There's a link to a story on the same page that says the judge is probably going to be out of a job.
Out of a job?
That leads me to tend slightly toward the "crazy douchebag who possibly hates Koreans" theory, and away from the "libertarian douchebag trying to create ridiculous tort-reform anecdote" theory.
Out of a job?
Not the trial judge. Pearson, the plaintiff, is an administrative law judge in D.C., and his appointment is up for renewal.
TPM notes that Roy Pearson is black, and that ABC used footage of Marion Barry while talking about the story. Whoops!
I know, I thought "the judge" meant the plaintiff. The point is that if he's actually seeing consequences for this nonsense, it means he's probably crazy rather than trying to be clever.
I think for the tort reform angle to work he'd have to (a) win and (b) have a record of leaving the courtroom saying "I know-- isn't this crazy?!" Instead of weeping at the discussion of his pants. Which, actually, were uncuffed, since, in all his years wearing suits, he'd had only one pair of cuffed pants.
Oh, he's certainly crazy. He started this lawsuit while in the middle of a very expensive divorce, when he was broke-ass-broke. His strategy, it seems, was to sue for a ridiculous amount in the hope that he would be awarded at least a small fraction of what he asked for. 1% (or whatever) of $64 mil is still a lot of money, etc.
I think for the tort reform angle to work he'd have to (a) win
Most of the anecdotes you hear are just "Goofus sued Gallant for $2.3 million after cutting his wrist on the window that he used to break into Gallant's house". No mention of how the case actually turned out, just that the suing itself is somehow wrong.
and (b) have a record of leaving the courtroom saying "I know-- isn't this crazy?!" Instead of weeping at the discussion of his pants.
Ah, it could all be part of the act. Prior examples of noncraziness would be inadmissible as evidence.
The lost nugget of this is that when a cleaners loses a pair of your suit pants, it costs you the entire suit.
And it really, freakin' sucks when they arent willing to replace the suit.
I bought a seersucker suit on ebay for $80 + shipping. Summer is here, my droogs. (That's a bigger suit from the same seller).
I understand that with that comment I admit that I am the only Unfogged commenter who has not been wearing a seersucker suit the whole time.
Keep your eyes peeled for more news, which will come for a few weeks - whether Pearson has to pay the cleaners' legal fees.
Court costs are only money paid to the court for things like like filing briefs - I think it's still $25 for a brief. They don't amount to much - at most $1-2,000. The legal fees will be many times that amount.
15: The former would be fun at first, but soon uncomfortable.
13: The Mineshaft prefers cocksucker suits.
That seersucker suit is nice.
Speaking of ebay, today, I bought another soviet watch.
http://img.inkfrog.com/pix/progress69/15_06_2007_Zim_-_1.JPG
http://img.inkfrog.com/pix/progress69/15_06_2007_Zim_-_2.JPG
Soviets only wear watches after lunch?
Oops. Come in a few weeks.
That is slow. I usually come much faster.
10: Crazy! That's how it goes....
[fill in funny lyrics re judge, pants, Senor Labs, etc]
19: In Soviet Russia, watches wear you.
14 - I read somewhere that Pearson does have to pay their legal fees, ~$1000.
Maybe you read that in the post to which we are replying?
24 - Actually, I read that at Ogged's original link.
And I'm so mad that Labs beat me to the "Pearson is black" angle. I went googling for his picture, totally expecting a white dude, and found it here and was surprised.
What kind of person becomes an administration law judge in DC? I was serious about him maybe hating Koreans.
In the opinion, Judge Bartnoff said that "[t]he issue of the defendants' claim for attorney's fees against the plaintiff will be addressed after the defendant's motions for sanctions and for attorney's fees have been filed and briefed by the parties."
So stay tuned.
The watches are impressive. I suppose it's juvenile and lame of me to be thinking of the Soviet Anthem, or hear balalaikas strumming while birch leaves rustle.
