At law, the term “Promptly” isn’t defined. At least, not within the legal dictionary. Black’s Law Dictionary does not have anything for the term, though allegedly older versions from the 1990s used to define “promptly” as “depending on the facts in each case, for what is ‘prompt’ in one situation may not be considered such under other circumstances or conditions.” Oregon caselaw provides a single example that defines the term “promptly” as “quickly” or “expeditiously” (City of Pendleton v. Jeffery & Bufton, 95 Or. 447 (1920)). The standard everywhere else and at common law though? “Promptly” means “within a reasonable time, in view of all the facts and circumstances of the case.” Promptly creating issues in contracting when there are reasonable disagreements. For example, a seller must promptly provide the HOA documents for a sale once the documents are received, but before they receive the documents, the seller is called away for a familial emergency in Cheboygan, Michigan, out in the back country at an ailing grandparent’s house with no internet access. The day before closing, the seller arrives home and immediately puts the documents in the mailbox for the buyer, like, within moments of arriving home, it’s in an envelope with a stamp. The buyer would reasonably argue, “You did not promptly provide the documents to me, because we’re the day before closing, and it only now got into the mailbox.” The seller can equally reasonably argue, “I did it as fast as I possibly could, but I was literally unable to send it until the day before closing.” The abstraction of what it means to do something “promptly” in light of the circumstances is then for the court to decide.
Flexible concepts are not great for contracting in many cases though, so at times you will see a contract define the term in a more specific way to cut away at the abstraction [e.g. the Oregon REALTORS® forms do this and any use of the term “promptly” in OR Forms means “as soon as practicable, but no more than 2 business days”]. The common law definition of something will typically be set aside when the parties to a contract specifically decide to define a term differently. The contract is king when determining the meaning of terms, and you can cut away from abstract definitions through intentional drafting.