Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 56 > Chapter 12 - Insurance Guaranty Associations

• Account: means any one (1) of the accounts created by §. See Tennessee Code 56-12-104
• Account: means any of the accounts created under §. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Affiliate: means a person who directly, or indirectly, through one (1) or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with an insolvent insurer on December 31 of the year next preceding the date the insurer becomes an insolvent insurer. See Tennessee Code 56-12-104
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• 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.
• Association: means the Tennessee insurance guaranty association created under §. See Tennessee Code 56-12-104
• Association: means the Tennessee life and health insurance guaranty association created under §. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Claimant: means any insured making a first-party claim or any person instituting a liability claim. See Tennessee Code 56-12-104
• 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 commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-12-104
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• 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.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consent: means voluntary agreement to what is reasonably well understood regardless of how the agreement is expressed. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contractual obligation: means an obligation under a policy or contract or certificate under a group policy or contract, or a portion thereof, for which coverage is provided under §. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Control: means the possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract other than a commercial contract for goods or nonmanagement services, or otherwise, unless the power is the result of an official position with or corporate office held by the person. See Tennessee Code 56-12-104
• 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.
• Covered claim: means an unpaid claim, including one for unearned premiums, submitted by a claimant, which arises out of and is within the coverage and is subject to the applicable limits of an insurance policy to which this part applies and was issued by an insurer that is insolvent, if the insurer becomes an insolvent insurer after March 31, 1999, and:
  (i) The claimant or insured is a resident of this state when the insured event occurs. See Tennessee Code 56-12-104
• covered policy: means a contract or policy, or a portion of a contract or policy, for which coverage is provided under §. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the department of mental health and substance abuse services when the statute at issue deals with mental illness or serious emotional disturbance and means the department of intellectual and developmental disabilities when the statute at issue deals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Department: means the department of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• 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.
• Extra-contractual claims: includes , for example, claims relating to bad faith in the payment of claims, punitive or exemplary damages, or attorneys' fees and costs. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• 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.
• Foreign: when used without limitation, includes all companies formed by authority of any other state or government. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• Impaired insurer: means a member insurer which, after July 1, 1989, is not an insolvent insurer, and is placed under an order of rehabilitation or conservation by a court of competent jurisdiction. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Insolvent insurer: means an insurer authorized to transact insurance in this state, either when the policy was issued or when the insured event occurred, and against whom a final order of liquidation has been entered after March 31, 1999, with a finding of insolvency by a court of competent jurisdiction in the insurer's state of domicile. See Tennessee Code 56-12-104
• Insolvent insurer: means a member insurer which, after July 1, 1989, is placed under an order of liquidation by a court of competent jurisdiction with a finding of insolvency. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Insurance: means life, annuity, and health benefits provided under a contract issued by a member insurer. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• insurance company: includes all corporations, associations, partnerships, or individuals engaged as principals in the business of insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Member insurer: means any person who:
  (i) Writes any kind of insurance to which this part applies under §. See Tennessee Code 56-12-104
• Member insurer: means an insurer, health maintenance organization, or nonprofit hospital and medical service organization licensed or that holds a certificate of authority to transact in this state any kind of insurance or health maintenance organization business for which coverage is provided under §. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Mental illness: means a psychiatric disorder, alcohol dependence, or drug dependence, but does not include intellectual disability or other developmental disabilities. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• 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.
• Net direct written premiums: means direct gross premiums written in this state on insurance policies to which this part applies, less return premiums and dividends paid or credited to policyholders on this direct business. See Tennessee Code 56-12-104
• 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 any individual, corporation, partnership, governmental entity, association, voluntary organization or any other legal entity. See Tennessee Code 56-12-104
• Person: means an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, governmental body or entity, or voluntary organization. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Premiums: means amounts or considerations, by whatever name called, received on covered policies or contracts less returned premiums, considerations, and deposits and less dividends and experience credits. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Receivership court: means the court in the insolvent or impaired insurer's state having jurisdiction over the conservation, rehabilitation, or liquidation of the member insurer. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Reciprocal: means the aggregation of subscribers under a common name. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• 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
• Resident: means a person to whom a contractual obligation is owed and who resides in this state on the date of entry of a court order that determines a member insurer to be an impaired insurer or a court order that determines a member insurer to be an insolvent insurer. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Serious emotional disturbance: means a condition in a child who currently or at any time during the past year has had a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder of sufficient duration to meet psychiatric diagnostic criteria that results in functional impairment that substantially interferes with or limits the child's role or functioning in family, school, or community activities and includes any mental disorder, regardless of whether it is of biological etiology. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Service recipient: means a person who is receiving service, has applied for service, or for whom someone has applied for or proposed service because the person has mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, or a developmental disability. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• 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: means a state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and a United States possession, territory, or protectorate. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• 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
• Structured settlement annuity: means an annuity purchased in order to fund periodic payments for a plaintiff or other claimant in payment for, or with respect to, personal injury suffered by the plaintiff or other claimant. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• Subscriber: means a person obligated under a reciprocal insurance agreement. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unallocated annuity contract: means an annuity contract or group annuity certificate which is not issued to and owned by an individual, except to the extent of any annuity benefits guaranteed to an individual by an insurer under the contract or certificate. See Tennessee Code 56-12-203
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Writ of certiorari: An order issued by the Supreme Court directing the lower court to transmit records for a case for which it will hear on appeal.
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105