New York Consolidated Laws, General Business Law - GBS § 604-aa. Definitions

1. “Action” means any civil judicial proceeding as defined in section one hundred five of the civil practice law and rules.

2. “Adequate documentation of coerced debt” means documentation that identifies a particular debt, or a portion thereof, as coerced debt, describes the circumstances under which such coerced debt was incurred, and takes the form of any of the following:

3. “Coerced debt” is debt incurred as a result of economic abuse, including but not limited to, by means of fraud, duress, intimidation, threat, force, coercion, manipulation, or undue influence, the non-consensual use of the debtor's personal information.

4. “Creditor” means any person, firm, corporation or organization to whom a debt is owed, due, or asserted to be due or owed, or any assignee for value of said person, firm, corporation or organization, including any debt collection agency or debt collector as defined by section six hundred of this chapter;  provided, however, that “creditor” shall not include a person to whom a debt is allegedly owed, due, or asserted to be due or owed, where the person asserting such claim caused the debt to arise by engaging in one or more acts of coercion, as identified in subdivision three of this section, against the debtor.

5. “Debt” means any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, rental arrears owed for use and occupancy of a dwelling, or services which are the subject of such transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to a judgment.

6. “Debtor” means any natural person who owes or who is asserted to owe a debt.

7. “Economic abuse”, in the context of intimate relationships or relationships between family or household members as defined by section four hundred fifty-nine-a of the social services law, relationships between victims of human trafficking and traffickers, or relationships between children, the elderly, or individuals eligible for protective services under subdivision one of section four hundred seventy-three of the social services law, and their caregivers, means behavior that is coercive, deceptive, manipulative, or that controls, restrains, or sabotages a person's ability to acquire, use, or maintain economic resources to which they are entitled, including but not limited to using coercion, fraud, or manipulation to:

8. “Personal information” includes, but is not limited to, a name, address, telephone or mobile phone number, driver registration number or non-driver identification card number, social security number, email address, social media profile or screen name, place of employment, employee identification number, mother's maiden name, financial services account number or code, savings account number or code, checking account number or code, debit or credit card number or code, automated teller machine number or code, electronic serial number, any personal identification number or password of a debtor, and a debtor's personal documents, including, but not limited to, such debtor's driver's license or non-driver identification card, passport, permanent resident card, visa, birth certificate, social security card, and any copies thereof or information contained therein.  “Personal identification number or password”, as used in this subdivision, means any number or alphanumeric code which may be used alone or in conjunction with any other information to assume the identity of another person or access financial resources or credit information of another person.

9. “Pleading” means any complaint, petition, counterclaim, crossclaim, interpleader complaint, third-party complaint or any similar papers asserting a claim and demand for relief required to be filed with the court pursuant to rule twenty-one hundred two of the civil practice law and rules, the rules of the chief administrator of the courts, or any local rule or practice established by the court.

10. “Qualified third party” means any (a) law enforcement officer;  (b) employee of a court of the state;  (c) attorney, physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, registered nurse, therapist, or clinical professional counselor licensed to practice in any state;  (d) person employed by or working on behalf of a government or non-profit office, agency, or service that advises or provides services to persons regarding domestic violence, family violence, human trafficking, or abuse of children, the elderly, or dependent adults;  or (e) member of the clergy of a church or religious society or denomination.