Year 2007 has produced both the Moron of the Century and the undisputed poster boy for tort reform:
Roy Pearson, an administrative hearings judge for the District of Columbia.
Pearson is suing a Washington D.C. dry-cleaning business for $65 million because a pair of his suit pants was lost for a week in May 2005 and remains unclaimed.
Despite settlement offers of $3,000, $4,600 and $12,000 from the South Korean immigrant owners, Pearson wants to recover $1,500 per violation per day as provided by D.C.’s consumer-protection law.
That’s 12 violations for 1,200 days times three defendants, according to Pearson. His case rests on two allegedly fraudulent signs that Custom Cleaners had on its walls: “Satisfaction Guaranteed” and “Same Day Service.”
Trial is set for June 11 in D.C. Superior Court.
Pearson, meanwhile, is up for renewal of his 10-year appointment. And colleagues and professional organizations are calling for his disbarment and removal from the bench. (6 MAY 2007)
