$54 Million Drycleaner-Lawsuit Judge *Cries In Courtroom Over Lost Pants*

Apparently he's jealous of all the good press Mike Nifong is getting.

The trial, laced with references to inseam measurements, pants cuffs and designer labels, got off to a rocky start. Judge Judith Bartnoff of District of Columbia Superior Court limited Pearson's last-minute bid to broaden aspects of his case and cut short his efforts to portray himself as a "private attorney general" championing the rights of every Washington consumer.

"You are not a we, you are an I," Bartnoff said in one of several testy exchanges with Pearson, 57, who is representing himself. "You are seeking damages on your own behalf, and that is all."

Later, while recounting the day he says the cleaners tried to pass off a cheaper pair of pants as his, Pearson began to cry, asking for a break and dabbing tears as he left the courtroom.

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Using a complicated formula, Pearson argues that under the city's consumer protection law, the owners, Soo and Jin Chung and their son, Ki Chung, each owe $18,000 for each day over a nearly four-year period in which signs at their store promised "Same Day Service" and "Satisfaction Guaranteed."

In opening statements, Pearson cast himself as a victim of fraud on a historic scale, perpetrated by malicious business owners who had no intention of delivering on those promises.

"You will search the D.C. archives in vain for a case of more egregious or willful conduct," he told the court. He called a series of witnesses who complained of rude or unresponsive treatment at Custom Dry Cleaners.

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Pearson's future as an administrative law judge is in limbo. His two-year term expired on May 2, and a panel has yet to decide on his reappointment.

They have yet to decide? They're, uhhh... what now? Waiting to see if he can successfully restrain himself from killing, gutting, and stuffing a teenage hitchhiker as a decoration for the parlor before tallying up the pros and cons?

Things work differently in DC, don't they?

This man is obviously emotionally disturbed, if not outright crazy. And they haven't yet decided if he should be ruling on people's fortunes, freedoms, and lives as a judge?

Thanks to RichardMc.

Even The French Are Laughing At Us: If he's such a snazzy dresser, why does he wear a jogging suit?

Not to be The Boy Who Cried Reverse Media Racism, but I just found out today the guy was black. Why have the cable channels and print media been so skittish about showing this retard's photograph? As a plaintiff in a lunatic-fringe frivolous lawsuit -- and as a public official -- he's, you know, a public figure so there's no privacy concerns about exposing a private citizen.

They had the photos. Why were they almost never run?

Just strikes me as curious.

posted by Ace at 10:11 PM

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