united-states contract-law
Can you require a contract writer to make another official document that vulgarize the content of the contract in the United States?
<p>Can you require a contract writer to make another official document that vulgarize the content of the contract in the United States? Or is it your responsibility to hire a lawyer and verify the content of the contract? I heard there's a law called fraudulent misrepresentation. But that law doesn't say that a party needs to represent the content of a contract, it only states he can't misrepresent it though.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Under contract law, a plaintiff can recover compensatory damages
against a defendant when a court finds that the defendant has
committed fraudulent misrepresentation. Courts will typically find
that a defendant has committed fraudulent misrepresentation when six
factors have been met:</p>
<p>a representation was made</p>
<p>the representation was false</p>
<p>that when made, the defendant knew that the representation was false
or that the defendant made the statement recklessly without knowledge
of its truth</p>
<p>that the fraudulent misrepresentation was made with the intention that
the plaintiff rely on it that the plaintiff did rely on the fraudulent
misrepresentation</p>
<p>that the plaintiff suffered harm as a result of the fraudulent
misrepresentation</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fraudulent_misrepresentation" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fraudulent_misrepresentation</a></p>

<p>Nah, you can't.</p>
<p>First of all, you can't require the other party <em>anything</em> until you <em>have</em> a contract. They owe nothing to you.</p>
<p>Once you've got an offer from them (i.e. a written contract they offer you to sign), you can ask them to clarify the terms as much as you wish — until they get bored and withdraw the offer.</p>
<p>You also can make counteroffers: draft your own contract instead and offer them to sign. (Note that by doing this you kill their initial offer i.e. you can't accept it anymore unless they offer it again).</p>
<p>Misrepresentation (let alone fraudulent) is not relevant until proven. Lack of clarity or complex legalese language is no misrepresentation.</p>

<p>I can't figure out what you're asking from the OP, but from the examples it seems to be about &quot;misrepresentation of the contents of a contract&quot;. I might make a false verbal representation about the nature of the actual thing or service being offered, which could be the basis of a misrepresentation lawsuit. There isn't necessarily a written contract, esp. in the case of ordinary sales.</p>
<p>When there <em>is</em> a written contract, consumers frequently do not read the contract, instead they rely on the salesman's description of &quot;what it's about&quot;. Often, contracts contain an &quot;entire agreement clause&quot; which says &quot;This piece of paper is the entire contract&quot;. Additionally, there is a general common law rule of contracts, the parol evidence rule, that tends to exclude verbal statements from affecting the interpretation of the written contract. So if the salesman says &quot;You can cancel at any time and you'll get a full refund&quot; but the contract says &quot;you can cancel only within 10 days and you will be charged 25% restocking fee&quot;, and when dealing with a written contract especially one with an entire agreement clause, the errors of interpretation by the salesman don't matter. (But then there might be special statutes overcoming that, for example a jurisdiction might mandate cancellation with 100% refund if cancelled within 60 days&quot;).</p>
<p>Part of fraudulent misrepresentation is that the person harmed would not have reasonably known that a claim is false. If I offer you with a burnt, crushed vehicle, telling you that it is a new Tesla (and fail to state that it doesn't function as a car anymore), and you see this burnt block before accepting, you should have known that it isn't a functioning vehicle. I did not misrepresent anything, you cannot recover from me.</p>
