Is your client averse to the potentially adverse effects of litigation? Or are they adverse to those effects?
Uses of Adverse:
- Adverse (adjective): Adverse is an adjective that describes something unfavorable, harmful, or detrimental: “This holding will have adverse effects on future qui tam relators.”
- Legal Terms of Art:
- Adverse Possession: Adverse possession is a doctrine that gives a trespasser the right to claim title to a portion of land they have possessed in an “adverse” manner for a specified period.
- Adverse Parties: This refers to parties that have opposing interests in a lawsuit. Put another way: they are on “opposite sides of the v.”
Uses of Averse:
- Averse (adjective): Averse is an adjective that describes a strong feeling of dislike or opposition towards something: “She is averse to litigation as a general matter.”
Rules—Averse or Adverse: Use adverse if you’re describing something DETRIMENTAL (“this news might have adverse effects on our revenues for this quarter”) and averse if you’re describing something the subject wants to AVOID (“she is averse to litigation”).
- Note: Collocates for adverse include effect, reaction, impact, and possession.
And with those rules in mind, I hope you’re not too averse to some practice problems!
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