Janice
06-06-2007, 11:17 AM
http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/judge-suing-cleaners-now-wants-54/20070605232409990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001 (http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/judge-suing-cleaners-now-wants-54/20070605232409990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001)
Judge Suing Cleaners Now Wants $54 Million
WASHINGTON (June 6) - A customer who believes he was mistreated by a dry cleaner has dropped the pants from his suit. Roy L. Pearson, who filed a $67 million lawsuit against the dry cleaning business that lost his pants, has lowered his demand. Now, he's asking for only $54 million, according to a May 30 court filing in D.C. Superior Court.
The District of Columbia administrative law judge first sued Custom Cleaners over a pair of pants that went missing two years ago. He was seeking about $65 million under the D.C. consumer protection act and almost $2 million in common law claims.
He is now focusing his claims on signs in the shop that have since been removed. The suit alleges that the three defendants, Jin Nam Chung, Soo Chung and their son, Ki Chung, committed fraud and misled consumers with signs that claimed "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Same Day Service."
But Chris Manning, the Chungs' attorney, says that can only be considered fraud if the signs were misleading to a "reasonable" person, and no reasonable person would interpret the signs to be an unconditional promise of satisfaction.
Manning says he doesn't expect Pearson to win any compensation when the trial starts June 11.
"I'm still baffled," Manning says, "unless it's simply to harass and annoy my clients."
Because Pearson is representing himself, the litigation has cost him nothing. "But what he's tried to do, it appears as a trial strategy, is to keep up his aggressive stance so he keeps costing the Chungs money," Manning says.
Pearson said in an e-mail that the focus of the case, from the start, was based on the "false, misleading and fraudulent advertisements displayed by the Chungs."
The Chungs, immigrants from South Korea, are now facing tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and emotional distress, Manning says. A donation Web site the Chungs set up for help _ Custom Cleaners Defense Fund _ has barely collected enough to pay a tenth of their costs, Manning says.
In the month since Pearson's lawsuit received wide publicity, national groups as well as blog comments have expressed shock at Pearson's demands and called for his ouster. Many blog comments say this kind of suit makes the American justice system look bad.
"We're by no means surprised at the outrage because we've been outraged the whole time," Manning says.
Judge Suing Cleaners Now Wants $54 Million
WASHINGTON (June 6) - A customer who believes he was mistreated by a dry cleaner has dropped the pants from his suit. Roy L. Pearson, who filed a $67 million lawsuit against the dry cleaning business that lost his pants, has lowered his demand. Now, he's asking for only $54 million, according to a May 30 court filing in D.C. Superior Court.
The District of Columbia administrative law judge first sued Custom Cleaners over a pair of pants that went missing two years ago. He was seeking about $65 million under the D.C. consumer protection act and almost $2 million in common law claims.
He is now focusing his claims on signs in the shop that have since been removed. The suit alleges that the three defendants, Jin Nam Chung, Soo Chung and their son, Ki Chung, committed fraud and misled consumers with signs that claimed "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Same Day Service."
But Chris Manning, the Chungs' attorney, says that can only be considered fraud if the signs were misleading to a "reasonable" person, and no reasonable person would interpret the signs to be an unconditional promise of satisfaction.
Manning says he doesn't expect Pearson to win any compensation when the trial starts June 11.
"I'm still baffled," Manning says, "unless it's simply to harass and annoy my clients."
Because Pearson is representing himself, the litigation has cost him nothing. "But what he's tried to do, it appears as a trial strategy, is to keep up his aggressive stance so he keeps costing the Chungs money," Manning says.
Pearson said in an e-mail that the focus of the case, from the start, was based on the "false, misleading and fraudulent advertisements displayed by the Chungs."
The Chungs, immigrants from South Korea, are now facing tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and emotional distress, Manning says. A donation Web site the Chungs set up for help _ Custom Cleaners Defense Fund _ has barely collected enough to pay a tenth of their costs, Manning says.
In the month since Pearson's lawsuit received wide publicity, national groups as well as blog comments have expressed shock at Pearson's demands and called for his ouster. Many blog comments say this kind of suit makes the American justice system look bad.
"We're by no means surprised at the outrage because we've been outraged the whole time," Manning says.