Conn. Gen. Stat. § 42a-9-102

Current with legislation from the 2024 Regular and Special Sessions.

Section 42a-9-102 - Definitions and index of definitions

(a) In this article:

(1) "Accession" means goods that are physically united with other goods in such a manner that the identity of the original goods is not lost.

(2) "Account", except as used in "account for", means a right to payment of a monetary obligation, whether or not earned by performance, (i) for property that has been or is to be sold, leased, licensed, assigned or otherwise disposed of, (ii) for services rendered or to be rendered, (iii) for a policy of insurance issued or to be issued, (iv) for a secondary obligation incurred or to be incurred, (v) for energy provided or to be provided, (vi) for the use or hire of a vessel under a charter or other contract, (vii) arising out of the use of a credit or charge card or information contained on or for use with the card, or (viii) as winnings in a lottery or other game of chance operated or sponsored by a state, governmental unit of a state or person licensed or authorized to operate the game by a state or governmental unit of a state. The term includes health-care-insurance receivables. The term does not include (i) rights to payment evidenced by chattel paper or an instrument, (ii) commercial tort claims, (iii) deposit accounts, (iv) investment property, (v) letter-of-credit rights or letters of credit, or (vi) rights to payment for money or funds advanced or sold, other than rights arising out of the use of a credit or charge card or information contained on or for use with the card.

(3) "Account debtor" means a person obligated on an account, chattel paper or general intangible. The term does not include persons obligated to pay a negotiable instrument, even if the instrument constitutes part of chattel paper.

(4) "Accounting", except as used in "accounting for", means a record:

(A) Authenticated by a secured party;

(B) Indicating the aggregate unpaid secured obligations as of a date not more than thirty-five days earlier or thirty-five days later than the date of the record; and

(C) Identifying the components of the obligations in reasonable detail.

(5) "Agricultural lien" means an interest, other than a security interest, in farm products:

(A) Which secures payment or performance of an obligation for:

(i) Goods or services furnished in connection with a debtor's farming operation; or

(ii) Rent on real property leased by a debtor in connection with its farming operation;

(B) Which is created by statute in favor of a person that:

(i) In the ordinary course of its business furnished goods or services to a debtor in connection with a debtor's farming operation; or

(ii) Leased real property to a debtor in connection with the debtor's farming operation; and

(C) Whose effectiveness does not depend on the person's possession of the personal property.

(6) "As-extracted collateral" means:

(A) Oil, gas or other minerals that are subject to a security interest that:

(i) Is created by a debtor having an interest in the minerals before extraction; and

(ii) Attaches to the minerals as extracted; or

(B) Accounts arising out of the sale at the wellhead or minehead of oil, gas or other minerals in which the debtor had an interest before extraction.

(7) "Authenticate" means:

(A) To sign; or

(B) With present intent to adopt or accept a record, to attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic sound, symbol or process.

(8) "Bank" means an organization that is engaged in the business of banking. The term includes savings banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions and trust companies.

(9) "Cash proceeds" means proceeds that are money, checks, deposit accounts or the like.

(10) "Certificate of title" means a certificate of title with respect to which a statute provides for the security interest in question to be indicated on the certificate as a condition or result of the security interest's obtaining priority over the rights of a lien creditor with respect to the collateral. The term includes another record maintained as an alternative to a certificate of title by the governmental unit that issues certificates of title if a statute permits the security interest in question to be indicated on the record as a condition or result of the security interest's obtaining priority over the rights of a lien creditor with respect to the collateral.

(11) "Chattel paper" means a record or records that evidence both a monetary obligation and a security interest in specific goods, a security interest in specific goods and software used in the goods, a security interest in specific goods and license of software used in the goods, a lease of specific goods, or a lease of specific goods and license of software used in the goods. In this subdivision, "monetary obligation" means a monetary obligation secured by the goods or owed under a lease of the goods and includes a monetary obligation with respect to software used in the goods. The term does not include (i) charters or other contracts involving the use or hire of a vessel, or (ii) records that evidence a right to payment arising out of the use of a credit or charge card or information contained on or for use with the card. If a transaction is evidenced by records that include an instrument or series of instruments, the group of records taken together constitutes chattel paper.

(12) "Collateral" means the property subject to a security interest or agricultural lien. The term includes:

(A) Proceeds to which a security interest attaches;

(B) Accounts, chattel paper, payment intangibles and promissory notes that have been sold; and

(C) Goods that are the subject of a consignment.

(13) "Commercial tort claim" means a claim arising in tort with respect to which:

(A) The claimant is an organization; or

(B) The claimant is an individual and the claim:

(i) Arose in the course of the claimant's business or profession; and

(ii) Does not include damages arising out of personal injury to or the death of an individual.

(14) "Commodity account" means an account maintained by a commodity intermediary in which a commodity contract is carried for a commodity customer.

(15) "Commodity contract" means a commodity futures contract, an option on a commodity futures contract, a commodity option or another contract if the contract or option is:

(A) Traded on or subject to the rules of a board of trade that has been designated as a contract market for such a contract pursuant to federal commodities laws; or

(B) Traded on a foreign commodity board of trade, exchange or market, and is carried on the books of a commodity intermediary for a commodity customer.

(16) "Commodity customer" means a person for which a commodity intermediary carries a commodity contract on its books.

(17) "Commodity intermediary" means a person that:

(A) Is registered as a futures commission merchant under federal commodities law; or

(B) In the ordinary course of its business provides clearance or settlement services for a board of trade that has been designated as a contract market pursuant to federal commodities law.

(18) "Communicate" means:

(A) To send a written or other tangible record;

(B) To transmit a record by any means agreed upon by the persons sending and receiving the record; or

(C) In the case of transmission of a record to or by a filing office, to transmit a record by any means prescribed by filing-office regulation.

(19) "Consignee" means a merchant to which goods are delivered in a consignment.

(20) "Consignment" means a transaction, regardless of its form, in which a person delivers goods to a merchant for the purpose of sale and:

(A) The merchant:

(i) Deals in goods of that kind under a name other than the name of the person making delivery;

(ii) Is not an auctioneer; and

(iii) Is not generally known by its creditors to be substantially engaged in selling the goods of others;

(B) With respect to each delivery, the aggregate value of the goods is one thousand dollars or more at the time of delivery;

(C) The goods are not consumer goods immediately before delivery; and

(D) The transaction does not create a security interest that secures an obligation.

(21) "Consignor" means a person that delivers goods to a consignee in a consignment.

(22) "Consumer debtor" means a debtor in a consumer transaction.

(23) "Consumer goods" means goods that are used or bought for use primarily for personal, family or household purposes.

(24) "Consumer-goods transaction" means a consumer transaction in which:

(A) An individual incurs an obligation primarily for personal, family or household purposes; and

(B) A security interest in consumer goods secures the obligation.

(25) "Consumer obligor" means an obligor who is an individual and who incurred the obligation as part of a transaction entered into primarily for personal, family or household purposes.

(26) "Consumer transaction" means a transaction in which (i) an individual incurs an obligation primarily for personal, family or household purposes, (ii) a security interest secures the obligation, and (iii) the collateral is held or acquired primarily for personal, family or household purposes. The term includes consumer-goods transactions.

(27) "Continuation statement" means an amendment of a financing statement which:

(A) Identifies, by its file number or, in the case of a recording with a filing office described in subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 42a-9-501, by book and page number, the initial financing statement to which it relates; and

(B) Indicates that it is a continuation statement for, or that it is filed to continue the effectiveness of, the identified financing statement.

(28) "Debtor" means:

(A) A person having an interest, other than a security interest or other lien, in the collateral, whether or not the person is an obligor;

(B) A seller of accounts, chattel paper, payment intangibles or promissory notes; or

(C) A consignee.

(29) "Deposit account" means a demand, time, savings, passbook or similar account maintained with a bank. The term does not include investment property or accounts evidenced by an instrument.

(30) "Document" means a document of title or a receipt of the type described in subsection (b) of section 42a-7-201.

(31) "Electronic chattel paper" means chattel paper evidenced by a record or records consisting of information stored in an electronic medium.

(32) "Encumbrance" includes real property mortgages and other liens on real property and all other rights in real property that are not ownership interests.

(33) "Equipment" means goods other than inventory, farm products or consumer goods.

(34) "Farm products" means goods, other than standing timber, with respect to which the debtor is engaged in a farming operation and which are:

(A) Crops grown, growing or to be grown, including:

(i) Crops produced on trees, vines and bushes; and

(ii) Aquatic goods produced in aquacultural operations;

(B) Livestock, born or unborn, including aquatic goods produced in aquacultural operations;

(C) Supplies used or produced in a farming operation; or

(D) Products of crops or livestock in their unmanufactured states.

(35) "Farming operation" means raising, cultivating, propagating, fattening, grazing or any other farming, livestock or aquacultural operation.

(36) "File number" means the number assigned to an initial financing statement pursuant to subsection (a) of section 42a-9-519.

(37) "Filing office" means an office designated in section 42a-9-501 as the place to file a financing statement.

(38) "Filing-office regulation" means a regulation adopted pursuant to section 42a-9-526.

(39) "Financing statement" means a record or records composed of an initial financing statement and any filed record relating to the initial financing statement.

(40) "Fixture filing" means the filing of a financing statement covering goods that are or are to become fixtures and satisfying subsections (a) and (b) of section 42a-9-502. The term includes the filing of a financing statement covering goods of a transmitting utility which are or are to become fixtures.

(41) "Fixtures" means goods that have become so related to particular real property that an interest in them arises under real property law.

(42) "General intangible" means any personal property, including things in action, other than accounts, chattel paper, commercial tort claims, deposit accounts, documents, goods, instruments, investment property, letter-of-credit rights, letters of credit, money and oil, gas or other minerals before extraction. The term includes payment intangibles and software.

(43) "Good faith" has the same meaning as provided in subdivision (20) of subsection (b) of section 42a-1-201.

(44) "Goods" means all things that are movable when a security interest attaches. The term includes (i) fixtures, (ii) standing timber that is to be cut and removed under a conveyance or contract for sale, (iii) the unborn young of animals, (iv) crops grown, growing or to be grown, even if the crops are produced on trees, vines or bushes, and (v) manufactured homes. The term also includes a computer program embedded in goods and any supporting information provided in connection with a transaction relating to the program if (i) the program is associated with the goods in such a manner that it customarily is considered part of the goods, or (ii) by becoming the owner of the goods, a person acquires a right to use the program in connection with the goods. The term does not include a computer program embedded in goods that consist solely of the medium in which the program is embedded. The term also does not include accounts, chattel paper, commercial tort claims, deposit accounts, documents, general intangibles, instruments, investment property, letter-of-credit rights, letters of credit, money or oil, gas or other minerals before extraction.

(45) "Governmental unit" means a subdivision, agency, department, county, parish, municipality, or other unit of the government of the United States, a state or a foreign country. The term includes an organization having a separate corporate existence if the organization is eligible to issue debt on which interest is exempt from income taxation under the laws of the United States.

(46) "Health-care-insurance receivable" means an interest in or claim under a policy of insurance which is a right to payment of a monetary obligation for health-care goods or services provided.

(47) "Instrument" means a negotiable instrument or any other writing that evidences a right to the payment of a monetary obligation, is not itself a security agreement or lease and is of a type that in ordinary course of business is transferred by delivery with any necessary endorsement or assignment. The term does not include (i) investment property, (ii) letters of credit, or (iii) writings that evidence a right to payment arising out of the use of a credit or charge card or information contained on or for use with the card.

(48) "Inventory" means goods, other than farm products, which:

(A) Are leased by a person as lessor;

(B) Are held by a person for sale or lease or to be furnished under a contract of service;

(C) Are furnished by a person under a contract of service; or

(D) Consist of raw materials, work in process or materials used or consumed in a business.

(49) "Investment property" means a security, whether certificated or uncertificated, security entitlement, securities account, commodity contract or commodity account.

(50) "Jurisdiction of organization", with respect to a registered organization, means the jurisdiction under whose law the organization is formed or organized.

(51) "Letter-of-credit right" means a right to payment or performance under a letter of credit, whether or not the beneficiary has demanded or is at the time entitled to demand payment or performance. The term does not include the right of a beneficiary to demand payment or performance under a letter of credit.

(52) "Lien creditor" means:

(A) A creditor that has acquired a lien on the property involved by attachment, levy or the like;

(B) An assignee for benefit of creditors from the time of assignment;

(C) A trustee in bankruptcy from the date of the filing of the petition; or

(D) A receiver in equity from the time of appointment.

(53) "Manufactured home" means a "mobile manufactured home" as defined in section 21-64.

(54) "Manufactured-home transaction" means a secured transaction:

(A) That creates a purchase-money security interest in a manufactured home, other than a manufactured home held as inventory; or

(B) In which a manufactured home, other than a manufactured home held as inventory, is the primary collateral.

(55) "Mortgage" means a consensual interest in real property, including fixtures, which secures payment or performance of an obligation.

(56) "New debtor" means a person that becomes bound as debtor under subsection (d) of section 42a-9-203 by a security agreement previously entered into by another person.

(57) "New value" means

(i) money,

(ii) money's worth in property, services or new credit, or

(iii) release by a transferee of an interest in property previously transferred to the transferee. The term does not include an obligation substituted for another obligation.

(58) "Noncash proceeds" means proceeds other than cash proceeds.

(59) "Obligor" means a person that, with respect to an obligation secured by a security interest in or an agricultural lien on the collateral, (i) owes payment or other performance of the obligation, (ii) has provided property other than the collateral to secure payment or other performance of the obligation, or (iii) is otherwise accountable in whole or in part for payment or other performance of the obligation. The term does not include issuers or nominated persons under a letter of credit.

(60) "Original debtor", except as used in subsection (c) of section 42a-9-310, means a person that, as debtor, entered into a security agreement to which a new debtor has become bound under subsection (d) of section 42a-9-203.

(61) "Payment intangible" means a general intangible under which the account debtor's principal obligation is a monetary obligation.

(62) "Person related to", with respect to an individual, means:

(A) The spouse of the individual;

(B) A brother, brother-in-law, sister or sister-in-law of the individual;

(C) An ancestor or lineal descendant of the individual or the individual's spouse; or

(D) Any other relative, by blood or marriage, of the individual or the individual's spouse who shares the same home with the individual.

(63) "Person related to", with respect to an organization, means:

(A) A person directly or indirectly controlling, controlled by or under common control with the organization;

(B) An officer or director of, or a person performing similar functions with respect to, the organization;

(C) An officer or director of, or a person performing similar functions with respect to, a person described in subparagraph (A);

(D) The spouse of an individual described in subparagraph (A), (B) or (C); or

(E) An individual who is related by blood or marriage to an individual described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C) or (D) and shares the same home with the individual.

(64) "Proceeds", except as used in subsection (b) of section 42a-9-609, means the following property:

(A) Whatever is acquired upon the sale, lease, license, exchange or other disposition of collateral;

(B) Whatever is collected on, or distributed on account of, collateral;

(C) Rights arising out of collateral;

(D) To the extent of the value of collateral, claims arising out of the loss, nonconformity or interference with the use of, defects or infringement of rights in, or damage to, the collateral; or

(E) To the extent of the value of collateral and to the extent payable to the debtor or the secured party, insurance payable by reason of the loss or nonconformity of, defects or infringement of rights in, or damage to, the collateral.

(65) "Promissory note" means an instrument that evidences a promise to pay a monetary obligation, does not evidence an order to pay and does not contain an acknowledgment by a bank that the bank has received for deposit a sum of money or funds.

(66) "Proposal" means a record authenticated by a secured party which includes the terms on which the secured party is willing to accept collateral in full or partial satisfaction of the obligation it secures pursuant to sections 42a-9-620, 42a-9-621 and 42a-9-622.

(67) "Public-finance transaction" means a secured transaction in connection with which:

(A) Debt securities are issued;

(B) All or a portion of the securities issued have an initial stated maturity of at least twenty years; and

(C) The debtor, obligor, secured party, account debtor or other person obligated on collateral, assignor or assignee of a secured obligation or assignor or assignee of a security interest is a state or a governmental unit of a state.

(68) "Public organic record" means a record that is available to the public for inspection and is:

(A) A record consisting of the record initially filed with or issued by a state or the United States to form or organize an organization and any record filed with or issued by the state or the United States which amends or restates the initial record;

(B) An organic record of a business trust consisting of the record initially filed with a state and any record filed with the state which amends or restates the initial record, if a statute of the state governing business trusts requires that the record be filed with the state; or

(C) A record consisting of legislation enacted by the legislature of a state or the Congress of the United States which forms or organizes an organization, any record amending the legislation and any record filed with or issued by the state or the United States which amends or restates the name of the organization.

(69) "Pursuant to commitment", with respect to an advance made or other value given by a secured party, means pursuant to the secured party's obligation, whether or not a subsequent event of default or other event not within the secured party's control has relieved or may relieve the secured party from its obligation.

(70) "Record", except as used in "for record", "of record", "record or legal title" and "record owner", means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or which is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(71) "Registered organization" means an organization formed or organized solely under the law of a single state or the United States by the filing of a public organic record with, the issuance of a public organic record by or the enactment of legislation by the state or the United States. The term includes a business trust that is formed or organized under the law of a single state if a statute of the state governing business trusts requires that the business trust's organic record be filed with the state.

(72) "Secondary obligor" means an obligor to the extent that:

(A) The obligor's obligation is secondary; or

(B) The obligor has a right of recourse with respect to an obligation secured by collateral against the debtor, another obligor or property of either.

(73) "Secured party" means:

(A) A person in whose favor a security interest is created or provided for under a security agreement, whether or not any obligation to be secured is outstanding;

(B) A person that holds an agricultural lien;

(C) A consignor;

(D) A person to which accounts, chattel paper, payment intangibles or promissory notes have been sold;

(E) A trustee, indenture trustee, agent, collateral agent or other representative in whose favor a security interest or agricultural lien is created or provided for; or

(F) A person that holds a security interest arising under section 42a-2-401, section 42a-2-505, subsection (3) of section 42a-2-711, subsection (d) of section 42a-2A-724, section 42a-4-210 or section 42a-5-118.

(74) "Security agreement" means an agreement that creates or provides for a security interest.

(75) "Send", in connection with a record or notification, means:

(A) To deposit in the mail, deliver for transmission or transmit by any other usual means of communication, with postage or cost of transmission provided for, addressed to any address reasonable under the circumstances; or

(B) To cause the record or notification to be received within the time that it would have been received if properly sent under subparagraph (A).

(76) "Software" means a computer program and any supporting information provided in connection with a transaction relating to the program. The term does not include a computer program that is included in the definition of goods.

(77) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(78) "Supporting obligation" means a letter-of-credit right or secondary obligation that supports the payment or performance of an account, chattel paper, a document, a general intangible, an instrument or investment property.

(79) "Tangible chattel paper" means chattel paper evidenced by a record or records consisting of information that is inscribed on a tangible medium.

(80) "Termination statement" means an amendment of a financing statement which:

(A) Identifies, by its file number or, in the case of a recording with a filing office described in subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 42a-9-501, by book and page number, the initial financing statement to which it relates; and

(B) Indicates either that it is a termination statement or that the identified financing statement is no longer effective.

(81) "Transmitting utility" means a person primarily engaged in the business of:

(A) Operating a railroad, subway, street railway or trolley bus;

(B) Transmitting communications electrically, electromagnetically or by light;

(C) Transmitting goods by pipeline or sewer; or

(D) Transmitting or producing and transmitting electricity, steam, gas or water.

(b) "Control" as provided in section 42a-7-106 and the following definitions in other articles apply to this article:

"Applicant". Section 42a-5-102.

"Beneficiary". Section 42a-5-102.

"Broker". Section 42a-8-102.

"Certificated security". Section 42a-8-102.

"Check". Section 42a-3-104.

"Clearing corporation". Section 42a-8-102.

"Contract for sale". Section 42a-2-106.

"Customer". Section 42a-4-104.

"Entitlement holder". Section 42a-8-102.

"Financial asset". Section 42a-8-102.

"Holder in due course". Section 42a-3-302.

"Issuer" (with respect to a letter of credit or letter-of-credit right). Section 42a-5-102.

"Issuer" (with respect to a security). Section 42a-8-201.

"Issuer" (with respect to documents of title). Section 42a-7-102.

"Lease". Section 42a-2A-102.

"Lease agreement". Section 42a-2A-102.

"Lease contract". Section 42a-2A-102.

"Leasehold interest". Section 42a-2A-102.

"Lessee". Section 42a-2A-102.

"Lessee in ordinary course of business". Section 42a-2A-102.

"Lessor". Section 42a-2A-102.

"Lessor's residual interest". Section 42a-2A-102.

"Letter of credit". Section 42a-5-102.

"Merchant". Section 42a-2-104.

"Negotiable instrument". Section 42a-3-104.

"Nominated person". Section 42a-5-102.

"Note". Section 42a-3-104.

"Proceeds of a letter of credit". Section 42a-5-114.

"Prove". Section 42a-3-103.

"Sale". Section 42a-2-106.

"Securities account". Section 42a-8-501.

"Securities intermediary". Section 42a-8-102.

"Security". Section 42a-8-102.

"Security certificate". Section 42a-8-102.

"Security entitlement". Section 42a-8-102.

"Uncertificated security". Section 42a-8-102.

(c) Article 1 contains general definitions and principles of construction and interpretation applicable throughout this article.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 42a-9-102

(1959, P.A. 133, S. 9-102; P.A. 76-369, S. 7; P.A. 01-132, S. 2; P.A. 02-131, S. 93, 94; P.A. 04-64, S. 60, 61; P.A. 05-109, S. 39; P.A. 11-108, S. 1.)

Amended by P.A. 11-0108, S. 1 of the the 2011 Regular Session, eff. 7/1/2013.

Annotations to former section 42a-9-105: "Agreement" means the bargain of the parties in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances. 168 Conn. 152. Cited. 182 Conn. 437. Cited. 34 CS 632. Cited. 5 Conn. Cir. Ct. 406. Annotations to former section 42a-9-106: Cited. 185 C. 583. Annotations to former section 42a-9-109: Connecticut has strong public policy of protecting purchasers of consumer goods. 158 Conn. 543. The definition of "goods" includes "inventory". 168 Conn. 152. Cited. 182 Conn. 437; 209 Conn. 163; 212 Conn. 167; 221 Conn. 530.