Lawyering at Its Finest

This afternoon, I had the distinct displeasure of working on what may actually be the sloppiest piece of legal work I've ever seen. It's full of incomplete sentences, disconnected phrases that break off into nothingness, often just at the crucial point. Sentences that make no sense: one part contradicts the next, or vital pieces such as a verb are missing. In other places, we find poor proofreading and just plain bad grammar. It is painful to read, and just opens the door wide for litigation over unclear terms and conditions. One example, with the identifying details removed, but all of the poor grammar left intact, right down to the lack of punctuation:

"Charges for increased utility rates shall not be passed through to Tenant which if submetered billed separately by the utility company and Tenant agrees to separate metering at Tenant's sole expense."

Ah, what the hey. Here's another one for that thrilling biting-on-tinfoil feeling:

"Tenant's failure to pay utility charges shall be deterred to be a failure of pay rent as required herein."