Lost in the Shuffle
Roy Pearson, who had been out of work for about three years, was appointed to be an administrative law judge. He had gained weight, and he realized he needed to have his suit pants let out. He brought in a pair of pants to be altered, and he planned on wearing them three days later. But a couple of days later, he was told that they weren’t ready. And the day after that, they were nowhere to be found.
Pearson claims that Soo Chung, the proprietor, promised to keep looking for them. But when he returned to the store a week later, Chung tried to give him what she said were the missing trousers. But Pearson said they were not the pants he had left to be altered. Not only was the pattern different, but the pants proffered as his also had, of all things, cuffs. Only once in his adult life, he said, had he worn cuffed pants, and never, he suggested, would he have so altered his treasured Hickey Freeman suit.
Pearson wrote to the Chungs, demanding $1,150 to buy a new suit. When the Chungs did not respond, Pearson swung into action, filing a $67 million lawsuit (the demand was later decreased to $54 million) that would eventually make him the talk of the town and provide fodder for comedians. The case was eventually dismissed. His appeals case likewise went nowhere. To make matters worse for Pearson, he was again unemployed. He sued the District of Columbia for wrongful termination after the district declined to reappoint him to his prior position as an administrative law judge. That case was dismissed as well.