Judge loses case over missing trousers

Judge loses case over missing trousers
WASHINGTON: A Washington judge, who filed a lawsuit against a dry cleaner firm claiming $54 million over his missing trousers, lost the case Monday.

Judith Bartnoff, a judge at the Superior Court, ruled in the case that judge Roy L. Pearson, Jr., could not prove that a signboard "satisfaction guaranteed" at the dry cleaners, Custom Cleaners, misled customers. Bartnoff also said judge Pearson could not also convince her that the dry cleaners had lost his pants.

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

She also ordered that Pearson should pay filing fees and other court costs incurred by the dry cleaners in defending themselves. A defense lawyer said this could be of around $5,000. Besides, he said, the defendants will press for payment of lawyers' fees, which could be $100,000 or more.

Custom Cleaners is owned by a South Korean family, the Chungs. The case has been going on for the last two years. The judge had sought payment of $ 1,150 for the misplaced trousers, which he had brought to the store for an alteration in May 2005. The judge is said to have refused to accept the trousers, found a few days later, claiming they were not his. He then sought $1,500 for every day the store displayed the "Satisfaction Guaranteed" signboard during the pendency of the case, multiplied by three defendants. He also claimed $ 15,000 to rent a car to take his clothes to a different dry cleaner outlet for 10 years.

In a major rebuke to the judge, Bartnoff in her verdict said she found the Chungs more credible than him.