Taking them to the cleaners

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Rurudyne
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Taking them to the cleaners: UPDATE!

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WASHINGTON (May 3) -- 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.

A constitutional right to dry cleaning?

One wonders if this guy legislates from the bench or just by the seat of his pants?

(If post this complete is a problem, tell me and I'll edit it to bullet points)
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Post by RID Scourge »

Wow, I normnally don't like to suggest that a person's career be ruined, but that guy should never be allowed to practice law or hear a case ever again. What a crook.
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Post by slartibartfast »

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.
and I thought the American dream was to sue the arse off immigrants.



It's all painting a pretty sad picture, from what I can see from this side of the water :(
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Post by tahukanuva »

What a terrible thing to do.

Roy Pearson, on the small chance you're reading this, you sir, are a cock.
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Post by Rurudyne »

Originally posted by slartibartfast
and I thought the American dream was to sue the arse off immigrants.



It's all painting a pretty sad picture, from what I can see from this side of the water :(

Well ... it's Roy Pearson's dream, apparently.

Maybe we could convince him to take those Google Map (USA version) instructions from New York, New York to Paris, France. I hear they're a doozy.
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Post by slartibartfast »

no way ! He might make it. I don't want him.



btw, it works for london too...
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Post by Civ »

Geez. I think I need to start practicing a golf swing on Pearson's G1 Megatron. [/TAB reference]
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Post by Rurudyne »

Originally posted by slartibartfast
no way ! He might make it. I don't want him.



btw, it works for london too...

Except that HE'D be the immigrant then....

Got a pair of pants that need dry cleaning? ;)
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Post by inflatable dalek »

If only he called them trousers instead of a slang term for underwear I'd be on his side.
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Post by redman prime »

I don't understand the tort system. How are these people supposed to have $65 million that they can be willing to part with?
how would those financials read that year?
A one time non-recurring charge of $65 million put us slightly in the red this year, but we are really hoping our shirt service is going to pick us up next year.
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Post by RID Scourge »

The truth of the matter is that the judge is being a spiteful cock, whose aim is to ruin these people's business/lives all over a pair of pants that wasn't cleaned as fast as he'd like it to be. Asking for his money back would have been the reasonable response.

This is clearly a case of an individual abusing the system in order to push people around. I really hope the motions to disbar him and remove him from his position are successful, and hopefully, when this is done, the family can file a counter claim for attorney fees and damages.
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Post by Rurudyne »

UPDATE!!!

It would seem that the judge in the case (not the loon of the judge filing the suit) has ruled for the cleaners! :)

Now the good part: the suit-happy jurist is going to have to pay ALL legal fees (which will be considerable considering all this loon put these poor folks through).

The status of his job as a judge is still up in the air, though.
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Post by Clogs »

Yes! Saw a very small column in yesterday's newspaper about this. Justice has been done, but I didn't note any extra costs for the defendants as compensation.

Mr Pearson will now probably go on to sue every goddamn SOB who has highlighted the case, let alone his fellow judge. I look forwards to seeing that he's having a go at the news channels.
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Post by RID Scourge »

Originally posted by Rurudyne
UPDATE!!!

It would seem that the judge in the case (not the loon of the judge filing the suit) has ruled for the cleaners! :)

Now the good part: the suit-happy jurist is going to have to pay ALL legal fees (which will be considerable considering all this loon put these poor folks through).

The status of his job as a judge is still up in the air, though.


Heard about this. I'm glad to hear that the defendants were awarded compensation for legal fees.

TBH, he should be disbarred and prosecuted on some sort of fraud charges.
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Post by RID Scourge »

Well, I read in the Boston Metro, today, that the owners are going to have to shut down their business: http://www.readmetro.com/show/en/Boston/20070920/1/6/

It's on the right sidebar.
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Post by Clogs »

That's sad. They have another business outlet, but I guess they don't want the one they are closing because it has bad memories attached. Article doesn't say they had their compensation, does it? Wonder what Judge Pearson is doing about that...
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Post by RID Scourge »

I'm still hoping that they bust him for abusing his power, like that.

It takes an especially nasty piece of human refuse to ruin someone's business over a pair of pants.

I can see refusing to use their service anymore and telling your friends not to use that service, but creating a frivolous lawsuit is just overkill.

If I owned a dry cleaning business, I would refuse to do his clothes, after that.
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Post by Zeeks »

The wonderful thing about this is that Roy Pearson is going to have.......oh.............65 million lifetimes worth of negative karma coming back to him over his incessant need for egotism.

Can't wait till he sues the Archive for posting about this.

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Post by Neuronutter »

Originally posted by RID Scourge

It takes an especially nasty piece of human refuse to ruin someone's business over a pair of pants.


Well the only upside is that it cost him a considerable amount of money for his legal fees and his opponents. He should've also had to pay the defendents a lot of money from this in lost revenues, the trauma caused, the loss of reputation and whatever else. I imagine he earns a considerable amount of money as a judge so he should've been made to pay them a lot.
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Post by RID Scourge »

http://www.readmetro.com/show/en/Boston/20071114/1/1/

Meant to post this, last week. Seems that the judge is out of a job. Good. It's the least they could do, considering the way he abused his power.
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