Fighting over Words: Language and Civil Law Cases »

Roger Shuy is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Georgetown University. He is the author of Linguistics in the Courtroom: A Practical Guide and Creating Language Crimes: How Law Enforcement Uses (and Misuses) Language.

Most people fight over something or other and language is usually at the very center of the conflict. Often the way we use language is the cause of the battle. There are many areas in which fighting about language can be observed but civil law cases offer the most fertile examples of this warfare over words. What did the contract actually say? Was there deception in the advertising? Was the warning label clear and effective? Did the company evidence race or age discrimination against employees or customers? Was one company's name too similar to that of another company? Did the corporation plagiarize the work of another? Did it fraudulently represent what its work?

This book is about the ways linguistic analysis describes, exposes, and aids disputes in 18 civil cases where language framed the battleground. Roger Shuy, a well-known forensic linguist and consultant, shows how the skills of linguistic analysis can help resolve disputed meanings, while also showing how civil cases can prove to be fertile ground for linguistic scholarship. He does this by collecting and analyzing cases involving contracts, trademark disputes, advertisements, product liability, copyright infringement, discrimination, trademark disputes, and fraud controversies. In each case he employs all the tools of formal linguistics to show how it can be as helpful as other physical sciences in resolving legal disagreements.

The work will be of interest primarily to linguists — sociolinguists, forensic linguists, and scholars and students of law and society — as well as lawyers and law students.

Introduction     3
Business Contract Disputes
"Or" in a Group Insurance Policy: Peter Koehn v. Continental Casualty Company     15
Exclusive Marketing Services: Matrixx Marketing v. New Strategies Productions     25
Conditions of a Key Employee Agreement: EMC Corporation v. Jeffrey E. Allen     29
Interpreting State Code: State of Nevada v. Preferred Equities Corporation     37
Deceptive Trade Practices
Competing Conveying System Advertisements: Dynamic Air v. Flexicon Corporation     47
Nicotine Patch Advertisements: The States of Arizona, California, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Texas v. CIBA-Geigy Corporation     55
Certificates of Deposit Advertisements: Harold Ackerman v. Royal Bank of Pennsylvania     63
Product Liability
Brain Damage from a Cleaning Product: Pedro Lassera v. Magnaflux Corporation     75
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Eva Andrews et al. v. Adobe Trailer Sales, Fleetwood Enterprises, and Generac Corporation     83
Toxic Shock Syndrome from Tampons: Krystal H. Rinehart v. International Playtex     107
Toxic Gas in the Cockpit: Pro Form and National Insurance Company v. The Garrett Corporation     119
Copyright Infringement
A Book Is Turned into a Pamphlet: St. Martin's Press and Robert Sikorsky v. Vickers Petroleum Corporation     133
Discrimination
Racial Steering in Real Estate: HOME v. Havens Realty Corporation     145
Age Discrimination: Richard Hannye v. General Electric Company     151
Retaliatory Termination Discrimination: David E. Benekritis v. Renny Earl Johnson and the Darlington County School District     161
Trademarks
Ownership of the Words "Wood Roasted": Woodroast Systems v. Restaurants Unlimited     171
Battle over Antifreeze: Warren Distribution v. Prestone Products Corporation     189
Procurement Fraud
False Representation in a Government Contract: United States of America v. United Technologies Corporation     213
How Linguists Can Help in Corporate Civil Cases     233
References     239
Index     243