Nutty Trouser Trial Hurts Us All
By: Matthew Piccolo
6.26.2007
As if the lengthy list of frivolous lawsuits did not already demonstrate the dire need for lawsuit abuse reform, we can now tack on the ridiculous $54 million trouser trial that was brought to an end yesterday morning. Though the Chung family, owners of Custom Cleaners, emerged from the trial victorious, the ordeal revealed a number of problems with the American tort system that cannot be ignored. Roy Pearson, the Washington, D.C. administrative judge that sued the Chungs, originally asked the courts for an award of $67 million. His claim? According to Pearson, Custom Cleaners failed to return a pair of pants from a thousand dollar suit he brought in to have altered – a service that cost him $10.50. The Chungs tried to resolve the issue in a number of ways. First, Pearson claimed the storeowners tried to give him a pair of pants that were not his. Then, the Chungs presented him a number of settlement offers, ranging from $3,000 to $12,000 – several times the value of one complete Hickey Freeman suit. But Pearson had his eyes on a larger prize. Pearson reduced his request to $54 million and focused entirely on what he viewed as a violation of D.C.’s consumer protection laws. He claimed that the signs in Customer Cleaners stating “same day service” and “satisfaction guaranteed” had misled all potential consumers – a constituency he pretended to represent in his claim – every day they were posted on the store’s wall. And based on his interpretation of the law, because each of the three storeowners failed to meet his individual standard of satisfaction each day for the four years the signs were present, he was entitled to big bucks. The court disagreed. As one would hope, the court ruled in favor of Custom Cleaners. However, no one really came out a winner. The Chungs have suffered as a result of the lawsuit. Judge Judith Bartnoff ordered Pearson to pay the defendants’ court costs, but in order to receive compensation for legal fees (well over $100,000) the Chungs must file additional paperwork. Let’s also not forget the foregone business revenue resulting from having to shift their energy and focus entirely on Pearson’s lawsuit. In the end, this case provides further evidence of the degraded climate of America’s tort system that encourages individuals to abuse the courts for personal gain. Certainly, if Pearson could prove that Custom Cleaners lost his pants entirely, it would be the defendants’ obligation to compensate him. But the possibility of winning $54 million, based on a loose interpretation of a consumer protection law, is enough to entice someone like Pearson to try their luck in court – “jackpot justice” as it’s called – without regard to the huge costs passed on to society. In March, PRI estimated that the total annual accounting cost of the U.S. tort system is $865 billion. Lost work time and productivity, as the Chungs can attest, was a component of that tremendous cost that we all must bear.
pants suit, Roy Pearson, Custom Cleaners, Jackpot Justice, tort reform
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