, or an incurrence or issuance of indebtedness, whether directly or indirectly, including through a guaranty, by a cooperative to or for the benefit of any of its members in respect of membership interests. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Domestic business entity: means a business entity organized under the laws of this state. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• 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}
• 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 market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fair value: means the value of the dissenter's membership interest of a cooperative immediately before the effective date of the cooperative action referred to in §. See Tennessee Code 43-38-801
• Federal government: includes the United States, or any agency, instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Filed with the secretary of state: means that a document meeting the applicable requirements of this chapter, signed and accompanied by the required filing fee, has been delivered to the secretary of state of this state. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Financial rights: means a member's right to:
  (A) Share in profits and losses as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• 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.
• Governance rights: means a right to vote on one (1) or more matters and all a member's rights as a member in the cooperative other than financial rights. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Governing body: means the council of any city. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Government: includes the state and federal governments and any subdivision, agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of either of them. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• 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.
• housing authority: means a public body and a body corporate and politic organized in accordance with this chapter for the purposes, with the powers, and subject to the restrictions, hereinafter set forth. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Housing project: includes all real and personal property, buildings and improvements, stores, offices, lands for farming and gardening, and community facilities acquired or constructed or to be acquired or constructed pursuant to a single plan or undertaking, to:
  (i) Demolish, clear, remove, alter or repair unsanitary or unsafe housing. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• Interest: means interest from the effective date of the action referred to in §. See Tennessee Code 43-38-801
• 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.
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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}
• 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.
• Livestock: means all equine as well as animals that are being raised primarily for use as food or fiber for human utilization or consumption including, but not limited to, cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and poultry. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Majority: means , with respect to a vote of the members, if voting on a per capita basis, a majority in number of the members entitled to vote on a specific matter, or if the voting is determined otherwise, a majority of the voting interest, which may be expressed as a percentage, entitled to vote on a specific matter, and with respect to a vote of the directors, a majority in number of the directors entitled to vote on a specific matter. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• mayor: means the clerk and mayor, respectively, of the city, or the officers thereof, charged with the duties customarily imposed on the clerk and mayor, respectively. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Member: means a person or entity reflected on the books of the cooperative as the owner of governance rights of a membership interest of the cooperative and includes patron and nonpatron members. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Member: includes a former member when dissenter's rights exist because:
  (A) The membership of the former member has terminated causing dissolution. See Tennessee Code 43-38-801
• Membership interest: means a member's interest in a cooperative consisting of a member's financial rights, a member's right to assign financial rights, a member's governance rights and a member's right to assign governance rights. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Mixed-finance project: includes a project that is developed by:
  (A) An authority or by an entity affiliated with an authority. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Municipality: means any city, town, or village or other municipality in the state. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• 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.
• Patron: means a person or entity who conducts patronage business with the cooperative. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Patron member: means a member holding a patron membership interest. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Patron membership interest: means the membership interest requiring the holder to conduct patronage business for or with the cooperative, as specified by the cooperative to receive financial rights or distributions. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Patronage: means business, transactions, or services done for or with the cooperative as defined by the cooperative. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Persons of low income: means persons or families who lack the amount of income which is necessary, as determined by the authority undertaking the housing project, to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• 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.
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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.
• Real property: includes lands, lands under water, structures, and any and all easements, franchises and incorporeal hereditaments and every estate and right therein, legal and equitable, including terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage or otherwise. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• redevelopment: as used in this part , except in this section and in the definition of "redevelopment project" in §. See Tennessee Code 13-20-212
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• 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).
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Secretary of state: means the person who holds the office of secretary of state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• 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.
• Signed: means that the signature of a person has been written on a document, and, with respect to a document required by this chapter to be filed with the secretary of state, means that the document has been signed by a person authorized to do so by this chapter, the articles or bylaws, or by a resolution approved by the directors or the members. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subscription: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Taxing agency: means any county, city, town or metropolitan government in the state. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Termination: means the end of a cooperative's existence as a legal entity and occurs when the articles of termination are filed with the secretary of state under §. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• urban renewal plan: means a plan, as it exists from time to time, for an urban renewal project, which plan:
  (1) Shall conform to the general plan for the municipality as a whole. See Tennessee Code 13-20-211
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Written action: means a written document signed by those persons required to take the action described. See Tennessee Code 43-38-103
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105