Boo Hoo Redux: Dry cleaner wins missing pants case

WASHINGTON -- A judge ruled Monday that no pair of pants is worth $54 million, rejecting a lawsuit that took a dry cleaner's promise of "Satisfaction Guaranteed" to its most litigious extreme.

Roy L. Pearson became a worldwide symbol of legal abuse by seeking jackpot justice from a simple complaint - that a neighborhood dry cleaners lost the pants from a suit and tried to give him a pair that were not his.

"A reasonable consumer would not interpret 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' to mean that a merchant is required to satisfy a customer's unreasonable demands," the judge wrote.

Speaking to reporters outside their dry cleaners, the Chungs said they held no hard feelings toward Pearson. "If he wants to continue using our services, then, yes, he is welcome," Soo Chung, a Korean immigrant, said through a translator.


These are just snippets from the full length article linked above. By what's been reported, I believe the Chungs went above and beyond the norm trying to resolve this situation. Pearson could have accepted one of their offers, and bought himself several similarly-priced suits with the proceeds - instead, he got greedy & lost. He wound up having to pay the Chungs' clerical court fees, he may be liable for their attorney's fees (a motion to recover costs will "be considered later"), and he's facing the possibility of of losing his position on the bench and being disbarred from practice.

All for the sake of a pair of trousers.

It may be worth it, though, to the rest of us - we now have a very clear idea of what kind of person Roy L. Pearson really is. He'll be lucky to have anyone take him seriously in the future.