World's Most Expensive Trousers
This is a story about the world's most expensive pair of trousers. Five years ago a man took a pair into his local dry cleaners in Washington DC to get them altered for ten dollars. But the cleaners lost them. And now that man, Roy Pearson, who happens to be a judge, is suing.
The South Korean owners, Ki and Jin Man Chung, offered him a thousand dollars to settle, later raising that to twelve-thousand dollars. But Mr Pearson wasn't satisfied. He claims he is owed sixty-seven million dollars. The Chungs' lawyer, Chris Manning, says his clients can't believe they're in this situation.
Much of this case rests on two signs which were on the dry cleaners' walls which said "satisfaction guaranteed" and "same day service." Mr Pearson says he didn't get either, so the signs amount to fraud.
But why sixty-seven-million dollars? He's claiming this is the sum of fines compounded daily, emotional damage, legal fees and car hire to get to another cleaners since the case began. This lawsuit might seem hard to believe and some Washington lawyers have described it as absurd, saying the case should be thrown out of court and Mr Pearson removed from office. But for the Chungs it is very real. After years of legal battles, they are heading to court in June for what may be the end of the story of the world's most expensive pair of trousers.
