My own accountant called my contract 'legally fluffy' and I can't stop thinking about it

Met with my CPA, Diane from Tulsa, last Tuesday to go over a new vendor agreement I drafted. She read three pages, laughed, and said my liability clause was 'legally fluffy' because I used the word 'reasonable' eleven times without defining it once. She showed me a single sentence that cost a former client $14,000 in a dispute, and honestly, I've been re-reading every contract I've ever signed since. Has anyone else had a professional completely call out their boilerplate language like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_alice1d agoMost Upvoted

Heard a lawyer say "reasonable" means whatever the judge ate for breakfast. Get it defined.

flores.emma5h ago

My buddy in logistics had a similar thing happen with his insurance broker in 2019. The broker flat out told him his force majeure clause was "a wish and a prayer" and pointed to three separate lines that contradicted each other. I mean, I get where Diane is coming from, but maybe it's just me, I think there's a balance. Defined terms are great, but if you box everything in too tight, you lose flexibility when real life throws something weird at you. Like, reasonable can be a safety valve if both sides are acting in good faith, though I'd probably still let a lawyer add a couple of examples to help.