A US judge took the Korean immigrant owners of a dry cleaning business to court on Tuesday, wheeling out a colorful cast of witnesses to support his demand for 54 million dollars in compensation for losing his pants.
Roy Pearson alleges that Custom Cleaners, run by Korean immigrants Jin and Soo Chung and their son, lost his blue and red-striped grey trousers and misled him with a sign that read "satisfaction guaranteed," according to US media.
He calculated the 54 million dollar penalty under District of Columbia consumer protection laws, at 1,500 dollars for every day the cleaners left the sign up in their shop. The case has dragged on for two years.
Pearson, an administrative judge in Washington, DC, is suing the Chungs and their son separately. He is also seeking emotional damages and legal fees, even though he is representing himself.
The Chungs meanwhile have had to shell out two years' worth of fees for their own lawyers, they said in an interview with ABC news.
It was the second pair of Pearson's trousers the Chungs had lost, according to court papers cited by ABC news.
Pearson called a string of local witnesses, including an 89-year-old war veteran who complained the cleaners had also damaged a pair of her trousers, a Washington Post blogger in the courtroom reported.
Pearson then took the stand himself, detailing his own painful divorce and financial troubles and breaking down in tears, the blog said.
It quoted the lead defense lawyer, Christopher Manning, who in court branded the case "a terrible example of American litigiousness."
