Catherine Earle Mar 29, 2014:

Hi Tom Thumb,

You've got me rethinking the whole thing, always a useful exercise.

As you state, the act of filing a complaint is the process for launching a lawsuit in the US. However, it is the legitimacy of the claim that is tried.

Nonetheless, most Spanish>English dictionaries include both claim and complaint as translations for reclamo, although I can cite at least 2 sources which give a higher priority to claim as the proper translation.

My supposition is that it would be more appropriate to include both claim and complaint in one's translation if the Spanish phrase Anna gave us was followed by an all-excluding phrase such as "de ningun tipo o clase."

Another supposition: the wordiness of the contract is usually a function of the litigation experience of its author. If our used car seller were quite accustomed to being sued, there would be a laundry list of nouns that are synonyms for claim following reclamo. Whether or not there is such a list, we don't know. Given that, I prefer claim alone, since I prefer brevity in most cases.

BTW contrary to widespread rumor, Texas is still part of the US.

Cheers.

Adrian MM. (X) Mar 29, 2014:

@ Cearle Perchance you can elaborate on the Texan legalities, as claim could be a general pre-trial moan against the seller and complaint the formal process for launching a lawsuit in the US - rather than the other way round. Reclamo surely doesn't preclude either avenue.

Catherine Earle Mar 28, 2014:

I disagree with you, Mario. This is a contract. The only "claim or complaint" that a contract is concerned with is one that can be pursued in court, or, in other words, one that can give rise to a lawsuit. Since it's a contract, it is unnecessary to specify "claim or complaint." "Claim" is sufficient. In fact, many organizations perform intensive research into their customers' complaints in order to be able to improve the products/services they sell.

Mario Freitas Mar 28, 2014:

Claim vs. Complaint In order to use "claim", you have to be sure the text refers to a legal claim (a lawsuit). It's quite common in purchase & sale agreements of used goods to mention the buyer shall not be able to complain about any features of the asset once the deal is closed. So I prefer "complaint" here (MHO).

philgoddard Mar 28, 2014:

Anna A couple of points:
"The vehicle subject matter hereof" is too literal. You could just say "the vehicle".
"At his full satisfaction" isn't right either: "at" is wrong (it's "to"), and "he/his" is sexist. How about "that they are fully satisfied with the vehicle"?

Anna Heath (asker) Mar 28, 2014:

Thanks Guillermo! Any way to allocate equal points to you and Cearle?

Guillermo Urbina Valdés Mar 28, 2014:

That looks good to me

Anna Heath (asker) Mar 28, 2014:

Hi all, I have the following:

THE BUYER represents that he receives the vehicle subject matter hereof at his full satisfaction and shall not be able to file subsequent claims since it is a second-hand vehicle.

It´s one of those ones where I´m not totally lost, but I did want to check my version. And then, I didn´t want to ask a leading question. Thanks everyone.

Is my version OK?