Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Biggest. Jerk. Ever.


I was reading the details on the story of a lawsuit that's been making the rounds of the news lately-- Roy Pearson, a Washington D.C. judge is suing a cleaners owned by Soo and Jin Chung for $54 million over an allegedly missing pair of pants.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3269485&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

The couple who own the cleaners offered to compensate the plaintiff, who is a judge, 100% for the $1,150 suit. When he persisted in his lawsuit, they offered him $3000, then $4,600, and finally, $12,000.

The story is infuriating-- I love how the plaintiff points out that he reduced the lawsuit amount from $57 million, to only $54 million.

He also tried to corral neighbors into making the suit a class action suit. Fortunately, it appears someone else has involved in the case has good sense-- the judge of the case. The District of Columbia Civil Judge Neal Kravitz angrily refused this, stating:


"The court has significant concerns that the plaintiff is acting in bad faith and with an intent to delay the proceedings," the judge wrote in court papers. "Indeed, it is difficult to draw any other conclusion, given the plaintiff's lengthy delay in seeking to expand the scope of the case, the breathtaking magnitude of the expansion he seeks, his failure to present any evidence in support of the thousands of claims he says he wishes to add, and his misrepresentation concerning the scope of his first amended complaint."


Some of the details of the suit are priceless-- Pearson having to leave the witness stand in tears; his attempt to bring 67 witnesses; and my favorite-- the fact that people reading about this have set up a legal defense fund, to help these poor people with the thousands of dollars they have spent fighting this frivolous lawsuit.

Here's my fondest hope, if there is real justice in this case:


  • Judge Kravitz rules against Pearson, denying him even a dime of "compensation."

  • Judge Kravitz imposes sanctions on Pearson for filing a frivolous lawsuit.

  • That Judge Kravitz also rules that Pearson has to recomenpensate the Chungs for the money they've spent fighting the lawsuit.

  • Pearson's superiors realize that he's abused his judicial powers and fire his lame ass.

  • The Chungs make so much money with people donating their legal defense fund that they are able to retire. They close their cleaners, the only one in the neighborhood (this was one of the rationale for the suit), and Pearson becomes a widely reviled figure in his neighorhood.



You can donate to the Chung's fund at:

http://www.customcleanersdefensefund.com/

13 comments:

Danielle said...

Frivolous lawsuits like this make it harder for those of us who have legitimate complaints but do not have the luxury of being a judge and having access to high stakes lawyers. I heard related to this story a comment such as "Just goes to show that the customer is always right." No, they are not.

Wishing you well as always.

Joe said...

One of my coworkers was sued last year by a guy he'd arrested for DUI a couple of years earlier. The drunk had fought with him, it's all on the squad car video. The drunk has a lengthy rap sheet with a bunch of violent crimes. One of his claims was that the fighting was a result of his PTSD flaring up, a result of his status as a Vietnam vet, and that his abuse at the hands of my friend aggravated his PTSD.

Simply looking at this guy's birthdate would tell you he was too young to have served in Vietnam, so the PTSD claim was utter bullshit.

The suit dragged on for about a year or so before being dismissed.

Danielle is absolutely right about cases like this making it so much harder for people with legitimate cases.

vikkitikkitavi said...

There is a remedy for all of this, and no, it doesn't involve bullshit Republican so-called "tort reform." It involves judges actually doing their jobs, because part of that job is not to allow bullshit cases like this to even hit the courts. They don't have to go that far, but it's judges that allow them to.

Anonymous said...

That guy's trying to sue the pants off them!

Yeah I know, but someone had to say it.

Foofa said...

I read about this too. That Pearson is such an ass. I really hope he gets punished for being such a jerk.

SamuraiFrog said...

This case is so stunning in the breadth and magnitude of its abject stupidity. This almost sounds like some kind of joke about frivolous lawsuits, but the punchline is what the Chungs are going through. Just awful. Is this what the legal system has become? A judge, of all people?

Your fondest hopes are mine, too. What an ass.

Moderator said...

Maybe he had $54 million in cash in the pocket and they totally swiped it.

BeckEye said...

Maybe they could just lock him in a room with the tuberculosis guy as punishment for being such a litigious ass.

GETkristiLOVE said...

What's the legal term for that - a suit suit?

MacGuffin said...

Perhaps the judges themselves should be held accountable. As bubs has already pointed out, they have the power and obligation to stop this kind of BS. It's an unbelievable outrage on so many levels. Just sickening.

bubbles said...

Sickening. I swear, lawyers seem to be the biggest crooks of all. They can't even be bothered with real injustice - no, they have to find more and more blatant abuses of the judicial system to fill their pockets. Thing 1 wants to be a lawyer, tho - so I may end up changing my tune.

Johnny Yen said...

Danielle-
"Just goes to show that the customer is always right." No, they are not.

Absolutely. If you are a public establishment, you will eventually get jerks. And if the behavior of a jerk adversely affects the rest of your customers, you should kick their asses out.

Bubs-
What an asshole! And as you've mentioned in past posts, you guys don't have a union to back you up, like public teachers do (I don't, as a teacher in a charter school-- one of the many problems with charter schools).

The suit guy's lawsuit should have been referred to small claims court. I so hope he gets screwed in the end.

Vikki--
As the recipient of a lawsuit-- child support-- I can tell you a long, long tale of a judge not doing her job for years in keeping someone from abusing the judicial process. My kids read this blog, so I won't go into it, but I can tell you that I had to bankrupt myself to keep joint custody of my son due to the rank incompetence of a judge. She's retired, thankfully.

Spooney-
Damn, I wish I'd thought of that one!

Natalie-
Someone that generates that much bad karma will certainly get his due.

Samurai-
You said it. I really, really hope that he becomes a reviled public figure for all the distress he's caused these people.

Grant Miller-
You know, I hadn't thought of that!

Beckeye-
Or lock him up in rehab with Paris Hilton!

Kristi-
I believe that's what it is!

Macguffin-
I suspect that the judge wanted to send it down to small claims court, but the wank plaintiff used the technicality of the law that added sanctions for every day to inflate the amount. From the tone of his quote, the judge in the case clearly thinks that Pearson's an asshole, but his hands are tied-- and the fact that Pearson's not only a lawyer, but himself a judge, makes it worse.

Anon. Blogger-
Hey, I'm okay with lawyers in general-- co-best friend Andreas is a lawyer. As an immigration lawyer, he's helped people stay here that certainly would have been killed if they'd been repatriated. It's like anything else-- it's not the job, but what you choose to do with it.

Unknown said...

Right on! I'm reasonable certain you'll get at least one of your wishes.

Great choice on the character actor to adopt, too. M. Emmett Walsh forever!