In March 2017, the Internet blew up with reports of a Maine company that was going to lose millions in a class action overtime dispute due to the lack of a serial (Oxford) comma. Now, an appellate court in Georgia was asked to rule on the placement of a semicolon in an insurance policy to determine whether the homeowner had coverage for a home destroyed by fire.
|The case
After Ronald Lee purchased a home in Riverdale, Georgia, owned by his childhood friend, Jim Constable, Constable's family continued living on the property. Constable, who was facing significant financial difficulties, paid no rent.
Lee sought insurance for the house from Lawrence Arnold, an insurance agent who was a friend of Constable. According to Lee, he spoke with Arnold over the telephone to provide him with the information required to complete the application. Lee said that because he was not there to sign the application, he asked whether Constable could sign his name, and Arnold replied, “Yes, that's fine.”
According to Lee, Arnold knew that Lee would not be living at the home full-time; Lee told him that he would “be stopping in … because I travel.” Lee also said that Arnold never asked him if he would be living there, because Arnold “knew [Constable] was living there” based on Arnold's friendship with Constable.
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