Extra Capitalization in Terms and Conditions?

[MColeman]

I was sent a MS Word document that contained Terms and Conditions. I was supposed to have a program tack it on to
the end of quotation documents.

After reviewing it carefully, I found the following.
- it's was used three times to show the possessive of 'it'
- prorate was spelled pro-rate
- seven times a comma was omitted
- two run on sentences
- the word customer is randomly capitalized

This led me to believe what I was sent could not be the
final version of the document; so I forwarded it to the
Legal Department for review. After five minutes, they emailed me approval without correcting any of the mistakes.

Should the word 'customer' be caplitalized wherever it appears in this terms and conditions document?

The only times I've seen use of this is when there is a paragraph at the top naming the entities of a contract.
(ex: John Doe, the undersigned, hereafter referred to as
the Customer...)

Can someone help me out of this jam? This document is going to be sent out to our customers, and I'm sure it will be on my head if it is not perfect.

 

[flapeyre]

I'm puzzled that the Legal Department, of all places, didn't catch the grammatical errors. Apparently, pre-law curricula are not including as many required English grammar and composition courses as they once did.

De mortuis nihil nisi bonum.

 

[sha76]

How about correcting it to your satisfaction & then re-submitting it for the legal department's approval?

"Your rock is eroding wrong." -Dogbert

 

[Dimandja]

I was once presented with a legal document that was so grammatically appaling that I refused to sign it. If they can't put a coherent sentence together, how do you know you understand what they mean to say?

Looks like you are about to lose some customers.

 

[lgarner]

In this context I think that terms which identify the parties involved are normally capitalized even if they are not formally defined. I would suggest being consistent, however.

I agree with sha76. Write it to your satisfaction and resubmit it. They don't seem to be too concerned with it and will probably just give it a rubber-stamp approval.

 

[MColeman]

Thanks for all your replies!

I'm going to make the capitalization of 'Customer'
consistent, make the other changes, and get the
document approved again.

 

[ESquared]

Usually in legal documents, terms are only capitalized when they are stated near the beginning as being shortened versions of a full term.

For example, it might say something like this:

Any person, corporation, or entity which secures the services of XYZ International Holdings, Inc. (hereafter referred to as "XYZ") through placing a legal signature upon the document entitled "Business Agreement Form 214A" (hereafter referred to as the "Agreement") shall enter into a legally binding contract with XYZ and will hereafter be known as "Customer."

Capital letters are for proper nouns. <i>Customer</i> is not a proper noun unless defined that way as in my example (which may be a poor one).

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It is better to have honor than a good reputation.
(Reputation is what other people think about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.)

 

[ESquared]

Silly me, I forgot which forum I was in and used <> instead of []!!!

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It is better to have honor than a good reputation.
(Reputation is what other people think about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.)