Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 56 > Chapter 5 - Rates and Rating Organizations

• Abuse: means the knowing infliction of injury, unreasonable confinement, intimidation, or punishment with resulting physical harm, pain, or mental anguish. See Tennessee Code 33-2-402
• Adverse action: means a denial or cancellation of, an increase in any charge for, or a reduction or other adverse or unfavorable change in the terms of coverage or amount of, any insurance, existing or applied for, in connection with the underwriting of personal insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-5-201
• Advisory organization: means any person or organization, other than a rate service organization, that assists insurers as authorized by §. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• Advisory prospective loss costs: means historical aggregate losses and loss adjustment expenses projected through development to their ultimate value and through trending to a future point in time. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• Affiliate: means any company that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with another company. See Tennessee Code 56-5-201
• 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.
• Attorney: means the person designated and authorized by subscribers as the attorney-in-fact having authority to obligate them on reciprocal insurance contracts. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• 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
• Commercial risk insurance: means insurance within the scope of this part that is not personal risk insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of mental health and substance abuse services, or, when applicable, the commissioner of intellectual and developmental disabilities, the commissioner's authorized representative, or in the event of the commissioner's absence or a vacancy in the office of commissioner, the deputy commissioner of mental health and substance abuse services, or, when applicable, the deputy commissioner of intellectual and developmental disabilities. See Tennessee Code 33-2-402
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consumer: means an insured whose credit information is used or whose insurance score is calculated in the underwriting or rating of a personal insurance policy or an applicant for the policy. See Tennessee Code 56-5-201
• Consumer reporting agency: means any entity that, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties. See Tennessee Code 56-5-201
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Credit information: means any credit-related information derived from a credit report, found on a credit report itself, or provided on an application for personal insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-5-201
• Credit report: means any written, oral, or other communication of information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer's creditworthiness, credit standing or credit capacity that is used or expected to be used or collected in whole or in part for the purpose of serving as a factor to determine personal insurance premiums, eligibility for coverage, or tier placement. See Tennessee Code 56-5-201
• Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
• Credit Score: A number, roughly between 300 and 800, that measures an individual's credit worthiness. The most well-known type of credit score is the FICO score. This score represents the answer from a mathematical formula that assigns numerical values to various pieces of information in your credit report. ^{Source: OCC}
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of mental health and substance abuse services, or, when applicable, the department of intellectual and developmental disabilities. See Tennessee Code 33-2-402
• Department: means the department of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Drug abuse: means a condition characterized by the continuous or episodic use of a drug or drugs resulting in social impairment, vocational impairment, psychological dependence or pathological patterns of use. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Facility: means a developmental center, treatment resource, group residence, boarding home, sheltered workshop, activity center, rehabilitation center, hospital, community mental health center, counseling center, clinic, group home, halfway house or any other entity that provides a mental health, intellectual or developmental disability service or an alcohol and drug abuse prevention and/or treatment facility. See Tennessee Code 33-2-402
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• insurance company: includes all corporations, associations, partnerships, or individuals engaged as principals in the business of insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Insurance score: means a number or rating that is derived from an algorithm, computer application, model, or other process that is based in whole or in part on credit information for the purposes of predicting the future insurance loss exposure of an individual applicant or insured. See Tennessee Code 56-5-201
• Joint underwriting: means a voluntary arrangement established on an ad hoc basis to provide insurance coverage for a commercial risk pursuant to which two (2) or more insurers separately contract with the insured at a price and under policy terms agreed upon between the insurers. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• 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.
• Licensee: means a proprietorship, a partnership, an association, a governmental agency, or corporation, that operates a facility or a service and has obtained a license under this part. See Tennessee Code 33-2-402
• 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
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Multiplier: means a workers' compensation insurance company's determination of the profits and expenses, other than loss expense and loss adjustment expense, all other applicable rating factors, including, but not limited to, schedule rating, experience rating and small deductible credits, and deviation from advisory prospective loss costs associated with writing workers' compensation insurance, which shall be expressed as a single multiplicative factor to be applied equally and uniformly to the advisory prospective loss costs approved by the commissioner in making rates for all classification of risks utilized by the company. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• 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 association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds-type organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Personal risk insurance: means property and casualty insurance that provides:
  (A) Insurance on one (1) to four (4) family dwelling units, including mobile homes. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• Personal support services: means nursing consultation, education services, and other personal assistance services as defined by rule, which are provided to individuals with substantial limitation in two (2) or more major life activities in either their regular or temporary residences, but does not mean direct nursing services provided in connection with an acute episode of illness or injury. See Tennessee Code 33-2-402
• Pool: means a voluntary arrangement other than a residual market mechanism, established on an ongoing basis, pursuant to which two (2) or more insurers participate in the sharing of risks on a predetermined basis. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Rate: includes advisory prospective loss costs. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• Rate service organization: means any person or organization that assists insurers in ratemaking or filing as authorized by §. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• 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
• 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).
• Residual market mechanism: means an arrangement, either voluntary or mandated by law, involving participation by insurers in the equitable apportionment among them of insurance that may be afforded applicants who are unable to obtain insurance through ordinary methods. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Service: includes any activity to prevent, treat, or ameliorate mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, alcohol and drug use, intellectual or developmental disabilities, which includes diagnosis, evaluation, residential assistance, training, habilitation, rehabilitation, prevention, treatment, counseling, case coordination, or supervision of persons with mental illness, alcohol and drug abuse issues, serious emotional disturbances, and intellectual or developmental disabilities. See Tennessee Code 33-2-402
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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: 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
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Supplementary rate information: includes any manual or plan of rates, classification, rating schedule, minimum premium, policy fee, rating rule, loss adjustment expense, including defense costs incurred for any reason under the policy, and any other similar information needed to determine the applicable rate in effect or to be in effect. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• Support: means any activity or resource that enables a service recipient to participate in a service for mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, or developmental disabilities or in community life. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Supporting information: means :
  (A) The experience and judgment of the filer and the experience or data of other insurers or organizations relied upon by the filer. See Tennessee Code 56-5-102
• 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