COMMISSION URGED TO RECONSIDER TENURE OF LAW JUDGE WHO'S SUING DRY CLEANER FOR $65 MILLION

Reappointment to New 10-Year Term, at Taxpayers’ Expense, Could Start Tomorrow

Washington, DC, May 01, 2007 -- The American Tort Reform Association yesterday delivered a letter to four District of Columbia officials, urging them to consider carefully the "judicial temperament" of an administrative law judge who is seeking reappointment while suing a local dry cleaner -– over a lost pair of pants -– for more than $65 million.

“His pants were found long ago and are readily available to him,” explained ATRA president Sherman Joyce. “What may no longer be available to him, unless he withdraws his lawsuit, is a reputation as a jurist with appropriate judicial temperament.”

As recently reported by The Washington Post, FOX News Channel and other local and national media outlets, D.C. administrative law judge Roy Pearson Jr. has sued Custom Cleaners in Northeast D.C. under the District’s Consumer Protection and Procedures Act, alleging among other things that window signs advertising “Satisfaction Guaranteed” and “Same Day Service” fraudulently deceived customers.

“The District’s consumer protection act and many others in states across the country are well-intentioned but loosely worded,” Joyce continued. “They were crafted largely in the late-1960s and into the 1970s, before personal injury litigation was industrialized by the trial bar in the 1980s, and Judge Pearson’s lawsuit appears to be a somewhat typical, if wholly outrageous example of the exploitation such laws are increasingly subject to these days.

“ATRA pledges to raise sufficient funds to buy Judge Pearson a high-quality suit of his choosing if he’ll do the right thing and let this hardworking family business get back to serving its community and paying taxes to the District government,” added Joyce. “But since that may not do the trick, we’ve reached out to the commission considering his reappointment to the well-paid, taxpayer-supported position he’s held since May 2, 2005.”

He noted that D.C. administrative law judges first serve a two-year term upon initial appointment and can then apply for reappointment to a 10-year term. Judge Pearson’s initial term expires today, and a source at the Commission of Selections and Appointments of Administrative Law Judges of the Office of Administrative Hearings confirmed to ATRA that he has applied for reappointment. The OAH telephone number is (202) 478-1421.

Joyce’s letter to Chief Administrative Law Judge Tyrone Butler and Commissioners Robert Rigsby, Henry Levine and Peter Wilner also was copied to D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, all members of the D.C. Council and D.C. Superior Court Judge Rufus King, all of whom have a role in deciding who will serve on the commission in the future. Judge Pearson also was copied. Full text of the ATRA letter follows below:

April 30, 2007

Chief Administrative Law Judge Tyrone Butler
D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings
825 N. Capitol Street, NE
Washington, D.C., 20002

Commissioner Robert Rigsby
Commissioner Henry Levine
Commissioner Peter Wilner
Commission on Selection and Tenure of Administrative Law Judges
441 Fourth Street NW
Suite 540 S
Washington, D.C. 20001

RE: Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson’s Pending Reappointment to a 10-Year Term

Dear Judge Butler and Commissioners Rigsby, Levine and Wilner:

On behalf of the American Tort Reform Association, which works to combat lawsuit abuse, I urge you to carefully reconsider the reappointment of Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson Jr. to a 10-year term scheduled to commence in three days on May 2.

As you are almost surely aware by now, thanks to extensive local and national media coverage, Judge Pearson has chosen to exploit the District’s well-intentioned but loosely-worded Consumer Protection and Procedures Act in suing a family-owned D.C. dry cleaner for more than $65 million – over a lost pair of suit pants.

Though the pants have long since been found and made available to him, Judge Pearson has stubbornly continued to waste precious Superior Court resources in a clearly misguided effort to extort a hardworking family that provides a service to its community and tax revenue to the District government.

In a letter to the editor in today’s Washington Post, former National Labors Relations Board chief administrative law judge Melvin Welles urged “any bar to which Mr. Pearson belongs to immediately disbar him and the District to remove him from his position as an administrative law judge.”

To those of us who carefully study the litigation industry’s growing abuse of consumer protection laws around the country (see ATRA general counsel Victor Schwartz’s recent article from Executive Counsel magazine, “Consumer Protection Acts Are a Springboard for Lawsuit Abuse,” enclosed) and to everyday D.C. taxpayers who collectively provide Judge Pearson with a considerable salary, his persistence in this lawsuit raises serious doubts about his capacity to serve the city as a “fair, impartial, effective, and efficient” judge, as required by the Office of Administrative Hearings Establishment Act.

If Judge Pearson goes ahead with his lawsuit, any party who comes before him in future administrative hearings could understandably lack confidence in his judgment and judicial temperament. Furthermore, this case will become fodder for late night comics, various members of Congress and other assorted critics of D.C. government if this case, scheduled for trial June 11, remains in the headlines.

Judicial temperament is a critical characteristic of an outstanding jurist. Any individual who chooses to pursue a case such as Judge Pearson’s, at a minimum, calls into question his or hers. As you consider his reappointment, we strongly urge you to examine closely his judicial temperament and decide whether it is sufficient to serve the people of the District of Columbia properly as an administrative law judge.

Sincerely,

Sherman Joyce
President
American Tort Reform Association

Enclosure: “Consumer Protection Acts Are a Springboard for Lawsuit Abuse,” Executive Counsel, March/April 2007, Vol. 4 No. 2

Cc: Mayor Adrian Fenty, Council Chair Vincent Gray, Superior Court Chief Judge Rufus King, all D.C. Council Members and Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson

####

The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to tort and liability reform through public education and the enactment of legislation. ATRA's membership includes non profits, small and large companies, as well as state and national trade, business, and professional associations.