Pants suit judge loses shot at getting job back

A federal judge has thrown out a wrongful-termination lawsuit by the former D.C. judge who was fired as news of his $54 million lawsuit over a pair of pants gained international attention.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle dismissed Roy Pearson’s claims that he was wrongly terminated for exposing corruption within the department where he worked as a administrative judge, the District’s Office of Administrative Hearings.

“This case is a classic example of a plaintiff pleading himself out of court by alleging a host of facts that only serve to totally undercut his claims,” Huvelle wrote in her 36-page opinion.

D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said he hoped the ruling would mark the end of the litigation by the “pants judge,” but he was expecting Pearson to appeal.

“This is a national and international embarrassment that a guy with nothing to say can go through court proceedings and waste the times and the resources of our judges and lawyers for so long,” Nickles said.

Pearson claimed that his firing violated his First Amendment right to free speech and the D.C. whistleblower laws. He argued that the city used the fact that he was being vilified in the media to cut him out of his $100,000-a-year job. He sought his old job back, in which he often ruled on disputes between city agencies, and more than $5 million in compensation. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

Although the District’s judicial commission did not cite Pearson’s lawsuit as the reason for firing Pearson, Huvelle suggested that there was a “strong basis” to do so.

“[Pearson’s] interest in pursuing his lawsuit was outweighed by his employer’s interest in maintaining the integrity of the OAH and its judiciary,” Huvelle wrote in her ruling Thursday. Huvelle cited criticism by the presiding judge in the pants suit case who noted Pearson’s “misrepresentations” and expressed “significant concerns that the plaintiff is acting in bad faith.”

Pearson’s 10-year appointment as an administrative law judge was reversed last year as the news media became aware of his lawsuit. The saga began when Pearson filed his multimillion-dollar civil suit against Jin Nam and Ki Chung, the owners of Custom Cleaners in Northeast Washington. Pearson claimed the Chungs lost a pair of his favorite pants and that the “Satisfaction Guaranteed” sign was deceptive. He eventually lowered his claim to $54 million.

In June 2007, Judge Judith Bartnoff ruled in favor of the Chungs, who eventually closed their shop because of the costs in defending the lawsuit.