The trial has finally ended, and Judge Judith Bartnoff said she would issue a decision next week in administrative law judge Roy Pearson’s $54 million dollar suit against Custom Cleaners, but the Post’s Marc Fisher reports that Bartnoff has already given a clue as to how she will likely rule.

After listening to Pearson argue for hour upon hour that he was somehow protecting the interests of all Washingtonians by using the D.C. consumer protection law to punish Custom Cleaners for allegedly losing a pair of his pants, Bartnoff said: “This is a very important statute to protect consumers. It’s also very important that statutes like this are not misused.”

WTOP’s Neal Augenstein reported that defendant Soo Chung, who owns and operates Custom Cleaners with her husband, cried on the stand yesterday as she described how her family has suffered “economically, emotionally, and healthwise” due to this lawsuit.

Should the verdict be in favor of the Chungs, their attorney Chris Matthews told WTOP he expects Pearson to appeal. Any legal analysts out there in blogland able to venture a guess as to how much this litigation has cost District taxpayers so far?