Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 8 > Chapter 8 > Part 2 - Powers and Duties

• Adult care home: means a single family residence licensed pursuant to this part in which twenty-four-hour residential care, including assistance with activities of daily living, is provided in a homelike environment to no more than five (5) adults who are elderly or have a disability. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Adult care home provider: means a person twenty-one (21) years of age or older who owns and operates an adult care home and meets all education, training and experience requirements prescribed in this part and in regulations promulgated by the board pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• 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.
• Ambulatory surgical treatment center: means any institution, place, or building devoted primarily to the maintenance and operation of a facility for the performance of surgical procedures or any facility in which a surgical procedure is utilized to terminate a pregnancy. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• 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.
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Assisted-care living facility: means a facility, building, establishment, complex or distinct part thereof that accepts primarily aged persons for domiciliary care and services as described in this section. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney general: means the attorney general and reporter and any assistant thereto by whatever name known, any district attorney general and any assistant thereto by whatever name called, and any officer or full-time employee of the general assembly or any committee thereof established by statute, who is duly licensed to practice law in Tennessee, whose duty it is to provide facilities for drafting bills or to assist individual legislators in drafting bills or who renders legal advice and services to the members of the general assembly or committees thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• 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}
• Birthing center: means any institution, facility, place or building devoted exclusively or primarily to the provision of routine delivery services and postpartum care for mothers and their newborn infants. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Clerk: means a clerk of a court of general sessions, the courts of record or any other courts duly established under the laws of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 26-2-201
• 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
• commission: means the health facilities commission created by §. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of health, 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 health. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• 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.
• 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.
• Court: means the court of general sessions, the courts of record or any other courts duly established under the law of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 26-2-201
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of health. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Disposable earnings: means that part of the earnings of an individual remaining after the deduction from those earnings of any amounts required by law to be withheld. See Tennessee Code 26-2-102
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Earnings: means the compensation paid or payable for personal services, whether denominated as wages, salary, commission, bonus, or otherwise, and includes periodic payments pursuant to a pension or retirement program. See Tennessee Code 26-2-102
• 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}
• Evaluation: means the determination and documentation of the physiological and functional factors that impact the selection of an appropriate seating and wheeled mobility device. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• 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.
• Executive director: means the executive director of the health facilities commission. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Facility: means any institution, place or building providing health care services that is required to be licensed under this chapter. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Garnishment: means any legal or equitable procedure through which the earnings of an individual are required to be withheld for payment of any debt. See Tennessee Code 26-2-102
• 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.
• Home for the aged: means a home represented and held out to the general public as a home which accepts primarily aged persons for relatively permanent, domiciliary care. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Home health service: means a service provided an outpatient by an appropriately licensed health care professional or an appropriately qualified staff member of a licensed home care organization in accordance with orders recorded by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant, that includes one (1) or more of the following:
  (A) Skilled nursing care, including part-time or intermittent supervision. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Hospital: means any institution, place, building or agency represented and held out to the general public as ready, willing and able to furnish care, accommodations, facilities and equipment for the use, in connection with the services of a physician or dentist, of one (1) or more nonrelated persons who may be suffering from deformity, injury or disease or from any other condition for which nursing, medical or surgical services would be appropriate for care, diagnosis or treatment. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• 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
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• 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.
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Nursing home: means any institution, place, building or agency represented and held out to the general public for the express or implied purpose of providing care for one (1) or more nonrelated persons who are not acutely ill, but who do require skilled nursing care and related medical services. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Outpatient diagnostic center: except as otherwise limited in this subdivision (33), means any facility providing outpatient diagnostic services, unless the outpatient diagnostic services are provided as the services of another licensed healthcare institution that reports such outpatient diagnostic services on its joint annual report, or the facility is otherwise excluded from this subdivision (33). See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• 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.
• Patient: includes , but is not limited to, any person who is suffering from an acute or chronic illness or injury or who is crippled, convalescent or infirm, or who is in need of obstetrical, surgical, medical, nursing or supervisory care. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Person: means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, other business entity, state or local governmental agencies and entities, and federal agencies and entities to the extent permitted by federal law. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• 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
• physician: includes a podiatrist licensed under title 63, chapter 3. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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
• Recuperation center: means an establishment with permanent facilities that include inpatient beds, with an organized medical staff, and with medical services, including physician services and continuous nursing services, to provide treatment for patients who are not in an acute phase of illness, but who currently require primarily convalescent or restorative services, usually post-acute hospital care of relatively short duration. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• 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.
• 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
• Residential hospice: means a licensed homelike residential facility designed, staffed and organized to provide hospice or HIV care services, or both, except the services shall be provided at the residential facility rather than the patient's regular or temporary place of residence. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Retirement: means withdrawal from membership with a retirement allowance granted under chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Service: means service as a general employee, a teacher, a state police officer, a wildlife officer, a firefighter, a police officer, a state judge, a county judge, an attorney general, a commissioner or a county official which is paid for by an employer, and also includes service for which a former member of the general assembly is entitled to under former §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Traumatic brain injury residential home: means a facility owned and operated by a community-based traumatic brain injury (TBI) adult care home provider in which residential care, including assistance with activities of daily living, is provided in a homelike environment to disabled adults suffering from the effects of a traumatic brain injury as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Traumatic brain injury residential home provider: means a person twenty-one (21) years of age or older who owns and operates a traumatic brain injury residential home. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• 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