reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
V.I. Code tit. 33, § 3502 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 33 - Taxation and Finance|Subtitle 3 - Finance|Chapter 119 - False Claims|§ 3502. Definitions

 For purposes of this chapter: (1) “Claim” means any request or demand, whether under a contract or otherwise, for money, property. or services, and whether or not the Government has title to the money, property, or services that meets either of the following conditions: (A) Is presented to an officer, employee, or agent of the Government or of an instrumentality of the Government: or (B) Is made to a contractor, grantee, or other recipient, and if the Government: (i) provides or has provided any portion of the money. property. or service requested or demanded; or (ii) will reimburse the contractor, grantee, or other recipient for any portion of the money, property, or service that is requested or demanded. (C) The term does not include requests or demands for money, property, or services that the Government has paid to an individual as compensation for employment with the Government or as an income subsidy with no restrictions on that individual’s use of the money, property, or services. (2) “Government funds” means funds that are the subject of a claim presented to an officer, employee, or agent of the Government, or where the Government provides, has provided, or will reimburse any portion the money, property, or service requested or demanded. (3) “Government of the Virgin Islands” or “Government” includes the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Government of the Virgin Islands, agencies, authorities and instrumentalities of the Government of the Virgin Islands, and governing boards and commissions of the Government of the Virgin Islands. (4) “Knowing” and “knowingly” mean that a person, with respect to information, does any of the following: (A) Has actual knowledge of the information; (B) Acts in deliberate ignorance of the truth or falsity of the information; or (C) Acts in reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of the information. (5) “Material” means having a natural tendency to influence, or be capable of influencing the payment or receipt of money, property, or services. (6) “Person” includes any natural person, corporation, firm, association, organization; partnership, limited liability company, business, and trust.
V.I. Code tit. 33, § 3505 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 33 - Taxation and Finance|Subtitle 3 - Finance|Chapter 119 - False Claims|§ 3505. Prohibited actions by employers; remedies

 (a) An employer may not make, adopt, or enforce any rule, regulation, agreement or policy preventing an employee, contractor or agent from disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency or from acting in furtherance of a false claims action, including investigating, initiating, testifying, or assisting in an action filed or to be filed under section 3504. (b) An employer may not discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass, deny promotion to, or in any other manner discriminate against an employee in the terms and conditions of employment because of lawful acts done by the employee on behalf of the employee or others in disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency or in furthering a false claims action, including investigation for, initiation of, testimony for, or assistance in, an action filed or to be filed under section 3504. (c) An employer, contractor or agent who violates subsection (b) is liable for all relief necessary to make the employee whole, including reinstatement with the same seniority status that the employee would have had but for the discrimination, two times the amount of back pay, interest on the back pay, compensation for any special damage sustained as a result of the discrimination, and, where appropriate, punitive damages. In addition, the employer shall pay litigation costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees. An employee, contractor or agent may bring an action in the Superior Court for the relief provided in this subsection. (d) An employee, contractor or agent who is discharged, demoted, suspended, harassed, denied promotion, or in any other manner discriminated against in the terms and conditions of employment by the employer because of participation in conduct that directly or indirectly resulted in a false claim being submitted to the Government is entitled to the remedies under subsection (c) only if the employee, contractor or agent disclosed information to a government or law enforcement agency or acted in furtherance of a false claims action, including investigation for, initiation of, testimony for, or assistance in an action filed or to be filed or made other lawful efforts to stop a violation of this subchapter.
V.I. Code tit. 33, § 3506 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 33 - Taxation and Finance|Subtitle 3 - Finance|Chapter 119 - False Claims|§ 3506. Limitations period; burden of proof; estoppel of defendant by guilty verdict

 (a) A civil action under section 3504 may not be filed more than three years after the date of discovery by the Attorney General or, in any event, not more than 10 years after the date on which the violation of section 3503 was committed. (b) In any action brought under section 3504, the Government, or the qui tam plaintiff is required to prove all essential elements of the cause of action, including damages, by a preponderance of the evidence. (c) Notwithstanding any other law, a guilty verdict rendered in a criminal proceeding charging false statements or fraud, whether upon a verdict after trial or upon a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, estops the defendant from denying the essential elements of the offense in any action that involves the same transaction as in the criminal proceeding and which is brought under section 3504.
V.I. Code tit. 33, § 3507 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 33 - Taxation and Finance|Subtitle 3 - Finance|Chapter 119 - False Claims|§ 3507. Other remedies

 The provisions of this chapter are not exclusive, and the remedies provided for in this chapter are in addition to any other remedies provided for in any other law or available under common law.
V.I. Code tit. 33, § 3508 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 33 - Taxation and Finance|Subtitle 3 - Finance|Chapter 119 - False Claims|§ 3508. False Claims Act Fund

 (a) The False Claims Act Fund is established in Treasury of the Virgin Islands as a separate and distinct fund administered by the Commissioner of the Department of Finance. (b) Proceeds from the action or settlement of the claim by the Attorney General pursuant to this chapter must be deposited into this fund. (c) Moneys in this fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, may be used by the Attorney General exclusively to support the ongoing investigation and prosecution of false claims in furtherance of this chapter. (d) Monies in the Fund do not revert to the General Fund at the end of any fiscal year, but remain available for the purposes set forth in subsection (c), subject to authorization and appropriation by the Legislature. (e) Whenever the balance in the Fund equals or exceeds $2,000,000, the Commissioner of Finance shall deposit the excess amounts into the General Fund. (f) The Inspector General shall audit the Fund annually.
V.I. Code tit. 33, § 3509 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 33 - Taxation and Finance|Subtitle 3 - Finance|Chapter 119 - False Claims|§ 3509. Liberal construction; severability

 (a) This chapter must be liberally construed and applied to promote its remedial and deterrent purposes. If any provision of this chapter or the application of the provision to any person or circumstance is held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the determination of invalidity does not affect, impair of invalidate other provisions of this chapter or the application of the other provisions which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 151 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 7 - Criminal Victims Compensation Act|Subchapter I - Short Title; Declaration of Policy; Definitions|§ 151. Short title

 This chapter shall be known as and may be cited as the “Virgin Islands Criminal Victims Compensation Act”. It shall be liberally construed to effect its purposes.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 152 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 7 - Criminal Victims Compensation Act|Subchapter I - Short Title; Declaration of Policy; Definitions|§ 152. Statement of policy

 The purpose of the provisions of this chapter is to establish a program of public compensation to innocent victims of certain criminal offenses, to the persons injured or killed while attempting to prevent the commission of criminal offenses or to apprehend suspected offenders, and to families of such victims or persons for personal injuries or deaths resulting from the commission of such offenses. This purpose is a reflection of the recognition by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands that many criminal offenses result from social and economic diseases of the community, while many others result from the temporary and permanent mental and emotional aberrations of the offender, and still others are perpetrated by the asocial and the socially immature and immoral, all of which are beyond the control of most victims of crimes. The Legislature is further cognizant of the social need to enlist and encourage the cooperation of the public in preventing crimes and in capturing criminals and to compensate any person who is injured while attempting to prevent a crime or apprehend a criminal. With this recognition as a base, the Legislature determines and declares, as a matter of public policy, that no innocent victim of any criminal offense covered by this chapter, no person injured while fulfilling his public duty in attempting to prevent a crime or to apprehend a criminal, and no family of any such victim or person shall be constrained to bear the financial burden of resulting personal injury or death, and that the Government of the people of the Virgin Islands shall compensate any such victim or person or family for the loss resulting from such injury or death.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 153 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 7 - Criminal Victims Compensation Act|Subchapter I - Short Title; Declaration of Policy; Definitions|§ 153. Definitions

 Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, as used in this chapter — (1) The term “applicant” means any person who applies for compensation under the provisions of this chapter. (2) The term “child” means an unmarried person who is under eighteen years of age and includes a stepchild or an adopted child. (3) The term “Commission” means the Virgin Islands Criminal Victims Compensation Commission created and established by Section 375a of Title 3 of this Code. (4) The term “dependents” means such relatives of a deceased victim as were dependent upon his income at the time of his death, or would have been so dependent but for the incapacity due to the injury from which death resulted, and shall include the child of such victim born after his death. (5) The term “Executive Secretary” means the Executive Secretary of the Commission. (6) The term “offender” means any person accused, indicted, or convicted of the criminal offense which was the alleged cause of the injury or death for which compensation is sought under the provisions of this chapter. (7) The terms “personal injury” and “injury” mean actual bodily harm, and include pregnancy and psychological or emotional trauma. (8) The term “victim” means any person, regardless of the residence of such victim, who is injured or killed in the United States Virgin Islands, or a resident of the United States Virgin Islands, who is injured or killed by an act of terrorism as defined in Section 2331 of Title 18, United States Code, committed outside of the United States. (9) Resident means a person who maintains a place of permanent abode in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 156 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 7 - Criminal Victims Compensation Act|Subchapter II - Administration and Procedure|§ 156. Powers and duties of the Executive Secretary: Preliminary hearings; reports with recommendations; submission to Commission

 (a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the Executive Secretary shall administer the provisions of this chapter. (b) Upon an application made to the Commission under the provisions of this chapter, the Executive Secretary shall hold a prompt and fair hearing on each application filed under this chapter, and, on the basis of evidence received, shall prepare a written report with recommendation for action on such application by the Commission. (c) The Executive Secretary, within fifteen days after the preparation of the report with recommendations, shall submit copies to each member of the Commission, to the applicant, to the victim if he is not the applicant and is living, and he shall submit, upon request, copies to any other person who satisfies the Executive Secretary that he has a substantial interest in the proceedings. He shall further, within 30 days after the preparation of the report with recommendation, submit such report and recommendation to the Commission and call the Commission to formal meeting for the purposes of considering and acting upon the application and the report. The Executive Secretary shall notify the offender, in writing, that an application for benefits has been filed. (d) The Executive Secretary shall notify the applicant, the victim if he is not the applicant and is living, and any other person who satisfies the Executive Secretary that he has a substantial interest in the proceedings of the time and place for the preliminary hearing before him and for the final consideration by the Commission. (e) The Executive Secretary shall execute all orders of the Commission.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 157 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 7 - Criminal Victims Compensation Act|Subchapter II - Administration and Procedure|§ 157. Powers and duties of the Commission: final orders and decisions; finality

 (a) When called to consider and to act upon an outstanding application and accompanying report submitted pursuant to section 156(c) of this chapter, the Commission shall make its determination and issue its order with due dispatch. Such determination and order of the Commission shall be final as provided by section 166 of this chapter. (b) The Commission shall hold a fair hearing before making its determinations and before rendering a final order when such a hearing is requested by the Executive Secretary, by a majority of the members of the Commission, by the applicant, or by the offender.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 161 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 7 - Criminal Victims Compensation Act|Subchapter III - Application; Award and Payment of Compensation|§ 161. Application: Eligibility; Requirements; Limitations

 (a) Any victim, any person who is responsible for the maintenance or care of the victim and who has incurred expenses as a result of injury to or the death of the victim, and, in the case of the death of the victim, the estate or any dependents of the victim may apply for compensation under the provisions of this chapter. (b) Every application for compensation under this chapter shall be completed and filed by the applicant with the Executive Secretary in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Commission within two years after the personal injury or death occurs. Additionally, the Executive Secretary must be notified within ninety days after such injury or death occurs that an application for compensation under this chapter will be filed, and a report of the criminal offense which allegedly caused the injury or death for which compensation is sought under this chapter shall be filed by the victim with the police within twenty-four hours after the offense was committed. If the application, notification, or report is not filed or made within the time prescribed, the applicant shall have the burden of satisfying the Executive Secretary that the delay was justified by extraordinary circumstances. The applicant shall cooperate with the requests of law enforcement authorities. (c) In any case in which the victim or a dependent of a victim is a child, the application may be filed on his behalf by his parent or guardian; and in any case in which the victim or a dependent of the victim is mentally incompetent the application may be filed on his behalf by his parent, guardian, or such other person authorized to administer his estate. (d) No more than one application may be filed by or on behalf of any person eligible to file an application under the provisions of subsection (a) of this section; and where more than one application is filed on behalf of two or more dependents of the same victim the Executive Secretary and the Commission shall consolidate the claims and the proceedings thereunder.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 162 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 7 - Criminal Victims Compensation Act|Subchapter III - Application; Award and Payment of Compensation|§ 162. Offenses and incidents covered

 (a) The Commissioner may order the payment of compensation in accordance with the provisions of this chapter in any case in which— (1) The victim was injured or killed by any act or omission that constitutes a criminal offense which is a felony or aggravated assault and battery or domestic violence under the laws of the Virgin Islands and which may be prosecuted under the laws of the Virgin Islands pursuant to the provisions of subchapter V, chapter 1, Title 14 of this code; or the victim was injured or killed by an act or omission that constitutes a criminal offense which is a felony under the laws of the United States and which may be prosecuted under the laws of the United States; or (2) The victim was injured or killed while attempting to prevent the commission of a criminal offense which may be prosecuted under the laws of the Virgin Islands pursuant to the provisions of subchapter V, chapter 1, Title 14 of this code, or to apprehend a person suspected of such an offense; or the victim was injured or killed while attempting to prevent the commission of a criminal offense which may be prosecuted under the laws of the United States, or to apprehend a person suspected of such an offense; or (3) The victim was injured or killed by an act or omission that constitutes a criminal offense which would have been a felony or aggravated assault and battery under the laws of the Virgin Islands had it occurred in the Virgin Islands but which occurred in a state, territory, or possession of the United States of America which does not have a crime victim compensation program for which the victim is eligible as eligibility is set forth in the Virgin Islands Criminal Victims Compensation Act; or (4) The victim was injured or killed while attempting to prevent the commission of a criminal offense which may be prosecuted under the laws of the Virgin Islands had it occurred in the Virgin Islands but which occurred in a state, territory, or possession of the United States of America which does not have a crime victim compensation program for which the victim is eligible as eligibility is set forth in the Virgin Islands Criminal Victims Compensation Act, or to apprehend a person suspected of such an offense. (5) The victim was injured or killed by an act of terrorism, as defined in section 2331 of Title 18 of the United States Code, committed outside of the United States against a resident of this State or against a resident of the United States Virgin Islands. (b) For the purposes of this chapter, the fact that the offender was legally incapable of forming a criminal intent by reason of age, insanity, drunkenness, or otherwise shall not preclude an award of compensation under this chapter.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 165 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 7 - Criminal Victims Compensation Act|Subchapter III - Application; Award and Payment of Compensation|§ 165. Same: Terms of payment; deductions

 (a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, any order for the payment of compensation under this chapter may be made on such terms as the Commission determines to be appropriate. (b) Any claim made pursuant to this chapter shall be reduced by the amount of any moneys actually received by the applicant from the offender, from any person on behalf of the offender, or from any public or private source, other than any type of policies on the victim's life, for the personal injury or death for which compensation was awarded under this chapter. (c) In determining the award, the claim determined payable by the Commission shall be reduced by any collateral source payments and the award shall be the difference between the claim amount and the collateral proceeds; however, in no event shall the award exceed the statutory maximum after the claim has been reduced by collateral payments. (d) The payment of any compensation awarded under this chapter shall be subject to and limited by other outstanding awards under this chapter and the amount of money in the Criminal Victims' Compensation Fund.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 166 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 7 - Criminal Victims Compensation Act|Subchapter III - Application; Award and Payment of Compensation|§ 166. Same: Finality and reconsideration; review

 (a) Every determination and order of the Commission shall be final, except that an applicant may obtain a reconsideration by the Commission of an order upon filing a written request for reconsideration with the Executive Secretary within one calendar year after the issuance of the order, and upon approval of the request by the Commission. (b) In the case of an award to or for the benefit of the victim under subdivision (3) of subsection (b), section 163 of this subchapter which is to be paid periodically, depending on the continuing disability of and any wages earned by the victim, the Commission shall review the award at least every two years to determine such continuing disability and wages earned, if any, and to alter such award to accord with any pertinent change in circumstances. The victim shall inform the Commission of any pertinent change in his disability or in his income from wages. If the victim does not inform the Commission as required, his payments may be terminated at the discretion of the Commission. (c) Neither the right of the applicant to reconsideration nor the obligation of the Commission to review shall affect the finality of a determination and order of the Commission.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 169 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 7 - Criminal Victims Compensation Act|Subchapter IV - Recovery of Compensation|§ 169. Repayment by the applicant

 Any applicant who has received payments on an award made by the Commission under this chapter shall pay to the Commission all sums, not to exceed the amount of such payment, which, after the payment on the award, have been received by the applicant from the offender, from any person on behalf of the offender, or from any payments under any insurance policy, other than a life policy, or from any payments received from any public or private source, for the personal injury or death for which the award was made under this chapter.