Lost Pants Lawsuit Is Absurd and Unethical

The nut case administrative law judge in Washington, DC, who sued a dry cleaner for $65 million for a lost pair of pants has lowered his price to $54 million.  Roy L. Pearson  — who turned down an offer of $15,000 for his precious pants — is proving the maxim that he who represents himself has a fool for a client.  And he is professionally incompetent to boot. 

Yes, “Judge” Pearson, I am publicly defaming you in your business or profession because you obviously have no connection with reality, justice or professional competence.  Come on down to Georgia and sue me for $65 million.  Heck, make it $650 million or $65 billion.  Why hold back?

Perhaps he is representing himself because no sane, ethical lawyer would have anything to do with this travesty.  Perhaps he cried in court because of some glimmer of recognition that he has made a complete fool of himself.

Once a dry cleaner in my neighborhood ruined a pair of my suit pants.  Did I sue the dry cleaner? No, I just changed dry cleaners.  One of my lawyer friends in Atlanta mentioned this week that a dry cleaner once lost over 20 pairs of pants he was having altered after losing a lot of weight.  He wrote it off.

Anyway, the whole nation hopes the judge who heard the case will sock “Judge” Pearson with all available sanctions for this travesty.

The sad thing is that this idiot is not just abusing the Korean immigrant dry cleaners and making a fool of himself.  Worse, he is holding the whole legal system up to public ridicule, doing untold harm to countless people who have real problems, real injuries, real damages.  Predictably, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbyists are blaming trial lawyers (and the people with serious cases that we represent)  for “Judge Pearson’s” idiocy. 

Never mind that the CEO of the American Association for Justice (formerly Association of Trial Lawyers of America) filed an ethics complaint with the DC Bar against Judge Pearson.  Never mind that the case is an aberration, that “Judge” Pearson is not a trial lawyer but former legal aid lawyer promoted to a local administrative law judge in DC who has never spent a day in private law practice, or that his claim is based on an absurd interpretation of some obscure local law in DC rather than tort law.  Real lawyers are constrained by common sense and economic reality, none of which appear present in “Judge” Pearson’s conduct.

Now every time we strike a jury in a case of wrongful death or serious physical injury, we will have to deal with juror perceptions not only of the McDonald’s hot coffee case (which at least involved a significant burn injury) but also the “lost pants” case.  I wonder how many thousands of people will be indirectly harmed by this moron’s stupidity.

The Shigley Law Firm  represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases statewide in Georgia, and in other states subject to the multijurisdictional practice and pro hac vice rules in each state. Ken Shigley was designated as a “SuperLawyer” in Atlanta Magazine and one of the “Legal Elite” in Georgia Trend Magazine. He is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, Chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Liability Institute and former chair of the Georgia Insurance Law Institute. He particularly focuses on cases arising from truck wrecks and accidents (tractor trailers truck wrecks, semi truck wrecks,18 wheeler truck wrecks, big rig truck wrecks, log truck wrecks, dump truck wrecks.