Pressing a Suit
Agree with thine
adversary quickly,
whiles thou art in the
way with him;
lest at any time the
adversary deliver thee to the judge,
and the judge deliver
thee to the officer,
and thou be cast into
prison.
— Matthew 5:25
Can YOU be-LIEVE that judge in Washington,
D.C.? It was reported by the Associated Press last week that he is taking a
cute little Korean couple to the cleaners in court to the tune of $65 million.
Why? Because they left his pants out of his dry-cleaning order.
Talk about pressing a suit. I mean,
you have to be really . . . steamed . . . to do something like that.
The administrative law judge, Roy L.
Pearson Jr., alleged that he brought several suits for alterations to Custom
Cleaners in May 2005. It's owned by Jin Nam and Ki Chung, and their son Soo
Chung. The suit contends that, two days later, he picked up the clothes, and a
pair of pants was missing.
The defendants countered that they
found the missing pants a week later, but Pearson claimed they weren't his - though
the inseam length is the same, and the ticket on the pants matches his receipt.
The Chungs claimed Pearson refused three settlement offers, as much as $12,000.
Pearson's lawsuit reaches $65
million because he sought:
n
More
than $1,000 for the suit.
n
$15,000
to rent a car every weekend for 10 years to go to another dry cleaners, since
he didn't want to go back to the Chungs' establishment.
n
A fine
of $1,500 per violation, per day, under Pearson's interpretation of the
Washington consumer protection law; he claimed 12 violations and tripled the
sum because there are three defendants.
The case is scheduled for trial on
June 11. It has raised a hue and cry from attorneys who say the suit should be
thrown out of court, Pearson should pay the Chungs' legal bills, and Pearson
should be fired and disbarred.
All I know is, my younger brother handled
a similar situation much better, years ago.
Danny had graduated from college and
was trying to find a professional job in Los Angeles. In the meantime, he was
working at a pud job that he hated, in a warehouse. He wore jeans to work every
day and got really grubby.
There was a job halfway across L.A.
that he really wanted, in a snazzy office complex. But twice, when he drove all
that way for the interview, the honcho had been called away from the office,
and the interview had to be canceled. Danny persevered, and made one last
appointment for 5 p.m. on a workday.
He went to his warehouse job that
day, then fought through traffic to get to his interview a few minutes early.
He grabbed his suit, which was still in the dry-cleaner's bag, and went up the
elevator to the 27th floor. He popped into the restroom to change out
of his workclothes into his suit.
He pulled off the plastic, revealing
his suitcoat . . . but no pants.
NO PANTS?!?!?
AAAIIIEEE!!!
But he didn't freak out. He didn't
rage against the dry cleaner's. He didn't file a lawsuit.
Instead, he put his jeans back on,
draped the dry cleaning plastic over his shoulder, and walked into the office.
The secretary stared at this
stranger in the nice coat and grubby jeans, and told Mr. Big that the interview
candidate had arrived.
Danny walked in with a confident
smile, saying: "I want you to know that I wasn't caught with my pants down."
Mr. Big immediately perceived what
had happened, liked his moxie, and said:
"YOU'RE HIRED!"
Shortly thereafter, Danny got in
another one: "I'll work my pants off for you!"
And he has. So began a work
relationship that endures to this day; he has moved to the East Coast, but
still works for an arm of the same firm.
That's called making the best of a
bad situation. How things would be different for that Washington, D.C., judge, if
he'd done something like Danny did.
The best way to keep your life from
getting stained by conflict . . . is to keep a clean heart. †
