PERSPI Award

Judge Judith Bartnoff

CSW 07-19

An administrative law judge in Washington, D.C. by the name of Roy L. Pearson filed suit against a dry cleaners for losing his cherished pair of pants. So cherished were the pants that the lawsuit sought $53,000,000 in damages because "satisfaction guaranteed" was displayed on a sign in the establishment which misled Pearson and other customers regarding the service policy.

Well, PERSPI Judge Judith Bartnoff saw right through the two legged caper and ruled against the ferocious farce of financial frivolity. The judge ruled that Pearson did not interpret the sign in a reasonable fashion and declined to find that the "satisfaction guaranteed" sign covered all contingencies, including unreasonable ones. "A reasonable consumer would not interpret 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' to mean that a merchant is required to satisfy a customer's unreasonable demands," Judge Judy wrote.

Her ruling also concluded that Judge Pearson had neglected to prove his assertion that the Chung family (the Korean owners of the dry cleaners) mendaciously tried to fob him off with the wrong pair of pants. Way to go Judge Judy!

Judge Judith Bartnoff, this week's deserved PERSPI winner.