Writing In Plain English

By Author: Marcus Stalder
Total Articles: 491
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It's easy to be unkind when it comes to English. Just ask someone who's used to speaking Spanish. They will tell you stories about how we English speakers suddenly start talking too fast and using words they don't understand. Mostly they give up and let it pass, whatever "it" is. Asking people to repeat themselves can cause offense. It's better to hope whatever they said was not too important, i.e. not going to cost them too much money. Well, it's the same when lawyers get hold of something. We English speakers all like to think we are pretty smart and can understand most of the words coming our way. But the truth is rather different. If lawyers really get going, they use words and sentence construction way above the average person's grade level. For many people, they might just as well be speaking in Spanish. Why does this matter?

Did you know that more than thirty states have passed laws requiring insurance companies to write their policies in simple English? It sounds crazy but it's true. Except the insurers don't seem to understand what these laws mean. Put another way, most insurers pay lawyers to write in the English ...
... we all find hard to follow. That way, most of us get blindsided when we try to claim. The insurer's attorneys then explain to us exactly why the policy says they don't have to pay. There's also the question of the size of the print. We all joke about small print but a lot of the bits restricting our rights are in the smallest print. It just all adds up to being unfair which is why the laws were passed. Except the states have little enthusiasm for enforcing all these laws, leaving us in the lurch.

A recent survey found about 15% of all people with an insurance policy never even try to read it. Among those who are brave enough to try, about 35% said they found them difficult to understand. Add these together and that's half of us. So is there any point to asking the insurers to explain before we buy? That would be a sensible thing to do. They want our business. To get us to buy, they will tell us what we need to know. Well, now you need to understand the Whole or Entire Agreement clause. This usually appears towards the end of the policy. What it says is very simple. If you have a dispute, you can only rely on the words written down in the agreement. Anything said or written to you outside the agreement is ignored. So if you ask the car insurance company to explain what a clause means, it can say whatever it takes to get you to sign. Unless you can prove fraud, nothing the company says or writes to you is admissible in court. The judge will only look at the words written in the policy - the words limiting or excluding your right to claim. So when you get your car insurance quotes, you should try reading the policy before you buy. Some of it will be hard to understand, but it's better to know what the problems are going to be before you make a claim. That way, life will be less of a disappointment.