Shattered Glass Ops:

Judge: Cleaner Owes Me $65 Million for Pants

Washington— 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 a nightmare: 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. "This has destroyed their lives." The lawsuit was filed by a D.C. judge, Roy Pearson, who is also representing himself. 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 pair of pants from one suit was not ready when he requested it two days later, and was said 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. The Chung's attorney said the cleaners made three settlement offers to Pearson, and he denied every one single one. Pearson wasn't satisfied. 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.

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 papers, Pearson added up 12 violations over 1,200 days, and then multiplied that by three defendants.

5/3/2007

Custom Cleaners: http://www.yelp.com/biz/custom-cleaners-washington 

In October of 2007, Roy Pearson lost his court case and his job.