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As some of you know [and all of you should know] our Standard Form Contracts are customized for your state and for your company. Keeping up with all the different state's is an enormous task, and I appreciate all the input from those of you who send me changes in the law and suggestions. In the category of "you'd have to see it to believe it" I decided to share with you the law in Connecticut. Keep in mind that this is the collective product Connecticut's legislators. You will also see below comments [in italics] by one of my associate attorneys, Max Padden, who researched this for preparation of our Connecticut residential contracts. I can't make this stuff up.
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CONNECTICUT CONTRACT LANGUAGE
To comply with Connecticut law, every consumer contract entered into after June 30, 1980, must be written in “plain language.” This statement raises three distinct questions: first, what is a consumer contract; second, what constitutes plain language; and finally, how does one ensure that their subscriber contracts are compliant. Each is addressed in turn below.
Definition of a Consumer Contract:
Chapter 742 of the Connecticut code defines a “consumer” as any individual who borrows, leases, buys or obtains money, property or services under a written agreement. It further defines “consumer contract” as follows:
An agreement is a consumer contract if:
(1) A consumer enters into the agreement primarily for personal, family or household purposes, and
(2) The agreement is one in which the consumer: (A) Borrows up to twenty-five thousand dollars or receives up to twenty-five thousand dollars in credit from a person who lends money or extends credit in the ordinary course of business; or (B) agrees to pay up to twenty-five thousand dollars to buy or lease personal property or services from a person who is acting in the ordinary course of business; or (C) leases any residential dwelling.
Given these broad definitions, virtually all residential burglar alarm, fire alarm, and PERS contracts will be considered “consumer contracts” for the purposes of the “plain language” standard.
Plain Language:
Section 42-152 of the Connecticut code provides that a consumer contract is written in “plain language” on if it meets either the “Plain Language Test” or the “Alternative Objective Test.” Beginning with the latter, to pass muster under the Alternative Objective Test, your contract must meet all of the following:
(1) The average number of words per sentence is less than twenty-two; and
(2) No sentence in the contract exceeds fifty words; and
(3) The average number of words per paragraph is less than seventy-five; and
(4) No paragraph in the contract exceeds one hundred fifty words; and
(5) The average number of syllables per word is less than 1.55; and
(6) It uses personal pronouns, the actual or shortened names of the parties to the contract, or both, when referring to those parties; and
(7) It uses no typeface of less than eight points in size; and
(8) It allows at least three-sixteenths of an inch of blank space between each paragraph and section; and
(9) It allows at least one-half of an inch of blank space at all borders of each page; and
(10) If the contract is printed, each section is captioned in boldface type at least ten points in size. If the contract is typewritten, each section is captioned and the captions are underlined; and
(11) It uses an average length of line of no more than sixty-five characters.
There are a number of rules (provided below) that the state provides to help apply this test to specific contracts, however, as a general matter, the language utilized in most effective contracts, including our all-in-one contract will not satisfy this test. Instead our contracts seek to comply with the Plain Language Test. Under this test:
A consumer contract is written in plain language if it substantially complies with all of the following tests:
(1) It uses short sentences and paragraphs; and
(2) It uses everyday words; and
(3) It uses personal pronouns, the actual or shortened names of the parties to the contract, or both, when referring to those parties; and
(4) It uses simple and active verb forms; and
(5) It uses type of readable size; and
(6) It uses ink which contrasts with the paper; and
(7) It heads sections and other subdivisions with captions which are in boldface type or which otherwise stand out significantly from the text; and
(8) It uses layout and spacing which separate the paragraphs and sections of the contract from each other and from the borders of the paper; and
(9) It is written and organized in a clear and coherent manner.
As this standard is clearly subjective, it is quite difficult to accurately determine whether individual contracts are compliant with Connecticut law. The statutory penalty for non-compliance with Chapter 742 is $100 per violation, which a court may augment in its discretion, with an award of reasonable attorney’s fees not to exceed $100. Fortunately, the current case law suggests that even in cases of non-compliance with the rules of Chapter 742, Connecticut Courts are not regularly invalidating entire agreements (pursuant to section 42-155), but rather reducing the amount a subscriber is liable to the alarm company for under a liquidated damages (or similar) provision by $200. However, as a matter of precaution, it is always a good idea to utilize contracts that have been written with these standards in mind and tested by the Connecticut courts such as our Standard All-in-One.
Sec. 42-158. Test procedures.
Use the following procedures to determine compliance with subsection (c) of section 42-152:
(a) Words. To count the number of words in the contract, proceed as follows:
(1) Count every word used in the text of the contract.
(2) Do not count words or numerals used in headings, captions, signature lines, graphs or charts.
(3) Do not count single words or phrases used to identify the information required in a fill-in section of a contract, such as "Name" or "Address".
(4) Count as one word a contraction, hyphenated word, numeral, symbol, or abbreviation.
(5) Do not count words which are exempt under section 42-156.
(b) Sentences. A sequence of words is a "sentence", if:
(1) It expresses a complete thought; and
(2) It contains a subject and a verb, including the implied subject "you"; and
(3) It ends with a period. If it is an item in a list, it may end with a semicolon. If it is an introduction to a list, it may end with a colon.
(c) Syllables. A "syllable" is a unit of spoken language consisting of one or more letters of a word, as the word is divided by any dictionary. To count the number of syllables, proceed as follows:
(1) If there is more than one acceptable pronunciation for a word, use the one having fewer syllables.
(2) Count abbreviations, numerals, and symbols as one-syllable words.
(d) Paragraphs. A sequence of words is a "paragraph", if:
(1) It consists of one or more sentences; and
(2) It starts on a new line; and
(3) It is separated by at least three-sixteenths of an inch of blank space from the text immediately preceding and following it.
(e) Lists. A sequence of words is a "list", if:
(1) Each item in the sequence is introduced by a numeral or letter; and
(2) Each item in the sequence starts on a new line.
(f) Length of line. (1) A printed text line does not exceed sixty-five characters if the distance between the inside left and inside right margins does not exceed the width of two and one-half alphabets of the type face being used.
(2) A text line typed at ten characters per inch does not exceed sixty-five characters if the length of the line does not exceed six and one-half inches.
(3) A text line typed at twelve characters per inch does not exceed sixty-five characters if the length of the line does not exceed five and one-half inches.
(g) Average number of words per sentence. Count the total number of words and sentences in the contract, as described in this section. Then divide the number of words by the number of sentences. The result is the average number of words per sentence.
(h) Average number of words per paragraph. Count the total number of words and paragraphs in the contract, as described in this section. Then divide the number of words by the number of paragraphs. The result is the average number of words per paragraph.
(i) Average number of syllables per word. Count the total number of syllables and words in the contract, as described in this section. Then divide the number of syllables by the number of words. The result is the average number of syllables per word.
(j) Special procedures for list formats. To count sentences and paragraphs if a list format is used, proceed as follows:
(1) Examine the introduction to the list and each item in the list to see if it is a sentence or a paragraph.
(2) Do not count as part of any sentence the words "and", "or", "if", "if and only if", or "then", if they are used to link the items of the list to each other or to the introduction.
(3) If each item in the list is a sentence, count each as a sentence. If any item is not a sentence, count the entire list as part of the sentence and paragraph containing the introduction. Do not count an item in a list as either a sentence or a paragraph if the subject or verb appears in the introduction.
(4) If each item in the list is a sentence but the introduction is not, count the introduction as part of the sentence containing the first item in the list.
(5) If each item in the list is a sentence and, in addition, each item is separated by at least three-sixteenths of an inch of blank space from the sentences immediately preceding and following it, count each item as a paragraph.
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