The D.C. Court of Appeals rejected Pearson's request to overturn last year's ruling that denied him any damages. Pearson argued that Custom Cleaners failed to live up to the promise of "Satisfied Guaranteed" (posted on a sign inside the store). Mr. Pearson, if you haven't already figured out, is also a crazy fool.
The following is the press release I received this morning from the Chung family lawyer, Christopher C.S. Manning:
Today the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled resoundingly in favor of the Chung family and denied Mr. Roy Pearson's appeal of the case completely. The DC Court of Appeals held that the trial court correctly ruled that Mr. Pearson's claims had no merit whatsoever.No pants, in the history of pants, has ever been worth $54 million. And yet Pearson persists, refusing to leave this poor family alone. In today's ruling, three appellate judges agreed that Pearson, a former D.C. judge, failed to show the store's advertising amounted to fraud and said his argument defied logic.
Mr. Jin Chung said "We are very very happy with the result and thank everyone for supporting us. The past three years have been very difficult but we hope this nightmare is finally over." The Chungs also hope the vague and often unfair DC Consumer Protection Act (which was the primary statutory basis for the lawsuit) will be changed so that others do not suffer like they did.
Mr. Pearson may request that the appeal be heard again by the entire panel of DC Court of Appeals judges and also may petition for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is the Chung's hope that Mr. Pearson will not attempt to appeal any further and will end his frivolous and baseless attacks on the Chung family.
The three and a half years this case has been pending and appealed have been very difficult for the Chungs. They lost two of their dry cleaning stores and their realization of the American Dream.
The Chungs simply want to quietly return to their one remaining small dry cleaning store at 7th and M streets and to rebuild their lives.
Manning Sossamon law firm handled the appeal for the Chungs on a pro bono basis.
Hopefully, the ruling means this ridiculous saga will finally be over for the Chungs. Unfortunately, Pearson can still ask the entire nine-judge appellate court to review the case or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. I'm not trying to give him any ideas—chances are, the crazy idiot has already thought of it.
If he knows what's good for him (and obviously, he doesn't) Pearson will give it up, because he's wasted a lot of people's time, money and resources over this matter. But at this point, I wouldn't put it past him to go all the way with this. More here: Former Judge Loses $67 Million Pants Case. And here: Appeals court rejects DC missing pants case.