We’ve all, at least once, made grammatical mistakes in our social posts and rarely have they ever resulted in anything more than an embarrassing moment, to be forgotten at the next interesting post. However, a grammatical error in the post Facebook of an Australian man could end up costing him the beauty of 180,000 dollars in court costs. Here’s what’s going on?
Facebook and the $ 180,000 grammar error
Anthony Zadravic, a real estate agent in New South Wales, arrived in court after forgetting to add an apostrophe to a post criticizing his former job. More specifically, Zadravic said the company is a fellow agent named Stuart Gan they would not have paid the “employees” pension fund.
Gan then presented a complaint for defamation against Zadravic in response to the post. In an attempt to dismiss the case, Zadravic said he clearly intended to add an apostrophe, which would move the subject from Gan to the company more broadly, dropping the charges. However, on Thursday a judge ruled that the case could go ahead, as adding the apostrophe would not change the overall meaning of the post.
The judge went on to explain that the process could end up costing Zadravic more than $ 180,000i, a very high price to pay for a grammar error. On the other hand, Australia has some of the toughest and most complex libel laws in the world. The laws themselves have even hindered the ability of local journalists to report stories, as a 2018 survey of Australian journalists found.
In short, it seems that a good grammar can not only help you to avoid embarrassing episodes, but also to dodge some legal problems, especially if you are facing thorny topics like the one described in this case.