$54 million pants

      Washington D.C. administrative law judge Roy Pearson is claiming he is owed $54 million in damages over an $800 pair of pants he claims the dry cleaner, Custom Cleaners, lost. He said their signs, such as "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Same Day Service", were misleading given what happened. He further claimed that the loss of these pants caused him severe "mental suffering, inconvenience, and discomfort".
       So how did he get to this number? Well, he looked through his law books and cited the District of Columbia's consumer protection laws. These state that he was entitled to $1500 per violation per day (with 1200 days to account for). On top of that, he asked $500,000 in emotional damages, $542,500 in legal fees (although he represented himself), and $15,000 for 10 years worth of weekend car rentals so he could get to a competent dry cleaning.
     So what had happened? It all started in 2002 when the dry cleaners lost Pearson's first pair of pants. To compensate him, they gave him a $150 check. Three years later, when he returned with another pair of pants in 2005, the special pair he bought for his first day of work on the administrative bench also went missing. This led to lawyers and a high offer of $12,000 from the store owners, but he refused because he had gotten neither his guaranteed satisfaction nor his pants.
       This case is an excellent example of a frivolous, money grab case where someone had something very minor go wrong and they wanted to maximize how much they could profit off of it. It's a real shame people try to abuse the system like this, but I think even cases like these shouldn't be blocked from their day in court without evidence for dismissal because people need to know the system is open to them. However, it is kind of unfair to the people facing such frivolous suits to have to pay legal expenses to defend themselves from these money grabs.