Alleged Ponzi scheme operator Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr. has just learned a harsh lesson to read the fine print. Which could be construed as ironic, or come-uppance, or just plain sad for this 74-year-old Florida resident.

Mr. Bowdoin was the, let's say, mastermind behind Ad Surf Daily. Ad Surf Daily promoted "advertising packages" that promised "extraordinary benefits." He collected millions of dollars. Florida state officials, though, called his business a classic "pyramid" operation. His good thing collapsed.

Last year, federal officials sought to seize some of Mr. Bowdoin's Florida property in Quincy, Fla. On advice of his attorney, Steven Dobson, he first agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department. Said Bowdoin:

"Given the possibility of a long prison term, I agreed not to exercise my rights in the civil forfeiture
proceeding, anticipating from representations made by Dobson that this could possibly keep me out of prison."

But when he learned that prison, in fact, remained a possibility, Bowdoin sought to back out of his agreement. Now, in a development worth keeping in mind if you plan on trying to cut a deal with prosecutors, or with attorneys who are trying to cut the deal, U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer has ruled that Bowdoin should have known the contingencies he was involved with.

The bottom line:

"Mr. Bowdoin completely understood what he was doing: releasing his claims and cooperating to 'possibly avoid a prison sentence.'

In other words: nail it down.

The Center for Food Safety is a private entity, not to be confused with the federal Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. It is also in contempt of court, a potentially costly place to be.

Late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer ruled the Center for Food Safety is in civil contempt for having "failed to obey a subpoena and, on top of that, (having) failed to obey a specific court order without legal basis." Judge Collyer ordered the group to cough up the subpoenaed documents by Nov. 16, or start paying $1,000 a day for its failure.

Judge Collyer sets up the case this way:

"The Center for Food Safety abhors the application of sewage sludge onto land, believing that it is harmful to animal health and the environment. It, and its Executive Director Andrew C. Kimbrell, have offered support and information to a group of plaintiffs in a qui tam lawsuit that challenges the accuracy of a report on the subject done for the Environmental Protection Agency and alleges that the authors violated the False Claims Act."

Abhors: nice word choice.

Evidently, the original qui tam lawsuit evolved into a separate lawsuit, by which parties tried to obtain Center for Food Safety documents. The subpoenas were issued April 29. The Center claimed the material was privileged, but otherwise proved largely uncommunicative for some time. Judge Collyer flicked away the Center's arguments for why the subpoenas shouldn't be enforced, and here we are.

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.