I agree with the judge in this case—the passage is ambiguous. What has caused the ambiguity isn’t the lack of an Oxford comma—it’s the lack of hierarchical punctuation in between two series of items.
The passage in question:
"in no event shall either party be liable for any loss or damage to revenues, profits, or goodwill or other special, incidental, indirect, or consequential damages of any kind, resulting from its performance or failure to perform under this agreement. . . ."
There’s an Oxford comma before “or goodwill,” and another Oxford comma before “or consequential.” What’s needed is something to clarify the relationship between the first series (revenues, profits, or goodwill) and the second series (special, incidental, indirect, or consequential damages of any kind). Is the second series supposed to be modifying only “goodwill” (in which case no lost revenues or profits are covered, whether direct or consequential)? Or is the second series modifying everything in the first series (in which case loss to direct revenues, direct profits, and both direct and consequential goodwill are covered)?
Like many of us, I occasionally get calls from attorneys about this kind of confusing language. I’m rather glad that this one didn’t come to me, whew. Just writing this email about it was a challenge.
Dick, you said you had opinions on this issue. What are they?
Beth
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of GERALD W WALTON
Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2015 11:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Grammar dispute in a big-time corporate lawsuit
I don’t mind being prescriptive in this case and think there should be a “rule” that commas should always precede the conjunction with items in a series. Often when I am reading Time magazine I become frustrated with Time’s strict rule of omitting the comma.
Gerald
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dick Veit
Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2015 8:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Grammar dispute in a big-time corporate lawsuit
I have my opinions, but I'm interested in others' judgments on this multimillion dollar lawsuit<http://www.natlawreview.com/article/nc-business-court-takes-oxford-comma> that hinges on a question of commas and modification.
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
|
