This ought to show you how badly we need tort reform in this country. Jeez!! Now even the judges are filing frivolous suits (pun intended).
This morning in the nation’s capital, a local judge will go to civil court to claim that he is owed $54 million from a local dry cleaner who he says lost his pants.
The case gained national attention soon after the lawsuit was filed. The pants are expected to be introduced into evidence, although the judge says the pants are not his, and the correct pants are still missing.
The sartorial loss caused Washington, D.C., administrative law judge Roy Pearson to suffer what he calls severe “mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort.”
The defendants, who own Custom Cleaners in the Fort Lincoln section of the district, told ABC News last month that they, too, are feeling inconvenience and discomfort.
The trouble began over a $10 dry cleaning bill for a pair of prized pants, Pearson said. That figure ballooned to $67 million dollars, but in recently amended court filings, Pearson now said he is only seeking $54 million. Last week, his term on the bench reportedly expired. It’s unclear whether it will be renewed.
The lawsuit is based in large part on Pearson’s contention that he was taken in by the “Satisfaction Guaranteed” sign hanging on the store’s wall. Pearson said at one point in court papers that he planned to call 63 witnesses. Pearson is expected to testify in the civil trial..
Defending themselves against the suit — for two years running — are Korean immigrants Jin and Soo Chung and their son, who own Custom Cleaners and two other local dry cleaning shops.
Pearson said this is not the first pair of his pants Custom Cleaners has lost. In court papers Pearson said that he took a pair of pants into Custom Cleaners in 2002 and the pants were lost.
So the Chungs gave Pearson a $150 check for a new pair of pants. Three years later, Pearson said he returned to Custom Cleaners and, like some real-life “Groundhog Day” nightmare, another pair of trousers went missing. Again.
It was May 2005 and Pearson was about to begin his new job as an administrative judge. He said in court filings he wanted to wear a nice outfit to his first day of work. He said that he tried on five Hickey Freeman suits from his closet, but found them all to be “too tight,” according to the Washington Post, which first reported the story. Pearson said he brought one pair in for alterations and they went missing — gray trousers with what Pearson described in court papers as blue and red stripes on them.
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House of Chin 
This judge is an oportunistic Ahole. The case should have been thrown ourt of court and our moron judge fined a lot of money for “abuse of process”. Our system is really sicker than I thought if something as rediculous as this is even listened to seriously. No wonder the courts are all cloged up(constipated)if rediculous trash is allowed to get on the docket.
We do need some way to establish a “gatekeeper” to ensure that similar nusiance suits are “nipped in the bud” before they become real headaches like this monstrosity. Yes everyone deserves his day in court. But let the case be tried in small claims court where this one should be. How this jerk gets to 54 MM dollars defys reason and common sense. He is obviously trying to take advantage of these Korean folks simply be cause he can.
A real travesty.
I have two major concerns. Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson obviously lacks the judicial termperment for his government position. I believe whoever hired him made a mistake. Also, who is the presiding judge on this case? If this type of outrageous judicial abuse were under my control I would cut the plaintiff a new one. My verdict is for the plaintiff to collect $100 for the pants but in addition pay for all defendant legal fees and expenses plus $5,000 to the defendant for both abuse of process and mental anxiety. This individual belongs in the litigation hall of shame. They should use this abuse case in law school case studies.
If this isn’t the biggest BS lawsuit ever, I don’t know what is. The real problem here is that we have a Judge behind this frivilous suit. Someone needs to investigate how he is siiting on the bench with this kind of actions. Reform is necessary but common sense plays a bigger part.
I totally agree with Tim McGuire on this one on all counts, especially to use this as a case study of abuse of process. This judge should be relieved of office as well as having to reimburse fees for filing such a rediculous tort claim. Shame on him.
Mark Glendinning
This “judge” is garbage. A 2-year-old’s intellect should not be required to determine this “judge’s” inappropriateness for any career beyond septic tank cleaning.
It is people like this judge (Roy L. Pearson) that caused me to loose respect for the law.
Wow, you would think that a man who is supposed to uphold law and justice in this country would have more common sense and integrity, but obviously not here! He should seriously be investigated as to wheather or not he should hold such an important and sensitive position, especially after such abuse of the court system with this frivolous lawsuit.
This judge should be fired from the bench he sits on. Obviously he has a demented view of what’s right and what’s wrong. I as a taxpayer do not want him serving as a judge. This is definately an abuse of power and of couse abuse of process. This man needs to be in a mental facility not our courts. Where is the judge that can throw this out of court..? Someone needs to step up and declare this judge incompetent!!
Talk about total disgust for the law, I am suprised the court hasn’t thrown it out yet. I seriously hoped D.C. does not renew his service. Clearly he does not see how ridiculous this lawsuit is. Can you imagine if he was the judge on a case like this, therefore his services should not renew.
this man? does not need to be a judge .he needs to be in jail for harassiig those poor koreans
If this is the kind of emmotional, distraught, slap happy and by all means dishonest piece of crap we have sitting on the benches, and unfortunately most of us know this is the case, then we are in trouble. I can’t help but say that I truly wish there was an organization as was featurned in the movie “Magnum Force” where people like this were dealt with. Most people like me realize that we’re getting absolutely nothing from the legal system, it gets worse each day as 95% of these jokers involved in that systemj are coke addicts, drunks, womanizers and just bascially dishonest and worthless individuals. Nightline finally exposed at least one judge taking bribes in a case where the woman was fighting for her child and the judge was poiised and ready to rule against her only because he had gotten a fat lump sum of money from the other attorney. Problem is getting internal affairs or whoever it is that governs judges to listen to you because they are in a brother hood, they cover one anothers back and they virtually can do no wrong. That pretty much leaves you and I helpless to these godless bastards.
I hate to think like this or talk like this but I ran out of honey about 5 years ago. I came to Tucson to help my aging parents who are just down for the count, 86 and 87 and still caring for an afflicted sister 59. I was so blessed to find a mobile home just across from them, 6 unit park, most everyone kept their yards looking like something out of home and gardens. I could run across the street and help my parents whenever they needed and right off the bat the music from these amplified systems that these kids, and many adults are sporting that can project sound almost half mile away prevented any of us in the neighborhood from sleeping day or night, it was a constant flow. I began to complain and that’s something that you do not do with Pima County Sheriff’s department. The will then turn their attention, if they had any in the first place, from the criminal, on to you and you will become their target. With boys riding right up to my mobile home at 3 a.m. with that music blasting, I was not allowed to evern walk outside and confont them and yet the cops did nothing to stop it. I called about one kid 8 times in one night and the deputy turned his anger on me when I asked why we wren’t stopping this problem. Worse yet this kid had equipped his vehicle with lights in the grill that made him appear to be an undercover car and he would run up and down the street with his regular lights off and those flashing, still, nothing was done.
But get this. as they began to lie about situations and falsify their reports I began to carry a tape recorder. One night, without any provocation, this boy that had just gotten out of prison after serving 10 years, was 29, and already dealing drugs the day he hit the street, he verbally attacked and threatened me. He was really pissed that I had called his Parole Officer but that was because I’d seen him heard a bunch of 13 an 14 year olds around behind a mobile home down the street as soon as they got off the bus. Anyway, after listening to me very quietly say, “yes, this is Sonny Conrad and he’s been up and down the street about 5 times tonight, and I gave his tag number, he came out of the convenient store, I said abslutely nothing and he came up to my truck and told me all the things he was going to do to me. Wanna see how unfair the Godless system is in Pima County Arizona? I got a citation even though 4 deputies listened to the tape. Ok, we go to court, this character gets up and lies his head off, tells how I jumped him, blah blah blah and I just sat there. The judge was just about to pronounce judgement on me when I said, “what happened to my tape” and rather annoyed he asked what tape Mr. Garrison and I said the one they took from me of this incident. I wish you could have seen the look on the deputies face when he had to pull that tape out, it was like, “oh crap, I thought we had him, now dammit, justice will probably prevail”, and it did. The judge listened to it, any FOOL could have figured out what went down and after a brief chewing out to Conrad, the judge told me I was free to go.
But guess what, In a future situation where I was arrested because I had gone over at 2 a.m. to ask the convenient store clerk to please not let people sit in her parking lot with that music while they drank their beer. This happened to be the mother of 2 boys I had turned in earlier that week for vandalizing the car wash and the laundry and it was her chance to get even with me. They took the store tape into evidence which would have shown me acting very civil, not even going into the store but just pushing the door open and requesting that she not let those people sit out there and like I said, guess what? I was told by person that didn’t know any better at the ti9me, “yes Mr. Garrison I have the tape in my possession, just bring a blank and $10 and I’ll make you a copy. In less that 40 minutes I was at the Pima County’s Attorney office and the girl was no where to be found, the tape was no where to be found and a spokesman came out to tell me that they had misplaced the tape.
What godless bastards run this system, how dare them call it a just system, it is far from it.