Cleaners Not Taken To The Cleaners By Roy L. Pearson Jr.
AS well as being the home of the brave, the United States is also the land of the litigious, and while this nationwide penchant for taking everything that moves to court can sometimes have a positive effect such as keeping dodgy businesses in line, things can often get rather silly.
Take the case of Roy Pearson, for example. One day, the administrative judge took a pair of trousers into his local dry cleaners in his Washington DC neighbourhood. However, he never saw them again. The owners of Custom Cleaners then offered him $150 in compensation, which he duly accepted.
Then three years later, Pearson took another pair of trousers into the shop, this time for tailoring. And while he claimed that those trousers also went missing, the Chungs, who owned the dry cleaners, claimed that they had indeed found the pants in question and even had a receipt to prove it.
However, Pearson, decided to sue the Chungs, for an incredible $67million.
As Washington’s consumer protection law provides for damages of $1,500 per day, Pearson got out his calculator and multiplied 12 violations over 1,200 days, times the three Chung family members. Added to this was $15,000 to rent a car to drive to another cleaner in the area as well as $500,000 in emotional damages and $542,000 in legal fees, even though he was representing himself.
He lost.
Posted: 26th, June 2007 | In: Money Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
