RSS Feed
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Take judge to cleaners An administrative law judge's attempt to take a dry cleaner to the cleaners has failed and rightly so. Washington, D. C. administrative law judge Roy L. Pearson took three dry cleaners' displayed promise of "Satisfaction Guaranteed" to an extreme. Judge Pearson claimed that the cleaners lost the pants from a suit and tried to give him a pair that weren't his. He may have had some claim for damages but $67 million wasn't it. The outrageous amount was said to be based on the sign and Washington's consumer protection laws as well as the usually "mental anguish" and attorney fees. Even with all of that, it is hard to see how a pair of pants translated into $67 million. This is the kind of greedy abusive lawsuit that gives rightful litigation a bad name. And D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff agreed. "A reasonable consumer would not interpret 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' to mean that a merchant is required to satisfy a customer's unreasonable demands," she wrote. She also said Judge Pearson failed too prove that the pants the cleaners tried to return were not the pants he submitted for cleaning. Judge Bartnoff ordered Judge Pearson to pay court costs of about $1,000 to defendants Soo Chun, Jin Nam Chun and Ki Y. Chun. She will consider a motion to recover the Chungs' tens of thousands of dollars in attorney fees later.
We hope the Chungs prevail in turning the tables and taking the greedy Judge Pearson to the cleaners.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
