Proffered Pants Serve as Evidence
A lawyer for a dry cleaners sued for millions of dollars introduced a pair of proffered pants into evidence yesterday, saying the plaintiff was abusing the legal system.
Custom Dry Cleaners contends the pants, found after they were initially lost, belong to plaintiff Roy Pearson, the New York Times reports. But when the business’s owners offered the pants to Pearson, he refused to accept them, saying they weren’t his. An administrative law judge, Pearson has reduced his claim for damages to $54 million.
Soo Chung, one of the business’s owners, testified that she knows the pants are Pearson’s because she remembered the unusual belt loops. She said the lawsuit has harmed both her and her husband, “economically, emotionally, and health-wise.”
The lawyer for the business, Christopher Manning, said the case has been a nightmare. “It’s a story of how one man has ruthlessly abused the legal system and one statute and caused a great deal of suffering for what was essentially a hardworking mom-and-pop business.”
