One Man's Blog

Specialization is for Insects.

Home / News / Washington Judge Roy Pearson Sues Dry Cleaners for $65 Million

Washington Judge Roy Pearson Sues Dry Cleaners for $65 Million

John P.

By

From the Washington Post:

Kick in the Pants
Just deserts for a ludicrous lawsuit
Thursday, May 3, 2007; Page A24

IS THERE anything more absurd than someone pursuing a $65 million lawsuit over a lost pair of pants? Well, how about this same person being in a position to adjudicate the cases of other people? Or that there’s a chance of his getting a new 10-year term as judge?

A panel of four D.C. officials is considering the reappointment of administrative law judge Roy L. Pearson Jr. in light of devastating publicity about a court case he brought. As reported by Post columnist Marc Fisher, Mr. Pearson wants his local dry cleaner to pay him millions of dollars for the “mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort” caused by the loss of his pants as well as for his legal costs.

The unfortunate people being sued by Mr. Pearson say that they offered reimbursement, tried to settle and even ended up finding what they believe are the pants. But Mr. Pearson persisted with his outrageous demands, and the owners of Custom Cleaners say they incurred staggering legal bills. A trial is set for next month; we hope a judge will finally inject some sense into proceedings that have already taken ludicrous amounts of time.

That Mr. Pearson was able to persist in such a case raises questions about D.C. consumer protection laws. The American Tort Reform Association said that city law, while well intentioned, is so loosely worded that it allows abuse. D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer and the D.C. Council need to take a look.

Equally serious is whether Mr. Pearson should continue in his $100,512 job adjudicating alleged civil infractions of D.C. rules. The case raises serious questions about his judgment and temperament. Moreover, this is not the first case involving Mr. Pearson that has raised such questions. The Virginia Court of Appeals, in a 2005 review of Mr. Pearson’s divorce proceedings, upheld findings that he created “unnecessary litigation” in a relatively simple case and was responsible for “excessive driving up” of legal costs.

As the four-member judicial tenure commission considers another term for Mr. Pearson, it should think back to why the Office of Administrative Hearings was created in the first place: to increase public confidence in the system of administrative justice.

Also see:

Comments

  1. As you are undoubtedly aware, a $54 million lawsuit was recently brought in DC District Court against a small neighborhood drycleaners over a pair of alleged lost trousers. While the Court found resoundingly in favor of the business owners, Jin and Soo Chung, their ordeal is not yet over—they have drained their saving accounts contesting this frivolous lawsuit, and they have racked up over $100,000 in legal expenses.

    In order to help the Chungs defray their legal bills, ILR and the American Tort Reform Association are co-hosting a fundraiser on Tuesday evening, July 24 at 6 p.m. at the US Chamber Building in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, businesses large and small across America must deal every day with similar extortionist tactics from some plaintiffs’ lawyers. The collective outcome is not justice, but lost jobs, ruined businesses and billions of dollars in lost economic opportunity. Additional details, sponsorship opportunities and easy online registration are available at http://www.chungfundraiser.com

  2. I heard about this case by watching Live with Regis and Kelly. This is obsurd and a waste of time. If Roy Pearson (he does not seserve the respect of Mister) is complaining about his alledged mental suffering, discomfort, and inconvenience over lost pants and then sues for $54 million, one would ponder if he mature enough to practice law and if he has any undiagnosed mental illnesses. Oh Roy, what a waste of energy! If Roy wants to complain about mental suffering, discomfort and inconvenience over this petty issue, perhaps he should visit a rape crisis center or Irag and find out what REAL mental suffering and discomfort is.

  3. Judge Roy Pearson

    Cease and Desist
    Leave these people alone
    Do you have a screw loose?

    Carl

  5. Clearly, this would not qualify for small claims as the monetary damages sought are WAY above the limit, but who else thinks it would be hilarious for Judge Judy to do a “Prime time special” with this case just to see this guy get his butt chewed by a professional.

    Seriously though, not only should he be booted from the bench, but he should be disbarred too.

  6. Everyone that has heard of this seems to be shocked, and with good reason. This is abuse of power if ever there was an example.

    Clearly this judge is abusing his knowledge of the legal system to manipulate it for his own personal causes. There is no rational human in the universe that could possibly justify this action, and I hope that the dry cleaners file a counter-suit against the judge and turn the tables on him.

    I also hope that some other people with similar knowledge of the system decide to punish him by filing a bunch of frivolous lawsuits against him to show him what it’s like.

    Oh, and I hope he rots in hell.

    John

  7. I feel bad for the dry cleaner, I’m sure the suit is costing them more than they can afford, this is the microsoft style suit where they bully and crush others with the staggering legal bills, the company goes bankrupt and then they buy the company…

  9. Unbelievable, whereas in Germany the compensation from Dry Cleaners is limited to 20-fold you payed to the cleaner here you get an inadequate amount of money. Why isn’t there a equitable level like the costs for a new pair of pants?

  10. I saw this one on court tv and was so mad. do people have anything better to do with their time and power than to torment those trying to get by. I can’t believe he holds the position he does with his distorted sense of compensation.