Ah, the Pearson Pants Saga. It’s a story that will forever be inextricably linked with our memories of the summer of ’07, and is, much like the season, thankfully not over yet. Administrative law judge Roy Pearson, who still has his job but has been officially notified by the panel that will decide his fate that he may soon be fired, has until Wednesday to file his notice of appeal in the $54 million law suit he lost against Custom Cleaners over a pair of misplaced pants. Ever since the ruling came down, Chris Manning, the attorney for the Chung family, has expected Pearson to appeal, but in a move designed to make Pearson look like an even bigger buffoon than he already does if he goes forward, the Chungs have now withdrawn their petition to be awarded more than $80,000 in attorney fees. The Chungs say they want to be able to move on with their lives, and characterize the withdrawn petition as an “olive branch.”

Of course, it helps that the Chungs have been able to raise nearly all of the money they owe Manning through a fundraising effort sponsored by tort reform advocates — an alliance that a few observers have noted with some discomfort, though no real outrage, as few could argue that this lawsuit isn’t frivolous nor that this family doesn’t deserve all the help it can get. But surely it takes a special kind of saint not to counter sue Pearson for the two plus years of legal torture he’s put the Chungs through, let alone being willing to drop a reasonable request to have their legal fees covered in a case no one, save Pearson, believes will be overturned.

So will Judge Pearson, on the brink of being the first administrative law judge to be fired in the District of Columbia, go forward with his appeal even now that he could walk away from the suit with virtually no financial liability to the Chungs? We’ll find out tomorrow, but if we’ve learned anything about Roy Pearson this summer, it’s that there’s no telling how far he’s willing to go.

UPDATE: We’ve just heard that Judge Roy Pearson filed an appeal on the pants lawsuit decision this afternoon. More later … Yep, the Post has more. Looks like Pearson filed the necessary paperwork to keep the case alive, though it’s actually just a notice of an intent to appeal at this point.