Morals of the Judge Moore Demand Letter Story: 14 Commandments

Let's turn the world's most famous demand letter into a teachable moment! Here's a start.

1.   Thou Shalt Watch Thy Spelling

• Don’t confuse “it’s” and “its.” “It’s” is a contraction. Write “its president, Kayla Moore,” not “it’s President Kayla Moore.” And write “your company and its interests,” not “your company and it’s interests.”
• Write “Adverse Inference,” not “Adverse Interference.”
• Write “oftentimes,” not “often times.”

2.   Thou Shalt Watch Thy Language

• Write “we demand [that] this circus cease immediately,” not “we demand this circus cease and desist immediately.” How can a circus desist? Only the ringleader could desist.
• Write “in anticipation of,” not “in anticipating of.”
• Write “including, but not limited to,” not “to include but not limited to” or “such as, yet not limited to.”
• Write “comport with his typical vernacular,” not “comport to his typical vernacular.”
• Write “should be recanted,” not “due to be recanted.”
• Write “defamatory statements,” not “defaming statements.”
• Write “careless and/or intentional refusal to” or “carelessly and/or intentionally refused to,” not “careless and/or intentionally refusal to.”
• Write “clear and significant difference,” not “clear, yet significant difference.”
• Write “under Alabama law,” not “per Alabama law.”
• Write “with regard to,” not “with regards to.”
• Write “even if your client is not held,” not “even if your client is not a held.”
• Be consistent. Write “your client,” not “your client as an outlet” on one page and “your client as an entity” on another.
• Be consistent. Don’t write “those women” and then “the other ladies” (and don’t use “ladies” at all).
• Write “The other ladies who were rounded up,” not “the other ladies which were rounded up.” (Did I already mention avoiding “ladies”?)

3.   Thou Shalt Watch Thy Sentence Structure

• Avoid fragments. “Inaccurately reporting the income paid by The Foundation.” is not a complete sentence. Nor is “Inaccurately reporting the travel expenses and accommodations of my clients.”

4.   Thou Shalt Adopt American Punctuation Conventions

• Put periods inside quotation marks. Write “playing to a ‘mob mentality.’” not “playing to a ‘mob mentality’.”

5.   Thou Shalt Watch Thy Commas

• Distinguish between “which” and “, which.”
• Put commas after introductory phrases. Write “As you may know, ‘Defamation,’” not “As you may know ‘Defamation.’”

6.   Thou Shalt Either Use the Oxford Comma or Not, but Thou Shalt Not Go Back and Forth

(too many examples to list)

7.   Thou Shalt Watch Thy Agreement

• Write “the matter published is false,” not “the matter published are false.”
• Don’t use “them” to refer to an individual person.
• Write “Your client, by and through its agents, HAS damaged,” not “Your client . . . HAVE damaged.”
• Write “If you or someone with [in?] your office HAS any questions, not “If you or someone with your office HAVE any questions.”

8.   Thou Shalt Watch Thy Comparisons

• Write “retraction in as prominent and public a place or manner as THAT OF the matter published,” not “place or manner as the matter published.”

9.   Thou Shalt Watch Thy Capitalization

• Don’t capitalize common nouns such as “Yearbook” in the phrase “signed a Yearbook.”
• Don’t capitalize “to wit.” (Better yet, don't write "to wit" in the first place.)
• Don’t capitalize “court” used generically. Write “in a court of law,” not “in a Court of law.”
• Don’t capitalize causes of action. Write “third-party tort for spoliation,” not “Third Party Tort for Spoliation.”

10. Thou Shalt Watch Thy Use of Quotation Marks

• Don’t put quotation marks around causes of action: Write “defamation is,” not “‘Defamation’ is.”
• Don’t put quotation marks around idioms. Write “playing to a mob mentality,” not “playing to a ‘mob mentality’.”

11. Thou Shalt Watch Thy Use of Parentheses and Brackets

• Parentheses come in pairs: “(To wit: . . . etc.).”
• Don’t write numbers out twice, but if you do, use parentheses, not brackets: “two (2),” not “two [2].”

12. Thou Shalt Use Parallel Structure in Lists

• Write “reports THAT Moore was banned . . . was on . . . had . . . badgered . . . and had,” not “reports THAT Moore was banned . . . was on . . . had . . . THAT HE badgered . . . and had.”

13. Thou Shalt Avoid Ambiguous Pronouns

• What does “Such” refer to in “Such is untrue”?
• What does “This” refer to in “This is often times referred to”?
• What does “This” refer to in “This includes damages to”?

14. Thou Shalt Stop Cutting “That”

• Write “it is clear and convincing that your client consciously,” not “it is clear and convincing your client consciously.”
• Write “Note that our request includes,” not “Note, our request includes.”