Mad Judge proves the law is an ass...

America shows itself to be the laughing stock of the world when it appoints a mad judge to sit in judgment upon sane people's cases. It is making a mockery of the law. This Alice in Wonderland world is not some work of fiction, it is true and going on in the capital of America, Washington.

Ok, so Judge Roy "Bean" Pearson gets pissed off because a dry cleaners lost a pair of his trousers. He does not claim what any reasonable person would claim, that is, the cost of a new pair of trousers. Oh, no, Sir. This raving lunatic, who has taken over the asylum, sues the dry cleaning firm for damages and claims £33.5M ($67M).

The mad judge who sits on government tribunals, bigger fool the American government for employing him, goes into Custom Cleaners and leaves a pair of trousers to be dry cleaned. The firm loses the trousers and offers £75 ($150) in compensation, which the mad judge accepts.

No once bitten twice shy here, the mad judge goes back for seconds. This time he leaves a pair of trousers to be let out a few inches, presumably because he has got fat on the profit of his first scam, and the firm true to form loses these as well. But, a week later, does at least find them. The mad judge is having none of this, he does not just want his trousers back, he wants a jacket to go them, so he can have a suit, because obviously the judges over in America are so poorly paid that they go seeking handouts from the less well off. In English law, you can only claim compensation for what you have lost, it does not allow for the litigant to profit as this is seen as robbery.

So, we have gone up from £75 ($150) for trousers to £575 ($1,150) for a suit. Then the money grubbing lawyers got involved. The firm offered £1,500 ($3,000) to settle the claim, then £2,300 ($4,600) and finally £6,000 ($12,000). The mad judge is stating that the firm advertising states "Satisfaction guaranteed", and he is arguing that because he refuses to be satisfied by anything then the firm cannot honour its stated pledge.

There is a saying, that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. This is true for the mad judge who is representing himself. And yet, he seeks to charge the firm of dry cleaners £271,000 ($542,000) in legal fees. Not only is he a mad judge, he is also a mad accountant. He reaches the figure of £67,292,000 like this. Apparently, under Washington's consumer protection law provides for damages of $1,500 per violation per day. To my reckoning, that's only one violation. The mad judge comes up with a different figure, 12 violations over 1,200 days, and times this by three for the family who own the firm; Mr Chung, Mrs Chung, and Master Chung. Then the mad judge decides to hire a car for every weekend for several years, to drive to another area to get his dry cleaning done. For this mad extravagance he wants to charge the Chungs £7,500 ($15,000). And because the mad judge is emotionally disturbed, he is claiming that he has suffered emotional damages and is seeking £250,000 ($500,000).

I hope that when the case come to trial next month, it comes before a sane judge and jury, and that the mad judge is awarded a pair of Primark trousers in damages and that costs and damages are awarded against him for the same amount that he is claiming from the Chungs. Furthermore, that whoever appoints such lunatics to the bench will remove him from office to teach any other judge who brings the law into disrepute that there is a penalty for abusing the office.

UPDATE: It's worth reading some of the comments on this story here.