The Chungs who ran the laundry involved in the US$54 million missing pants lawsuit have decided to close shop.
The reason for the closing, according to their lawyer, are mental stress resulting from the lawsuit and declining revenues.
Although former judge Pearson never won the case in court, he did win in the end by driving the Chungs out of business. Not a good day for the little guy.
19 Comments
A sad day for small scale capitalist enterprises in America.
Pearson is a true prick.
I’d have given them my business a) if they were closer, and b) if it wouldn’t take away business from the Korean cleaners I already go to/know.
Here’s hoping Pearson gets tazed every time he opens his mouth for the rest of his life.
Oh, boo-hoo. They shouldn’t have lost his pants.
Yes, there was probably mental stress, but the couple are at retirement age and may have felt it was time. The stress thing might just be a convenient excuse.
I do not understand why revenues would be declining since the news of their case probably won them a lot of sympathy customers. It is possible that the revenues were declining before the lawsuit, and the couple just decided that this would be a convenient time to get out.
They have gotten plenty of sympathy, so maybe it is time for people to be happy for them. A dry cleaning business is not easy work.
And this being America, they can probably sue the dude for mental stress or something…
@#6.
Suing Pearson. Now that would be interesting.
I’m not so sure. He’s either lost or will soon lose his judge position, and his ex-wife apparently cleaned him out in their divorce. Even if they won, they probably couldn’t get much.
Chungs, good riddance Korean leeches.
That’s not nice at all cm. If we’ve learned anything at the marmot’s hole a leech is a leech, Korean or otherwise.
#9,
A leech would imply that they are getting a free ride and not making their way in society. Thus by definition, it would be Pearson who is the leech and not the Chungs.
#8,
Plus Rob, being a lawyer himself, Pearson can cover his own legal fees, whereas anyone NOT a lawyer trying to sue Pearson would have to pay someone $400 an hour.
Being that cm is, I seen to recall, a Canadian gyopo, I think he’s being sarcastic.
And, as usual, being far too heavyhanded with it for it to be effective.
An extremely well-footnoted and “kept-up-to-the-minute” wikipedia article has the latest developments in English:
On July 24, 2007, The American Tort Reform Association and the Institute for Legal Reform of the United States Chamber of Commerce hosted a fundraiser for the Chungs to help pay their attorneys fees that reported having raised up to $64,000.00. [26] The Chungs say they have received close to $100,000 from supporters to cover their attorneys’ fees and lost business.[18]
“…Citing a loss of revenue and emotional strain from the lawsuit, the Chungs announced, on September 19, 2007, that they have closed and sold the dry cleaning shop involved in the dispute. The Chungs still own one additional dry cleaning shop and have stated they will be focusing their attention and resources on their remaining shop.[27]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearson_v._Chung
#15.
Great comment! A lesson in how a simple ommission can drastically change a point of view.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....02173.html
When Pearson started gathering material in his quest to squeeze a struggling Korean immigrant family for megamillions in 2005, he posted fliers on light poles in the neighborhood, asking residents to feed him horror stories about the company. Business, which had been strong, declined significantly and never rebounded, said Choi and the Chungs’ attorney, Christopher Manning.
“You’d think the trial and all the publicity would have a good effect on business,” Manning said, “but for a dry cleaner, it really doesn’t, because your customers are from the immediate neighborhood.”
America’s got a disfunctional justice system that lets scuzzballs (and their lawyers) ruin the lives of innocent hardworking people. Come on, America, get off your butts and bring in some serious tort reform!
# 17 true that.
Anyways, the Chungs are in their 60s and they don’t need the stress and drama anymore. Hopefully the sale of their two shops and continued revenue from their third can provide them a decent living post-retirement.
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[...] Considering they lost business despite the publicity they received from the lawsuit makes me wonder if there is any racial undertones to the fact they lost business. Maybe someone reading this familar with where the Chung’s business locations in the D.C. area can comment on that. You can read more over at the Marmot’s Hole. [...]
[...] Laundry in missing pants case closes shop, Marmot’s Hole, 20 September Post a comment — Trackback URI RSS 2.0 feed for these comments This entry (permalink) was posted on Friday, August 24, 2007, at 12:30 pm by Philip Gowman and categorized in …blow by blow, Random news scrapbook. [...]