July 17, 2007
Pants Lawsuit Update
District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff summarily denied Judge Roy Pearson's motion to reconsider her June ruling against him in his $54 million law suit against Custom Cleaners. In an order filed Monday, Bartnoff said that the the plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration reargues matters that already were presented at trial, so since he makes no new argument, Pearson's request was denied.
The Chung family and their attorney, Chris Manning, have said they expect Mr. Pearson to file an appeal of this order 30 days from today, in addition to filing an appeal of the original verdict, which he will need to do by July 25.
In June, Bartnoff also ordered Pearson to pay thousands of dollars in court costs to the Chung family, owners of Custom Cleaners. Since the Chung family still owes tens of thousands more in legal fees, Manning also recently filed a motion for attorneys' fees in attempt to collect just over $80,000 from Pearson. Manning has also indicated he expects Pearson to appeal any favorable decision on this motion as well.
A week from tonight, there will be a fundraiser open to the public at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to benefit the Chung's legal defense fund. Visit their web site for more details. The Examiner also has more on the story.
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There's no question that his lawsuit was ridiculous and I certainly don't think that it's inappropriate for them to have a fundraiser. That being said, look some of their sponsors: American Tort Reform Association, National Review, Townhall.com. They're being turned into poster children for right-wing causes.
I noticed that too. Very weird.
Yeah - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is not your friend unless you're a millionaire.
The big question is, what happens with overflow proceeds from this fundraiser? What if the Chungs are awarded attorney's fees (they almost certainly will be), and Pearson actually pays them (the big if)? Then there will be lots of cash raised "on behalf of" the Chungs, that is not committed to a specific purpose. OR, for that matter, what if the fundraiser attracts the Chamber's target audience, and they raise more money than the Chungs owe to Sossamun et al.?
That Web site certainly doesn't give that information.
This goes beyond his frivolous and drawn-out lawsuit to a deeper societal problem: how do we handle citizens who obviously suffer from serious mental health problems,like Roy Pearson? How can we have them committed?
@Invisible Sun: Beg to differ. The real problem is how to help citizens who obviously suffer from serious mental health problems before they seriously disrupt society and completely ruin their own lives, as has Mr. Pearson.
The Chung family's attorney suggested that Pearson should have "used the free market system" and gone to a different dry cleaner. I agree with him. We've all had less-than-perfect experiences with customer service in our lives. What would happen to the justice system if we all filed multi-million-dollar lawsuits whenever we weren't satisfied with customer service?
Yeah, this issue has been hijacked as a legal reform issue for big business, which it clearly didn't start out as.