Judge sues cleaner for $65M over pants

S

Starseeker

Vault Senior Citizen
Nice guy..., if he is a judge...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070503/ap_on_fe_st/65_million_dollar_pants

By LUBNA TAKRURI, Associated Press Writer Thu May 3, 6:55 AM ET

WASHINGTON - The Chungs, immigrants from
South Korea, realized their American dream when they opened their dry-cleaning business seven years ago in the nation's capital. For the past two years, however, they've been dealing with the nightmare of litigation: a $65 million lawsuit over a pair of missing pants.


Jin Nam Chung, Ki Chung and their son, Soo Chung, are so disheartened that they're considering moving back to Seoul, said their attorney, Chris Manning, who spoke on their behalf.

"They're out a lot of money, but more importantly, incredibly disenchanted with the system," Manning said. "This has destroyed their lives."

The lawsuit was filed by a District of Columbia administrative hearings judge, Roy Pearson, who has been representing himself in the case.

Pearson did not return phone calls and e-mails Wednesday from The Associated Press requesting comment.

According to court documents, the problem began in May 2005 when Pearson became a judge and brought several suits for alteration to Custom Cleaners in Northeast Washington, a place he patronized regularly despite previous disagreements with the Chungs. A pair of pants from one suit was not ready when he requested it two days later, and was deemed to be missing.

Pearson asked the cleaners for the full price of the suit: more than $1,000.

But a week later, the Chungs said the pants had been found and refused to pay. That's when Pearson decided to sue.

Manning said the cleaners made three settlement offers to Pearson. First they offered $3,000, then $4,600, then $12,000. But Pearson wasn't satisfied and expanded his calculations beyond one pair of pants.

Because Pearson no longer wanted to use his neighborhood dry cleaner, part of his lawsuit calls for $15,000 — the price to rent a car every weekend for 10 years to go to another business.

"He's somehow purporting that he has a constitutional right to a dry cleaner within four blocks of his apartment," Manning said.

But the bulk of the $65 million comes from Pearson's strict interpretation of D.C.'s consumer protection law, which fines violators $1,500 per violation, per day. According to court papers, Pearson added up 12 violations over 1,200 days, and then multiplied that by three defendants.

Much of Pearson's case rests on two signs that Custom Cleaners once had on its walls: "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Same Day Service."

Based on Pearson's dissatisfaction and the delay in getting back the pants, he claims the signs amount to fraud.

Pearson has appointed himself to represent all customers affected by such signs, though D.C. Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz, who will hear the June 11 trial, has said that this is a case about one plaintiff, and one pair of pants.

Sherman Joyce, president of the American Tort Association, has written a letter to the group of men who will decide this week whether to renew Pearson's 10-year appointment. Joyce is asking them to reconsider.

Chief Administrative Judge Tyrone Butler had no comment regarding Pearson's reappointment.

The association, which tries to police the kind of abusive lawsuits that hurt small businesses, also has offered to buy Pearson the suit of his choice.

And former National Labors Relations Board chief administrative law judge Melvin Welles wrote to The Washington Post to urge "any bar to which Mr. Pearson belongs to immediately disbar him and the District to remove him from his position as an administrative law judge."

"There has been a significant groundswell of support for the Chungs," said Manning, adding that plans for a defense fund Web site are in the works.

To the Chungs and their attorney, one of the most frustrating aspects of the case is their claim that Pearson's gray pants were found a week after Pearson dropped them off in 2005. They've been hanging in Manning's office for more than a year.

Pearson claims in court documents that his pants had blue and red pinstripes.

"They match his inseam measurements. The ticket on the pants match his receipt," Manning said.
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This judge should be removed. He's a bad example to the government. Even paying tripple the amount for that pants if outrageous. Over a million?! He's abusing the system.
 
Well I guess he could retire a happy man after this
 
I would give every last cent I had to see his eyes ripped out of his face and stepped on, then just leave him alive. What a fucker.
 
You're a very angry man, Metal. Has anyone ever told you that?

Personally, I'd settle for seeing the guy disbarred. Talk about your foxes guarding the henhouse... the fact that this suit is even going to trial is indicative to me of what a poor, pitiful sham the American justice system has become. Even if this man WASN'T a part of the very system he's making a mockery of, he'd be a cancer.

Here's hoping the Chungs countersue him into the ground.
 
Yamu said:
....the fact that this suit is even going to trial is indicative to me of what a poor, pitiful sham the American justice system has become.
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Again, DC, not the whole of America.

Because of it's strange position, not part of any territory or state, DC's local government has comparatively little oversight. In that environment, corruption flourishes; not to mention the idiocy commonly displayed by DC voters.
 
Anyone apart from me will make Judge Pearson youtube videos, and upload animations of how he's enjoying bleeding those dry cleaners dry over a pair of pants? I've sent a hate phone call and email to Pearson already. I can't believe he got a 10 yr renewal as judge. We should all send a letter to the bar association complaining about why Pearson is still given position as Judge.
 
Someone should put a bullet though that judge's head. But I guess that it wouldn't make much of a differance seeing that his head probably doesn't protect anything, except, perhaps, his wealth.
 
the reason its so much is because it is 2 pairs of pants not just 1, and the statutes allow for like $500 a day in reparations/damages and this has been going on for like 10 years or summat.

but this judge should get nowhere near that amount, like maybe $500 per pair and no compensation for lawyers fees.
 
they found that pants ages ago, but he claimed it wasn't his. ;)

this is just slander & contempt of court in my book.
 
That Judge's mother should've stangled him at birth with the umbilical cord. I'm not surprised that he got into the bar though... This idiotic country of mine is gitting stupider and stupider.
 
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070612/K061229AU.html

Update:

Judge suing D.C. dry cleaner chokes up in court while recalling lost trousers
Published: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 | 8:33 PM ET
Canadian Press: LUBNA TAKRURI

WASHINGTON (AP) - A judge had to leave the courtroom with tears running down his face Tuesday after recalling the lost pair of trousers that led to his $54 million US lawsuit against a dry cleaner.
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Wow.., that's just wow.
 
This was just on the news here in Australia tonight.

The individual comes across as a desperate and selfish nutter at first glance. It would be nice if he could say 'just joking, trying to demonstrate flaws in our justice system,' but he seems to have already dug too much of a hole for himself.
 
Alright, now what the fuck. $65 million over a pair of pants? Given that there's a 33% income tax penalty, that's a total of $86 million that those dry cleaners have to pay. That's outrageous. This is absolutely crossing the line, no way in hell that a pair of pants can be worth even anywhere near remotely that amount of capital. Seriously, that guy is a fucking nutjob, how did he even WIN the case? :x
 
Starseeker said:
But the bulk of the $65 million comes from Pearson's strict interpretation of D.C.'s consumer protection law, which fines violators $1,500 per violation, per day. According to court papers, Pearson added up 12 violations over 1,200 days, and then multiplied that by three defendants.
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I can't stop laughing at that logic! Talk about excessive...
 
DarkLegacy said:
Seriously, that guy is a fucking nutjob, how did he even WIN the case? :x
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He hasn't. It's a shame the court system has to put up with this nonsense though.
 
Tannhauser said:
DarkLegacy said:
Seriously, that guy is a fucking nutjob, how did he even WIN the case? :x
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He hasn't. It's a shame the court system has to put up with this nonsense though.
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You've got to love that freedom in America, anyone can sue anybody for anything.
 
You've got to love that freedom in America, anyone can sue anybody for anything.
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Nothing wrong with that, its just crack pots like this and the fact that they (in soem cases at least) actually pull it off.
 
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