Tax law is ugly, and IRS regulations uglier still. Sometimes, though, U.S. Tax Court opinions can be a model of clear, accessible writing.

Comes now the opinion issued Wednesday by Tax Court Judge Mark V. Holmes in a case brought by former savings-and-loan owners Mark J. and Sharon A. Felt. Suits & Sentences offers  kudos to Judge Holmes for an easy to follow opinion that's almost colloquial in its approach.

The case itself is pretty intriguing, particularly in the light it sheds on the high-flying S&L days. Remember them? As Judge Holmes recounts:

"Volatile interest rates, a mismatch of short-term government-insured liabilities and long-term risky investments -- plus some outright thievery -- led to a financial crisis in the industry when borrowers defaulted at staggering rates. Hundreds of S&Ls failed, and Texas was especially hard hit."

Read the opinion for more juicy detail about Felt's Reliance Savings Association. Read it, too, for the informal touches; small, in themselves, but they add up to smooth the medicine going down. Such as:

"The deal was trouble from the start."

"(Reliance) was failing, and regulators wanted him to sell. To make matters worse, David and his wife Sharon failed to file their tax returns..."

"Felt took the hint and, in August 1986, agreed to sell his entire interest in Reliance."

"The Felts both testified that life became grim. David said they had had an A+ lifestyle before mid-1987, which gradually became an F lifestyle."