💵 A Comma Worth $2 Million. The most expensive grammar lesson in history.

In 2006, Canadian telecom giant Rogers Communications received a bill that made their lawyers' eyes go dark. Because of one extra comma in a contract, they almost lost $2.13 million 😱

Let's reveal the essence of the drama.
Rogers leased thousands of utility poles from Bell Aliant for their cables. The contract was for 5 years at a fixed price of $9.60 per pole.

But a couple of years later, Bell Aliant decided this was too cheap and canceled the contract, doubling the price.
Rogers objected: “We have a 5-year contract without termination rights!”
Bell replied: “Re-read page 14.”

😈 The fateful phrase looked like this:
“The agreement shall be in effect for a period of five years, and thereafter for successive five-year terms, unless and until terminated with one year's notice”


See the comma before “unless”?🔎
Bell's lawyers (and the court!) argued: this comma means that the termination rule applies to the entire sentence, including the first five years. If it weren't there, termination would only apply to renewals.

🔨The regulator ruled: “Based on punctuation rules, the contract can be terminated at any time.” Rogers lost the first trial because of a single grammatical squiggle.