Judge Who Sued Dry Cleaners for Millions Cries in Court
The D.C. judge who sued his dry cleaners for $65 million in damages broke down in tears yesterday while testifying about the emotional pain of losing his suit pants.
A trial began pitting Roy Pearson, an administrative law judge, against Custom Dry Cleaners and the store’s owners, Jin and Soo Chung. The courtroom was packed with members of the Korean Dry Cleaners Association and reporters from at least five countries, according to the WaPo’s Marc Fisher, whose column in April first turned us on to this case. (For prior Law Blog coverage, click here, here and here.)
“Never before in recorded history have a group of defendants engaged in such misleading and unfair business practices,” Pearson said in his opening. “You will search the D.C. archives in vain for a case of more egregious or willful conduct,” he said later.
Quick backstory: Pearson brought five suits in for alterations because he needed the pants let out. One of the suits came back without pants. Pearson sued under the city’s consumer protection law. He got to his $65 million damages claim, which he lowered last week to $54 million, through a formula that penalized the cleaners $18,000 for each day a “Satisfaction Guaranteed” sign hung from the store.
Pearson said he had no choice but to take on “the awesome responsibility” of suing the Chungs on behalf of every D.C. resident, reported the WaPo. Pearson kept referring to himself as “we.” Said Judge Judith Bartnoff: “Mr. Pearson, you are not a ‘we.’ You are an ‘I.’”
One of Pearson’s witnesses said the Chungs weren’t so warm and fuzzy. A woman who had complained about her cleaning said Mr. Chung chased her out of the store. “At 89, I’m not ready to be chased,” she said. “But I was in World War II as a WAC, so I think I can take care of myself. Having lived in Germany and knowing the people who were victims of the Nazis, I thought he was going to beat me up. I thought of what Hitler had done to thousands of Jews.”
The cleaner’s lawyer, Christopher Manning, described Pearson as embittered, having emerged from recent divorce with financial problems and having held a grudge against the cleaners from a prior run-in. When did Pearson cry? Here, as described by the WaPo:
. . . but as he came to the part about when Soo Chung finally told him she had found the missing pants, the tale of the $10.50 alteration that went awry proved to be too much.
“These are not my pants,” Pearson recalled telling Chung when she handed him a pair of gray pants with cuffs. “I have in my adult life, with one exception, never worn pants with cuffs.”
“And she said, ‘These are your pants.’ ”
Pearson paused. He struggled to breathe deeply. He could not continue. Pearson blurted a request for a break, stood up, turned around and walked out of the courtroom, tears dripping from his full and reddened eyes.
The trial is expected to end today. Pearson, who is representing himself, has asked for attorney’s fees at a rate between $390 and $425 an hour.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/06/13/...ries-in-court/
Judge Sues Dry Cleaner $65 Million For Missing Pants
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Originally Posted by jankren
