Two years, thousands of pages of legal documents and many hundreds of hours of work later, Pearson is seeking to make Ki Jin and Soo Chung -- the Korean family that owns Custom Cleaners, pay. Pearson says he deserves over 65 million dollars for the damages he suffered by not getting his pants back, for his litigation costs, for "mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort," for the value of the 1000 hours he has spent on the lawsuit, $15,000 for leasing a car for 10 years to drive to and from a new cleaners, and a replacement suit, according to court papers.
The cost of the original alteration work on the brother's pants - $10.50.
Sherman Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association, wrote to the Commission on Selection and Tenure of Administrative Law Judges. Here's some excerpts:
On behalf of the American Tort Reform Association, which works to combat lawsuit abuse, I urge you to carefully reconsider the reappointment of Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson Jr. to a 10-year term, scheduled to commence in three days on May 2.
Though the pants have long since been found and made available to him, Judge Pearson has stubbornly continued to waste precious Superior Court resources in a clearly misguided effort to extort a hardworking family...
In a letter to the editor in today’s Washington Post, former National Labors Relations Board chief administrative law judge Melvin Welles urged “any bar to which Mr. Pearson belongs to immediately disbar him..."
If Pearson goes ahead with his lawsuit, any party who comes before him in future administrative hearings could understandably lack confidence in his judgment and judicial temperament. Furthermore, this case will become fodder for late-night comics, various members of Congress and other assorted critics of D.C. government if this case, scheduled for trial June 11, remains in the headlines.
With his bio no longer on the Office of Administrative Hearing's website, was Pearson re-appointed? Stay Tuned!!!