The story of the dry cleaners who got sued for $67 million by a judge for losing a pair of his pants has taken a sad turn. From the Washington Business Journal:
The Chung family said it closed one of its dry cleaners in D.C. after losing money fighting the high-profile lawsuit involving a missing pair of pants.South Korean immigrants Jim Na and Soo Chung, who operated Custom Cleaners...for seven years, were sued in 2005 by D.C. administrative law judge Roy Pearson for $67 million for mishandling a pair of pants.
The amount in the high profile case was later lowered to $54 million.
Despite winning the suit that went to trial in June in the D.C. Superior Court, the Chungs spent money fighting Pearson and ultimately had to close the store, according to a press release issued by their attorney.
Pearson is not giving up on his attack on these small business owners. He is appealing the court's ruling, so the case goes on and the legal costs continue to grow for the Chung family.
Karen Harned, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business Legal Foundation, had this to say about this case:
"Small-business owners, like the Chungs, live in fear every day that they will be the next victim of a frivolous lawsuit and could possibly lose their business. For the Chungs, this fear has become a reality - forcing them to close the doors to Custom Cleaners. Even after they were victorious at trial, the costs and pressures of the ongoing lawsuit have now taken the business that they worked so hard to maintain and operate. It is disgraceful that our legal system operates this way. Outrageous litigants should not be able to use our judicial system to take advantage of innocent small-business owners.
"NFIB hopes the D.C. government will follow through with the proper proceedings to ensure Mr. Pearson is no longer entrusted with the authority to make legal decisions on behalf of the people of the District of Columbia. Removing Pearson's robe as an administrative judge is a small, but important, step towards changing the system so that the courts are no longer used to kill the American dream. It unfortunately is too late to save Custom Cleaners. However, we hope this regrettable story will help the public and government officials realize that tort reform is needed to prevent these types of frivolous lawsuits from killing another small business."
I could not agree more! I hope they do remove the judge from the bench for this despicable act. If these efforts are successful, I can see the headline: Judge Exposed -- Loses His Robe and His Pants.
