Judge Tries Suing Pants Off Dry Cleaners

A newly appointed DC administrative law judge is suing a dry cleaner for $67 million over a lost pair of pants (based on a penalty per day that it didn't live up to its promise of "same day" service).

The case of the judge’s pants, which opened for trial in a packed courtroom here on Tuesday, has been lampooned on talk radio and in the blogosphere as an example of American legal excess. And it has spurred complaints to the District of Columbia Bar and city officials from national tort reform and trial lawyer groups worried about its effect on public trust in the legal system.

Judge Tries Suing Pants Off Dry Cleaners, N.Y. Times, June 14, 2007.

Thanks: Maureen Howard.