Well-written: Judge Cook

A-Nu would like to give literary props to Judge Cook's decision in JDP, Inc. v. Chronimed, Inc., 2008 WL 3876343 (6th Cir. Aug. 22, 2008). A-Nu always gets fidgety when she sees "inc." on both sides of the v., and true to expectation, this is one boring-ass contract case. Yet Judge Cook ably performs the Herculean task of making this yawner of a dispute readable.

A-Nu calls her readers' attention to the little ways Judge Cook makes her prose sound -- if not exactly scintillating -- at least not like something vomited straight out of a contracts treatise. She describes one party as not wishing the other "to merely turn over the keys and leave," while the restless party "chafed" and "felt crippled by" the other's business approach. The opinion is peppered with such relatively colorful description.

And in addition to elevating the opinion from the "utter tedium" category, Judge Cook's avoidance of lawyer-ese serves another purpose. She reminds us that there are human beings with real-life interests behind the "inc." Especially in contracts, such an achievement is a more than worthy accomplishment.