Serves him right. If a judge can't tell a legitimate lawsuit for a frivolous one, he has no right to sit on the bench.

His family must be so proud.

@Smashville:

Utter slimeball. I heard a rumor that his family is refusing to even speak to him because of this fiasco.

Ladies and gentlemen..I live near here. Then again, another local official was just canned for being caught speeding while being under the influence - twice over the legal limit! So you know, it's not just DC. It's the entire DC Metro Area. We're all magnets for crap officials.

@pecan 3.14159265: Oh, I forgot to mention the part that's supposed to make people roll their eyes. The local official was the chief of police.

Since the business had to close isn't there some way they could counter sue the former judge for loss of revenue due to legal fee for a frivolous lawsuit?

I mean I know they COULD sue him, but would they have a leg to stand on?

Has anyone considered that he's so angry over the loss of his pants because he's a dressy nevernude? Not everyone can pull off denim cutoffs, you know.

If someone deserves to be kicked in the balls repeatedly, it's Pearson. How can you go through life being such a fantastically colossal tool?

I would love to meet his parents. I bet 2 minutes with them would explain a lot.

i wish he was forced to pay the legal bills of the other party. seems completely unfair that they had to close because of paying legal bills when this was completely ridiculous.

Businesses should fail because they simply aren't good, not because they are unable to sustain a defense against frivolous lawsuits. I hope they file a counter-claim against this whack job.

@snazz: I thought they had appealed to have their legal fees paid. I guess they didn't, or if they did, they lost that appeal.

It's definitely a shame they had to close. I'm not sure whether they had to close all of their stores or just the one that handled the pants. As far as I remember, the family had at least one other dry cleaning business.

@GyroMight: I wondered the same thing. I feel bad for them. Regardless of what transpired with the pants, this went out of control in a tornado fashion. I'm surprised no lawyer jumped at this. Maybe they simply cannot afford to do it.

@pecan 3.14159265: No, not just speeding, he hit someone. With his car. His BAC was 0.19%; the legal limit is 0.08%.

This was right outside where I work.

@GyroMight: yeah but now the judge himself doesn't have a job, which means he probably wouldn't have the money to pay for it. I bet that the only thing that would come out of it would be the credit of both parties are shot due to the law firms trying to collect fee's from both of them.

@GyroMight: They could try to sue him for malicious prosecution. Those can be tough cases to win though. The problem of course is that it would cost them more legal fees to sue him before they would even have a shot of recovering anything, and there's no guarantee they would.

@pecan 3.14159265: I saw that. Wondering whether we should we admire or pity the officer who pulled him over and determined DUI.

Ha ha. Neener neener.

@pecan 3.14159265: The reason you (and everyone else) is plagued with crappy officials is that only crappy people want to be officials. There are exceptions, but they're few and far between.

The only way the world could be run with truth, compassion and honesty would be for the dogs to finally take over. It's happened in my house, and we're much better off for it. Kibble bill's a little high, though.

@pecan 3.14159265: Two words:

Jack Johnson

I wonder if this guy has any friends left. Maybe he still has a few because they're afraid of a lawsuit should they leave.

He must have severe emotional problems of some kind. How does he still take himself seriously?

He genuinely believes that he is entitled to millions of dollars over a minor squabble with a dry cleaner. After that amazing display of poor judgment and horrible abuse of the judicial system, he also believes he is entitled to a job as a judge.

All of his other service providers (mobile phone, internet, television, phone, etc) should close his accounts before something stupid happens. Imagine the poor bastards that re-roof his house, change the oil in his car or sell him groceries. Who's next?

The dry cleaner that was forced to close, surely must have some legal recourse for recompense from this gargantudouche.

@MrPenny: They would have to file another lawsuit to get the compensation from Mr. Fancy Pants, and the owners have made it very clear that they are so done with dealing with lawyers and legal fees and this dicksmack.

@pecan 3.14159265:

I think the problem is that they may be able to get a judgment against Pearson for the legal fees, but if he doesn't have any money then he can't pay it.

@pecan 3.14159265: @TCama: Maybe we should have a Consumerist DC meetup sometime ;)

Sadly, these poor dry cleaner owners got the side of the "American Dream" they never wanted - sue happy idiots.

I hate that Mr. Pants was able to keep things going in litigation for so long and I seriously hope he never finds another position in any political or legal position... then again, this is the jurisdiction that re-elected Marion Barry

I was glad when Pearson first filed the suit since I've had stuff lost/ruined by dry cleaners who took no responsibility. Then I realized the judge wasn't just trying to make a point and get reimbursed for his clothing costs.

Good that he's not being reappointed.

@pecan 3.14159265: Now I remember!! My sis and bro in law used to get their clothes done there. They were royally pissed off because of that.

@I_have_something_to_say:
I don't know, but I can't wait for the chance to call someone a fantastically colossal tool. It shouldn't take long...

@snazz:

Isn't that the case in England? The loser pays the legal fees. Or did I just make that up in my head?

I might have heard a rumor that he is the father of the Octomom's brood.

@pecan 3.14159265: trust me, it's not just where you live. where i used to live, a city official slammed his car into a lightpole in the middle of an empty parking lot b/c he was loaded. the cops wouldn't administer a breathalyzer, but the EMT in charge of the ambulance that took him to the hospital wrote in his report that the official was "visibly intoxicated".

that report was leaked to the paper & you know who lost their job? the EMT. nice, huh?

@pecan 3.14159265: Excuse me, do these effectively hide my thunder?

and yet so many people are against real tort reform ...

@TCama: To add to your adding he hit someone and they were injured, though I dont know how serious.

@MrPenny: I presume he has some sort of mental illness. That might make sueing him rather tricky.

i think they should give him his job back if & ONLY if he agrees to change his name to judge fancy pants.

@tbax929: yes I am pretty sure UK and Australia has a loser pays system. The loser pay system has some a couple large flaws, so Im not sure its worth adopting.

The current system can be good if the Judges are strong. They can throw out frivolous lawsuits and award fees for cases shown in trial to be frivolous. I assume the exjudge has no money so money award doesn't help the drycleaners much.

@pecan 3.14159265: Pearson was sanctioned $12,000 by the judge. The Chungs filed for a motion for attorneys' fees, but withdrew after they managed to recover fees through various fundraising efforts people made.

They sold the store that was involved in the lawsuit, but they still have another location.

@theblackdog: I thought you were headed toward "Marion Berry" but that one works about as well...

@Shoelace: These drycleaners bent over backwards trying to please the man. You may have been wronged by a drycleaner but there are good ones out there.

Before he filed the suit the drycleaners found his pants. He claimed they weren't his even though they were the same size and description. Then they said fine we will pay for the pants. He refused. So in order to prevent an expensive lawsuite they made a couple of offers. The last one being $10,000 for a lousy pair of pants. And still the guy refused.

@GyroMight: As others have opined, its not easy to get that money. It's cases like these that make me sometimes wish we had the UK system, where loser pays.

They should have opened under a new name: "I'll Sew Your Pants Off Alterations & Dry Cleaning."

@mac-phisto:

I second this :)

@bagumpity: The best response.

@ARP:
If the loser paid all court costs, you can bet that the court calendars would be cleared out in a jiffy!

@jeffbone: Too easy to name him, but the both of them seem to love giving their friends contracts and grants.

@Tmoney02: My personal favorite was that part of his $54million suit was the cost to rent a car once a week to drive to a different dry cleaners father away from his house.

@ARP: That would mean that large companies could even more easily bully the little guy - if you get sued then the amount you lose can be completely incommensurate with the amount of the judgement itself.