The Revenge of the Comma: The Comma Returns to an Insurance Contract

[marindependent]

For P&C Agents, this article is another story of an insurance claim denial based more or less on the use or non use of a comma from the Insurance Journal:

Comma-tose: Florida Coverage Case Hinged on Punctuation Question
By William Rabb | December 22, 2021

"Coverage disputes often hinge on the exact wording of an insurance policy. In a case in federal court in South Florida, the issue came down to not only the wording, but the punctuation – namely, a question about a single comma.

“As a general matter, insurance policies and insurance salesmen have long been the butt of jokes. The former are not known for beautiful prose nor the latter for exciting conversation,” U.S. District Judge Robert Scola wrote last week. “But insurance contracts can provide fodder for scores of attorneys, grammarians, and logophiles, where, as here, the meaning of one phrase and the placement (or omission) of one comma can make the difference between coverage and nothing...."

While the following seems to be one of the major takeaways: "Scola noted a 1971 federal court decision that said that “while commas at the end of a series can avoid ambiguity, the use of such commas is discretionary.”

And...this is not the first time that cover has centered on the use of just a comma in an insurance contract.

 

[adjusterjack]

Here's another comma problem.

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats shoots & leaves."

 

[Markthebroker]

 

[LostDollar]

Have you been hanging out with Alferd?

 

[InsCommentary]

In my book “When Words Collide: Resolving Insurance Coverage and Claims Disputes” I tell the story of an an article I wrote in my ISO days called “The Adventures of Semi-Colon Man” where coverage hinged on whether terms were separated in a policy by a comma or a semi-colon. Punctuation does matter.

It’s interesting how a single word added or removed from a policy provision can completely change coverage. If you’re interested, here’s an article about this from my blog:

https://insurancecommentary.com/one-word/