A Wisconsin litigant argued that the “and” in “and/or”, in the terms of an insurance policy, meant he was covered for skiing unless all 3 of these conditions were met:
“no cover provided whilst skiing in violation of applicable laws, rules or regulations; away from prepared and marked in-bound territories; and/or against the advice of the local ski school or local authoritative body.”
He lost. He might have done better if he had interpreted the clause this way at the start of his case. Or if his own written argument had not also used “and/or” to mean “one or more of”.
Thanks to Clarity member Natasha Costello for pointing out this case.
Redmond v Sirius International Insurance Corporation, US District Court, ED Wisconsin, 7 April 2014.
(Possession of a High School Diploma OR a General Education Development (G.E.D.) test certificate AND/OR possess sixty (60) or more college credit hours from an accredited college or university.)
Does And/Or mean that I can have 60 college credit hour without possessing a high school diploma or G.E.D.?
That’s another good example of ambiguity in “and/or”. For likely and possible meanings, see the later post “Should you ever write ‘and/or’?”: https://clarifynow.co.uk/should-you-ever-write-and-or/