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Will Contracts Look Like Cartoons?

By Michael King posted 11-18-2016 13:23

  

ANSWER:          ILLUSTRATED CONTRACTS MAY NEED TO GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD.

A Sketchy Idea?

     Cape Town attorney Robert de Rooy is credited in the July 14, 2016 Cape Times for developing "the world's first contract using pictures…."   The idea is that cartoon comics will help people understand the contracts they are signing.   "Comic Contracts uses visualization, where the parties are represented by characters, and illustrations to explain the terms of the contract."

     Mr. de Rooy said that he worked on the idea of Comic Contracts for three years. He felt that contracts often fail to create good relationships between the involved parties. "I looked at how these agreements could be made simpler to understand and realised it was through using pictures."

     Drawn to the idea?

Dagwood Bumstead or Dilbert for Employment Contracts?

     Mr. de Rooy thinks that employment contracts would be well suited to the Comic Contract concept. "Giving an employee pages of text they do not understand is institutional oppression.   The purpose of a Comic Contract is to empower the parties to understand each other, to understand what they expect from each other, and what they are committing to."

     The chairman of one of Mr. de Rooy's clients, Indigo Fruit Growers, thought Comic Contracts would better balance contracts between employers and employees:

               It creates a more equitable situation which can only be the start of a more 'honest' relationship with our employees. I believe that workers
               can only commit fully to the content of a contract if they understand what they are signing.

     But will a comic book character be able to depict that balance? Having seen some examples of Comic Contract employment agreements, they seem demeaning and discriminatory. In the U.S. "dumbing down" employment law is asking for trouble.

     What if your cartoon characters are not ethnically, religiously and gender diverse? If your comic employees reflect a youthful workforce, will you be sued for age discrimination? Your sexual harassment and termination for cause provisions should be real eye-openers! The panels on inappropriate relations with co-workers and impairment on the job might get you sued before you ever hire someone.

Different Comic Styles for Different Contracts?

     What types of contracts require a Bil Keane or Charles Schulz approach? Your agreements for your child's preschool or piano lessons?

      I don't think Al Capp or Walt Kelly would have written iron-clad loan agreements! Li'l Abner from Dogpatch, USA and Pogo Possum from the Okefenokee Swamp were not known for careful and correct use of the English language.

     I only want the Little Pig who built his house of brick for my Construction Contracts. The Little Pig with the straw and stick houses won't be in my architect contracts.

Different Characters for Different Agreements?

     Clearly, new cartoons and new characters will be needed.

  •  Lender Lion chases Borrower Bunny's carrot collateral down a burrow?
  • Lizard Landlord and Turtle Tenant (habitually slow with the rent!)?
  • For promissory notes we need to have caricatures of Maker Woman and Holder Man.
  • Sally Seller's artfully drawn limited warranty to Barry Buyer could become a collectible.

     While I have encountered some comically drafted contracts, I am pretty sure the scriveners did not mean for them to be funny. I can't even imagine what new rules of contract interpretation will be needed by the courts. I guess contracts will still be construed against the parties that drew them up.

Multi-Million Dollar Commercial Loans Documented by Comics?

     If Comic Contracts are the future, other technologies must be employed. The multi-million dollar international secured transaction will require Disney animators, at a minimum! Imagine, Snow White and the Seven Bankers!

     When I started drafting contracts using 8 ½ by 14 inch pages and carbon paper, I couldn't have imagined the electronic contracts of today. Maybe illustrated contracts are the next best thing to electronic signatures. I think, however, that Comic Contracts will create more problems than they solve.

     If you need help documenting any type of agreement, no matter how simple or how complex, I would be happy to "draw it up."

Mike King 602-256-4405

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