Can a comma be worth $10 million? Yes.
Over the years, I’ve been teased about being the “Comma Queen.” That’s because of my belief that a little comma can REALLY make a difference. And a judge has sided with me.
I won’t paraphrase the story. I’ll just start it here and let you go to http://abcnews.go.com/Weird/wireStory/court-decision-dairy-drivers-lawsuit-hung-comma-46204469 to read the whole thing, titled “Lack of comma sense ignites debate after ruling in $10M suit.”
Here’s the beginning of the story:
It all came down to a missing comma, and not just any one. And it’s reignited a longstanding debate over whether the punctuation is necessary.
A federal appeals court decided this week to keep alive a lawsuit by dairy drivers seeking more than $10 million in an overtime pay dispute.
It concerned Maine’s overtime law, which doesn’t apply to the “canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of” foods.