The $54 Million Pants Suit That Wouldn't Die
The $54 Million Pants Suit That Wouldn't Die
Frivolous Lawsuits and Class Action Lawsuits
Friday, July 6, 2007
Most recent one picked up off the web...
The $54 Million Pants Suit That Wouldn't Die
He's baaaa-ack: Roy Pearson, the D.C. administrative law judge who filed, fought and lost a $54 million lawsuit against the Korean immigrants who own his neighborhood dry cleaners, chose the Fourth of July holiday to make it clear that he will not be going away.
Despite a clear finding by D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff that Pearson's case against Custom Cleaners had no merit and that the cleaners' possible misplacing of a pair of Pearson's pants was not worth a penny to the plaintiff, Pearson is back. He wrote to defense lawyer Christopher Manning this week to let the Chung family know that Pearson plans to file today a motion arguing that Bartnoff failed to address Pearson's legal claims and asking the judge to reverse her verdict in the case.
Manning, who has said that the Chungs have already been wiped out financially by the need to defend themselves against Pearson's two-year legal jihad, responded to Pearson by asking that he end the misery for the Chungs, who face legal bills of more than $100,000. Manning asked Pearson to consider moving on, for the Chungs' sake and for his own.
But Pearson was unimpressed and responded to Manning that he will continue to fight in the best interests of all Washington residents. Pearson apparently continues to believe that his crusade to get rich off an immigrant family's small business would somehow better the lives of all D.C. residents.
Pearson is still putting in lots of hours pursuing the case--one of his emails to Manning was time-stamped at 4:05 a.m.
Meanwhile, Manning is pursuing his request for the court to require Pearson to pay for the Chungs' attorney's fees. Hundreds of readers have already donated to a legal defense fund for the Chungs (www.customcleanersdefensefund.com) and now there's also going to be a July 24 fundraiser for the family, sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Tort Reform Association. Details at www.chungfundraiser.com
And to complete the pants update, there's still no action from the panel that will determine whether Pearson is to be reappointed for a full, 10-year term as an administrative law judge. At Mayor Adrian Fenty's request, the panel put off consideration of Pearson's case until the mayor had a chance to fill a vacancy on the commission on the tenure of ALJs. Now that Fenty has made that appointment, the panel is apparently waiting for Bartnoff's decision on the attorney's fees aspect of the pants case, which could be some weeks away.
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