In August I posted this item about the dispute between Rogers Communications Inc. and Aliant Inc. (now Bell Aliant Regional Communications) regarding the role of a comma in a contract provision.
I know that this dispute has received a lot of attention, but I was nevertheless surprised to see an article about it in today’s New York Times. (Click here for a copy of the article; you may have to register.)
After I posted my blog item, I was retained by counsel to Rogers to act as expert witness for Rogers in this dispute. This is what the Times had to say about that:
To bolster its appeal, Rogers commissioned a 69-page affidavit, mostly about commas, from Kenneth A. Adams, a lawyer from Garden City, N.Y., who is the author of two books on contract language. It disputes the regulator’s analysis of what Mr. Adams calls “the rule of the last antecedent.”
It’s been fascinating looking at this dispute from both the outside and the inside. Unsurprisingly, it has proved rather more involved than I initially thought. Once this dispute has run its course, I’m sure I’ll write something about it.
Your affidavit is a matter of public record now, and I would love to read it. Can you make it available on your site or send me a copy?
Congratulations, Ken, on getting hired and on producing 69 pages on a comma. As someone who has worked as a consultant in litigation over words and and punctuation, I salute you. It is hard work.
Wayne: Even my pendanticism has limits: many of those 69 pages were devoted to exhibits! Ken
When will the next episode of the comma drama take place? My daughter, an English Major at University, are fascinated. We want to follow it to the end.
David: Check my December 29, 2006 post, which gives an update. Ken