June 25 (Bloomberg) -- Three Korean immigrants who own a Washington dry cleaner won't lose their shirts for allegedly misplacing a pair of pants belonging to a local judge, after a court rejected his $54 million lawsuit.

Judge Judith Bartnoff of the District of Columbia Superior Court ruled for the shop owners, Soo Chung, Jin Nam Chung and Ki Chung, after a two-day trial earlier this month.

Bartnoff rejected a claim by Roy Pearson, an administrative law judge in Washington, that a ``Satisfaction Guaranteed'' sign posted in the Chungs' shop required them to meet his demands that they compensate him for the pants, which they denied losing.

``A reasonable consumer would not interpret `Satisfaction Guaranteed' to mean that a merchant is required to satisfy a customer's unreasonable demands or to accede to demands that the merchant has reasonable grounds to dispute,'' Bartnoff wrote in a 23-page opinion released today.

Pearson's demand for $54 million in damages, reduced from $67 million according to the Associated Press, for a single pair of trousers brought international notoriety to the case.

Pearson sued under the local Consumer Protection Procedures Act, alleging that Custom Cleaners had no intention of honoring the ``Satisfaction Guaranteed'' sign, which he claimed was unconditional. Pearson sought compensatory and punitive damages, which he calculated in the tens of millions of dollars.

Wrong Trousers

Pearson claimed that each of the three owners was liable for seven different violations of the consumer protection act. He claimed damages for every day, over several years, that Custom Cleaners was open with the ``Satisfaction Guaranteed'' sign, Bartnoff said. He also sued for fraud.

Pearson didn't return a voicemail message left with Washington's Office of Administrative Hearings.

Bartnoff said Pearson failed to prove that the pants the Chungs claimed were his weren't the allegedly lost pair. The judge said Pearson must pay the Chungs' court costs, and she will consider a request by the family for attorneys' fees and sanctions against Pearson.

Pearson, a 1975 graduate of Northwestern University Law School, was a staff lawyer for Neighborhood Legal Services for the District of Columbia for 25 years, according to Bartnoff's opinion. The group provides legal services to poor people facing eviction and for divorce, child custody and other civil matters.

After leaving Neighborhood Legal Services in 2002, Pearson was mostly unemployed until 2005, when he was appointed as a District of Columbia administrative law judge, Bartnoff said.

$10.50 Alterations

Pearson's wife sued him for divorce in 2003. The Virginia court that oversaw the divorce case ordered Pearson to pay $12,000 of his wife's legal fees, finding that he had ``created unnecessary litigation.''

Pearson sued Custom Cleaners in 2005 after he dropped off a pair of suit pants for alterations costing $10.50, Bartnoff said. Several days later, the Chungs presented what they claimed were Pearson's pants. Pearson said they were the wrong ones and demanded $1,150 to replace the blue and burgundy pinstriped Hickey Freeman suit the pants belonged to, Bartnoff said.

In the two-day trial which ended June 13, Pearson presented nine witness and more than 100 pieces of evidence, 66 of which were admitted by the court, Bartnoff wrote.

In 2002, Custom Cleaners settled an earlier missing-pants claim with Pearson, by paying him $150, Bartnoff said.

The case is: Pearson v. Chung, No. 05-CA-4302, Superior Court for the District of Columbia.

To contact the reporters on this story: Bob Van Voris in New York at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 25, 2007 15:04 EDT