As used in this article:

Terms Used In Virginia Code 13.1-696

  • 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.
  • Corporation: includes any corporation and any domestic or foreign predecessor entity of a corporation in a merger or other transaction in which the predecessor's existence ceased upon consummation of the transaction. See Virginia Code 13.1-696
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Employee: includes , unless otherwise provided in the bylaws, an officer but not a director. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • Entity: includes any domestic or foreign corporation; any domestic or foreign nonstock corporation; any domestic or foreign unincorporated entity; any estate or trust; and any state, the United States and any foreign government. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • Expenses: means reasonable expenses of any kind that are incurred in connection with a matter. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
  • Individual: means a natural person. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • Merger: means a transaction pursuant to § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • 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.
  • officer: includes , unless the context requires otherwise, the estate or personal representative of a director or officer. See Virginia Code 13.1-696
  • Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
  • Proceeding: means any threatened, pending, or completed action, suit, or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative, arbitrative, or investigative and whether formal or informal. See Virginia Code 13.1-696
  • 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.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.

“Corporation” includes any corporation and any domestic or foreign predecessor entity of a corporation in a merger or other transaction in which the predecessor’s existence ceased upon consummation of the transaction.

“Director” or “officer” means an individual who is or was a director or officer, respectively, of a corporation or who, while a director or officer of the corporation, is or was serving at the corporation’s request as a director, officer, manager, partner, trustee, employee, or agent of another entity or employee benefit plan. A director or officer is considered to be serving an employee benefit plan at the corporation’s request if the individual’s duties to the corporation also impose duties on, or otherwise involve services by, the individual to the plan or to participants in or beneficiaries of the plan. “Director” or “officer” includes, unless the context requires otherwise, the estate or personal representative of a director or officer.

“Liability” means the obligation to pay a judgment, settlement, penalty, fine, including any excise tax assessed with respect to an employee benefit plan, or expenses incurred with respect to a proceeding.

“Official capacity” means (i) when used with respect to a director, the office of director in a corporation and (ii) when used with respect to an officer, as contemplated in § 13.1-702, the office in a corporation held by the officer. “Official capacity” does not include service for any other entity or employee benefit plan.

“Party” means an individual who was, is, or is threatened to be made a defendant or respondent in a proceeding.

“Proceeding” means any threatened, pending, or completed action, suit, or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative, arbitrative, or investigative and whether formal or informal.

Code 1950, § 13.1-3.1; 1968, c. 570; 1975, c. 500; 1979, c. 99; 1985, c. 522; 2005, c. 765; 2009, c. 587; 2019, c. 734.