Suits & Sentences appreciates it when judges manage to convey empathy even when ruling against a party. Sometimes, only a few words are needed to communicate the human touch that distinguishes the decent person from the justice-dispensing automaton.

Take the decision issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, dismissing a case brought by an aggrieved physician. Judge Collyer kicks off her opinion thusly:

"This case presents the sad personal story of Plaintiff Lawrence C. Agee..."

This draws the reader in -- what is the sad story, exactly? -- while underscoring the judge's understanding of the human dimension. This is especially noteworthy, because Dr. Agee's litigious campaign could be seen as highly vexing and tiresome in some circles.

Dr. Agee is a urologist who practiced medicine in Vermont until Fletcher Allen Health Care notified the National Practitioners Data Bank in 1999 and 2000 of its decisions to suspend his hospital privileges because of concerns about his  fitness to practice medicine. Since then, as Judge Collyer notes, Dr. Agee has "resorted to courts in Vermont, California and, now, Washington, D.C., to get his name off the 'federal blacklist' at the National Practitioners Data Bank."

In repeated complaints, Dr. Agee has claimed defamation, harassment, infliction of emotional distress, violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and more; much more.

The gist is quite sad. As spelled out in a prior court ruling, Dr. Agee came to believe his wife had robbed his home and threatened to kill him; at the time, Dr. Agee was suffering from serious sleep deprivation and the side effects of Halcion, a sleep medication. At one point, he came to believe one of his patients was following him around. He said his wife made him drink something with heavy meals in it; fearful, he fled Vermont for a while.

So it's like that.

In his latest case, Judge Collyer dismissed the complaint on the simple basis that her court lacked jurisdiction over the National Practitioners Data Bank.