D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty on Wednesday filled the vacancy on the administrative law commission, opening the way for the panel to determine whether the D.C. administrative law judge who sued his dry cleaner for $54 million over a pair of pants will be appointed to another term on the bench.
The panel likely will meet within the next 10 days over the reappointment of Roy Pearson Jr., who is up for a full 10-year term after completing a two-year term in April.
The job pays more than $100,000 a year.
A D.C. Superior Court judge ruled against Pearson on Monday in a case that garnered worldwide attention and became fodder for late-night comedians. Litigation reformers used the case to argue for the need to stop frivolous lawsuits, and many questioned how the District could allow Pearson to sit in judgment of others.
Pearson’s boss, D.C. Chief Administrative Judge Tyrone Butler, recommended in a letter to the commission that it reject Pearson’s reappointment, D.C. government sources have told The Examiner.
Butler’s letter reverses his previous recommendation in support of Pearson that he sent to the commission before the pants case gained international notoriety.
Butler sits on the five-person commission as a nonvoting member. Butler would not comment on the case, according to his office.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Anita Josey-Herring was sworn in Wednesday as the third voting member.
The commission will review Pearson’s record on the bench, his actions outside the courtroom and overall reputation.
Josey-Herring has served in both the criminal and family divisions of the Superior Court. She is the presiding judge of the family court.
