Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 17D > Article 4 - Proof of Financial Responsibility for the Future

• 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.
• 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.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• judgment: shall mean : Any judgment which shall have become final by expiration without appeal of the time within which an appeal might have been perfected, or by final affirmation on appeal, rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction of any state or of the United States, upon a cause of action arising out of the ownership, operation, maintenance, or use of any motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer for damages, including damages for care and loss of services, because of bodily injury to or death of any person, or for damages because of injury to or destruction of property, including the loss of use thereof, or upon a cause of action on an agreement of settlement for such damages. See West Virginia Code 17D-4-3
• 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.
• license: shall mean : Any license, temporary instruction permit, or temporary license issued under the laws of this state pertaining to the licensing of persons to operate motor vehicles. See West Virginia Code 17D-4-3
• 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.
• Proof of financial responsibility: means proof of ability to respond in damages for liability, on account of accident occurring subsequent to the effective date of the proof, arising out of the ownership, operation, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer in the amount of $20,000 because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident, and, subject to the limit for one person, in the amount of $40,000 because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident, and in the amount of $10,000 because of injury to or destruction of property of others in any one accident. See West Virginia Code 17D-4-2
• registration: shall mean : The registration certificate or certificates and registration plates issued under the laws of this state pertaining to the registration of vehicles. See West Virginia Code 17D-4-3
• 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: shall mean : Any state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any province of the Dominion of Canada. See West Virginia Code 17D-4-3