Justice Wiley's voice

Justice Wiley has emerged as a distinctive voice on the Court of Appeal. Readers could spot his fingerprints in this published opinion today by the short, simple, and direct sentences like "First is background. ... The fight was about retention. ... That is the main dispute." And "This is not a case like that." Another giveaway was this paragraph:

Felix Frankfurter reputedly said the three rules of statutory interpretation are to read the statute, read the statute, and read the statute. The same wise counsel applies to interpreting every text. So we read read read the contract, which we now describe.

This style of opinion writing seems effective and possibly helpful to parties (as opposed to lawyers).