WhenPunctuationSetsPrecedent:ALessonforCompanies,Everywhere
ByLoraineM.DiSalvo
Inthelegalprofession,precedentisakeypillaroflitigation.Casesarealmostalwaysstrongerwhen
anattorneycanestablishprecedent—apriorcourtdecisionorotherproceedingthatservesas
authoritativesupportforaparticularargument.Precedentcomesinmanyforms,butrarelydoesit
hingeonsomethingasseeminglytrivialasacomma.
InMarch,that’sexactlywhathappened.Youmighthaveseennewsarticlesaboutthe“Oxford
commacase,”inwhichaMainejudgeruledinfavorofagroupoftruckerssuingforovertime.Inthis
case,asinglepunctuationmark(technically,thelackthereof)formedthefoundationforthe
plaintiffs’entireargument—andtheywon.Whethertheremaybeanother“Oxfordcommacase”
buriedintheannalsofhistorywedon’tknow,butyoucanbecertainthatthisonehasfirmly
establishedprecedent,movingforward.
It’smakingcompanieseverywhererethinkhowtheywritetheirpolicies.
TheOxfordcomma,alsoknownastheserialcomma,isthefinalcommainalistofthings.Ina
sentence,itgoesrightbeforeaconjunction,suchas“and,”toconnectaseries.TheOxfordcomma
hasbothfansanddetractors,butinthisparticularcase,failuretouseitcostatruckingcompanyalot
ofmoney.
Here’sthegist:Thisparticularunion’srules,underwhichthetruckersweregoverned,statethat
workersdonotreceiveovertimepayfor"thecanning,processing,preserving,freezing,drying,
marketing,storing,packingforshipmentordistributionofagriculturalproduce."Theworkers
construedthattomean“packingforshipmentordistribution,”whichmeantthatdistributionitself
wasnotaprotected,listedactivity.
Managementattheircompany,OakhurstDairy,intendedthephrasetodescribenotonework
product,buttwo,withonebeingpackingforshipmentandtheotherbeingdistribution.Thejudge
sidedwiththeworkers,andsomewriterattheunionisprobablyscurryingtoupdatetherulebook
andremovetheambiguity,whilethepersonwhowroteitmaybelookingforanewjob–alldueto
theabsenceoftheserialcomma.
IhavealwaysbeenastrongproponentoftheOxfordcomma.Ibelieveeveryone—andespecially
anyonewithlegalexposureorresponsibilities—shouldusetheOxfordcomma.Itisessentialwhena
sentenceisambiguous,liketheonethathelpedthetruckerswintheirargument(andsomeback
pay).
Languageisfluid,andintoday’shurried,digitalworld,manywritersfeeltheycantakealessformal
approachtotheirprose.Ihaveseennewsarticlesbyreputablecompaniesthatreadasiftheywere
writtenbythirdgraders.Frommyperspective,whilemanyorganizationsmayfeelit’sacceptableto
publishless-than-flawlesswork,it’snotacceptableforanyoneinthelegalprofession.
Good,clearwritingisessentialtomakingpersuasivearguments.Theideathatasimplecommacould
makeorbreakacaseshouldbeawake-upcallforeveryone.Leavethecarelesswritingand
punctuationtothesocialbloggers.Ourclientspayustobeconsummateprofessionals,andwe
shouldworkeverydaytoearntheirtrust—Oxfordcommaincluded.