RS 10:9-102 Definitions and index of definitions
§9-102. Definitions and index of definitions
(a) Chapter 9 definitions. In this Chapter:
(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 further includes any right to payment owed to a landowner or the owner of a mineral right, such as a bonus, rent, or royalty, which is payable out of or measured by production of oil, gas, or other minerals, or is otherwise attributable to the mineral right, whether or not such payment is rent under Title 31 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, except for rent payable to a landowner or mineral servitude owner. The term does not include (i) rights to payment evidenced by chattel paper or an instrument, (ii) tort claims, (iii) deposit accounts, (iv) investment property, (v) letter-of-credit rights or letters of credit, (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, (vii) life insurance policies or rights to payment or claims thereunder, or (viii) judgments or rights to payment represented thereby.
(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 a lien on 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 leased real property used by a debtor in connection with its farming operation;
(B) which is created by statute in favor of a person that:
(i) furnished goods or services to a debtor in connection with a debtor's farming operation; or
(ii) leased real property used by 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 a mineral right that provides the debtor an interest in such minerals when the minerals are reduced to possession; and
(ii) attaches to the minerals as severed by being reduced to possession; or
(B) accounts arising out of the sale at the wellhead or minehead of oil, gas, or other minerals attributable to a mineral right held by the debtor such that the debtor's interest in the minerals arises when the minerals are reduced to possession.
(7) "Authenticate" means:
(A) to sign; or
(B) to execute or otherwise adopt a symbol, or encrypt or similarly process a record in whole or in part, with the present intent of the authenticating person to identify the person and adopt or accept a record.
(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.
(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 paragraph, "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) [Reserved.]
(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 rule.
(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, 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 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 R.S. 10:7-201(b).
(31) "Electronic chattel paper" means chattel paper evidenced by a record or records consisting of information stored in an electronic medium.
(32) "Encumbrance" means a right, other than an ownership interest, in real property. The term includes mortgages and privileges on real property. "Encumbrancer" means a person holding an encumbrance.
(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, and whether harvested or unharvested, including grains, beans, vegetables, grasses, legumes, melons, tobacco, cotton, flowers, shrubbery, plants, and fruits, nuts, berries and other similar products, including:
(i) crops produced on trees, vines, and bushes; and
(ii) aquatic goods produced in aquacultural operations; and
(iii) any other type of agricultural commodity or product of every type and description;
(B) livestock, born or unborn, including cattle, hogs, sheep, horses, bees, rabbits, poultry, and aquatic goods produced in aquacultural operations, including oysters, crabs, crawfish, prawns, shrimp, alligators, turtles, and fish;
(C) supplies used or produced in a farming operation; or
(D) products of crops or livestock in their unmanufactured states, including seed, ginned cotton, wool-clip, honey, syrup, meat, milk, eggs, and cut or harvested timber, but not standing timber.
(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 R.S. 10:9-519(a).
(37) "Filing office" means an office designated in R.S. 10:9-501 as the place to file a financing statement.
(38) "Filing-office rule" means a rule adopted pursuant to R.S. 10:9-526.
(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, other than consumer goods and manufactured homes, that are to become fixtures and satisfying R.S. 10:9-502(a) and (b), made before the goods become fixtures.
(41) "Fixtures" means goods, other than consumer goods and manufactured homes, that after placement on or incorporation in an immovable have become a component part of such immovable as provided in Civil Code Articles 463, 465, and 466, or that have been declared to be a component part of an immovable under Civil Code Article 467.
(42) "General intangible" means any personal property, including things in action, other than accounts, chattel paper, tort claims, deposit accounts, documents, goods, instruments, investment property, letter-of-credit rights, letters of credit, life insurance policies, and money. The term includes payment intangibles and software.
(43) [Reserved.]
(44) "Goods" means all things that are movable when a security interest attaches. The term includes (i) fixtures but only if they were movable when a fixture filing covering them was made, (ii) the interest of a debtor other than a landowner in standing timber that is to be cut and removed under a recorded timber conveyance, (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, 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 by being reduced to possession.
(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, including a public trust, 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. The term further includes all public entities as defined in R.S. 39:1421(2).
(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 or to be 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 indorsement or assignment. The term includes a collateral mortgage note and a negotiable certificate of deposit. 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. The term does not include a collateral mortgage note.
(50) "Jurisdiction of organization", with respect to a registered organization, means the jurisdiction under whose law the organization is 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, sequestration, seizure, 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 manufactured home as defined in R.S. 9:1149.1 et seq.
(54) [Reserved.]
(55) "Mortgage" means a nonpossessory right created over real property, which secures payment or other performance of an obligation. The term includes a vendor's privilege on real property.
(56) "New debtor" means a person that becomes bound as debtor under R.S. 10:9-203(d) 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 R.S. 10:9-310(c), means a person that, as debtor, entered into a security agreement to which a new debtor has become bound under R.S. 10:9-203(d).
(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" 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 R.S. 10:9-620, 9-621, and 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) "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.
(69) "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.
(70) "Registered organization" means an organization organized solely under the law of a single State or the United States and as to which the State or the United States must maintain a public record showing the organization to have been organized. A Louisiana corporation, limited liability company, partnership in commendam (limited partnership), or registered limited liability partnership that is registered with the Louisiana secretary of state is a registered organization.
(71) "Secondary obligor" means a guarantor, surety, or other 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.
(72) "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 R.S. 10: 4-210 or 5-118.
(73) "Security agreement" means an agreement that creates or provides for a security interest.
(74) "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).
(75) "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.
(76) "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.
(77) "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.
(78) "Tangible chattel paper" means chattel paper evidenced by a record or records consisting of information that is inscribed on a tangible medium.
(79) "Termination statement" means an amendment of a financing statement which:
(A) identifies, by its file 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.
(80) "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;
(D) transmitting or producing and transmitting electricity, steam, gas, or water; or
(E) a combination of any of the foregoing.
(b) Definitions in other Chapters. "Control" as provided in R.S. 10:7-106 and the following definitions in other Chapters apply to this Chapter:
"Applicant"
R.S. 10:5-102.
"Beneficiary"
R.S. 10:5-102.
"Broker"
R.S. 10:8-102.
"Certificated security"
R.S. 10:8-102.
"Check"
R.S. 10:3-104.
"Clearing corporation"
R.S. 10:8-102.
"Customer"
R.S. 10:4-104.
"Entitlement holder"
R.S. 10:8-102.
"Financial asset"
R.S. 10:8-102.
"Holder in due course"
R.S. 10:3-302.
"Issuer" (with respect to a letter of credit
or letter-of-credit right)
R.S. 10:5-102.
"Issuer" (with respect to a security)
R.S. 10:8-201.
"Issuer" (with respect to documents of title)
R.S. 10:7-102.
"Letter of credit"
R.S. 10:5-102.
"Negotiable instrument"
R.S. 10:3-104.
"Nominated person"
R.S. 10:5-102.
"Note"
R.S. 10:3-104.
"Proceeds of a letter of credit"
R.S. 10:5-114.
"Prove"
R.S. 10:3-103.
"Securities account"
R.S. 10:8-501.
"Securities intermediary"
R.S. 10:8-102.
"Security"
R.S. 10:8-102.
"Security certificate"
R.S. 10:8-102.
"Security entitlement"
R.S. 10:8-102.
"Uncertificated security"
R.S. 10:8-102.
(c) Chapter 1 definitions and principles. Chapter 1 contains general definitions and principles of construction and interpretation applicable throughout this Chapter.
(d) Additional definitions. In this Chapter:
(1) "Bailee" means a person having possession of the personal property belonging to another. "Bailor" means the owner of the personal property.
(2) "Collateral mortgage note" means an instrument that is secured by a collateral mortgage on real property located in this State and executed for the purpose of being issued, pledged, or otherwise used as security for another obligation.
(3) "Intangible" means incorporeal.
(4) "Lease" means a contract by which one person gives to another the right of enjoyment and use of goods for a term in return for a stipulated price. But a usufruct or a sale, including a sale on approval or a sale or return, or a sale on view or trial, or retention or creation of a security interest, is not a lease. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the term includes a sublease.
(5) "Leasehold interest" means the interest of the lessee under a lease.
(6) "Lessee" means a person to whom a lease is granted. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the term includes a sublessee.
(7) "Lessee in ordinary course of business" means a person that becomes a lessee of goods in good faith, without knowledge that the lease violates the rights of another person in the goods, and in the ordinary course from a person, other than a pawnbroker, in the business of selling or leasing goods of that kind. A lessee in the ordinary course of business may lease for cash, or by exchange of other property, or on secured or unsecured credit, and may acquire goods or documents of title under a preexisting lease.
(8) "Lessor" means a person that grants a lease. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the term includes a sublessor.
(9) "Lien" means a privilege on personal property created by operation of law that entitles the privileged creditor to be preferred before other creditors.
(10) "Lienholder" means a person that holds a lien.
(11) "Local law" means the law of a jurisdiction not including that jurisdiction's law of conflict of laws.
(12) "Merchant" means a person who deals in goods of the kind, or otherwise by his occupation holds himself out as having knowledge or skill particular to the practices or goods, involved in the transaction, or to whom such knowledge or skill may be attributed by his employment of an agent, broker, or other intermediary who by his occupation holds himself out as having such knowledge or skill.
(13) "Mineral rights" means a real right governed by Title 31 of the Revised Statutes, including mineral servitudes, mineral leases, mineral royalties, overriding royalties, production payments, and net profits interests.
(14) "Personal property" means movable property.
(15) "Real property" means immovable property and real rights therein, including standing timber, mineral rights, and leases of immovables.
(16) "Recorded timber conveyance" means a written contract:
(A) by which standing timber is conveyed to, or upon cutting will become owned by, an identified person other than an owner of the land upon which the timber is standing;
(B) which is executed by a record owner of the land;
(C) which has been recorded in the conveyance records of the parish in which the land is situated; and
(D) which contains a legal description of the land that would be sufficient for purposes of making a conveyance of the land effective against third persons.
(17) "Sale" means a contract whereby a person transfers ownership of property to another person for a price in money.
(18) "Tangible" means corporeal.
(19) "Titled motor vehicle" means a vehicle subject to R.S. 32:701, et seq., which is required to have a certificate of title issued by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles.
Acts 1988, No. 528, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1990; Acts 1989, No. 135, §7, eff. Jan. 1, 1990; Acts 1990, No. 1079, §4, eff. Sept. 1, 1990; Acts 1991, No. 539, §3, eff. Jan. 1, 1992; Acts 1997, No. 1295, §3; Acts 2001, No. 128, §1, eff. July 1, 2001; Acts 2004, No. 303, §2; Acts 2006, No. 533, §8; Acts 2009, No. 207, §5, eff. Jan. 1, 2010.