U.S. "pants suit" judge denied reinstatement to D.C. post: report

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, July 28 (Yonhap) -- A federal judge has dismissed claims by a former
Washington, D.C., judge fired after a lawsuit seeking excessive compensation
against a Korean-American drycleaner that lost a pair of trousers, reports said
Tuesday.

"This case is a classic example of a plaintiff pleading himself out of court by
alleging a host of facts that only serve to totally undercut his claims," U.S.
District Judge Ellen Huvelle said in a ruling to turn down Roy Pearson's demand
that he be reinstated as a D.C. administrative judge, according to the local
daily The Examiner.
Pearson also sought $5 million in compensation for having been kicked out of his
job, worth $100,000 annually.
Pearson was fired by the D.C. administration last year, just months after he lost
his high-profile US$54 million suit against Chung Jin-nam, the owner of the dry
cleaning business that lost his pants in 2005.
D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles was quoted by the daily as saying, "This is a
national and international embarrassment that a guy with nothing to say can go
through court proceedings and waste the times and the resources of our judges and
lawyers for so long."
In a notorious lawsuit the press quickly dubbed the "pants suit," Pearson accused
Chung of failing to meet the store policy of "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and sought
cumulative daily fines of $1,500 under the city's consumer protection law.
A lower court, however, ruled against Pearson last year, saying, "A reasonable
consumer would not interpret 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' to mean that a merchant is
required to satisfy a customer's unreasonable demands or to accede to demands
that the merchant has reasonable grounds to dispute."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform said the case proved
that the U.S. legal system "is truly broken and in bad need of repair."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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