Opinion ID: 1915437
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pearson's Evidence at Trial

Text: The Chungs' customer relationship with Pearson began in October 1999, when Pearson began patronizing Custom Cleaners. Inside of the cleaners was a sign that read Satisfaction Guaranteed. That sign continued to be displayed during the entire time period relevant to this case. In July 2002, Pearson brought a pair of pants to Custom Cleaners for either cleaning or alterations (he was not able to recall which) and was waited on by Mr. and Mrs. Chung's son, Jai (who was not an owner). When Pearson went to pick up the pants, they could not be located. Jai agreed that the cleaners would compensate Pearson in the amount of $150 for the pants, which was what Pearson represented it would cost to replace them. Several days later, when Pearson returned to get the check in that amount, Jai suggested to Pearson that $80 would be more appropriate compensation since the pants were not new. When Pearson reminded him, however, that $150 was the amount agreed upon, Jai gave him a check in that amount. Pearson testified that about a week after he received the $150 payment, he again brought some clothes to the cleaners, and Soo Chung told him that the family no longer wished to accept his business. Pearson advised her that he believed it was unlawful for Custom Cleaners to refuse to continue to do business with him in light of the Satisfaction Guaranteed sign if that action was taken in the aftermath of a customer complaint that had been satisfied. Otherwise, Pearson asserted, the guarantee of satisfaction was in effect a guarantee of satisfaction only once, which the merchant had a duty to disclose. Soo Chung, however, stood firm. Several days later Pearson wrote a letter to Custom Cleaners stating that its actions constituted an unfair trade practice under the CPPA because it added a condition after-the-fact to their guarantee of satisfaction, and he asked them to reconsider their decision not to trade with him anymore. Thereafter, Pearson received a phone call from a woman named Amanda Chun on behalf of the Chungs. He recalled that she asked him why he did not go to another cleaners if he was not satisfied with the work of Custom Cleaners and suggested that he should take his business elsewhere. Nonetheless, when he took some clothes into Custom Cleaners a week later, Soo Chung accepted his order without comment. Thereafter, he continued patronizing Custom Cleaners without incident until 2005. [2] In April of 2005, Pearson accepted a position with the District of Columbia government that required him to wear a suit. Thus, before the first day of his job, which was Monday, May 2, 2005, Pearson began dropping off the pants to each of his five suits to be altered one at a time because he had gained some weight and because he was pressed for money (and, thus, could not afford to have them all altered at once). His testimony in this regard is not entirely clear, but a claim ticket in evidence dated Saturday, April 30, 2005, shows that on that date he left a pair of pants to have the waist let out. Those pants were to be ready by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 5, 2005. Another claim ticket in evidence dated Tuesday, May 3, 2005, shows that on that date he left a second pair of pants at the cleaners to have the waist let out. Those pants were also to be ready by Thursday, May 5, 2005. Pearson testified that this second pair were the pants from an expensive Hickey Freeman suit with burgundy and blue pinstripes that he had purchased from Saks Fifth Avenue. At the same time he dropped off those pants, Pearson testified, he also dropped off a pair of charcoal grey pants that were not part of a suit (and thus did not need to be altered expeditiously). When he received the claim check from Soo Chung indicating that the pants from the Hickey Freeman suit would be ready on Friday, May 6, 2005, he pointed out to her that he needed the pants on Thursday, May 5, so, as shown on the claim check admitted into evidence, Soo Chung struck through Friday and wrote in Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Pearson testified that when he came to pick up the pants on Thursday, May 5, 2005, Soo Chung first told him that she had not gotten around to altering them. Then, when he asked that she simply return them to him unaltered, she told him that she had done the work and put them in a cart to be pressed; and then, when he suggested that he go to the back room of the cleaners to look for them, she said that they had mistakenly been sent to another store. Pearson testified that she assured him that the pants would be ready at 7:30 the next morning, that is, Friday, May 6, 2005. When he returned the next morning, however, the pants still had not been located, although Soo Chung pointed out that the charcoal grey pants were ready. At that time he informed her that it would cost him at least $1000 to replace the Hickey Freeman suit. Pearson testified that upon learning this, Soo Chung immediately switched into a mode of let me measure these grey pants, and she measured the inseam and waist of the grey pants. Ultimately, because Pearson was unable to pay for them, the grey pants were left at the cleaners. At Soo Chung's request, he retrieved the suit coat that he said matched the pants to help her track them down, understanding that it would take several days to search their stores. Pearson returned on May 14, 2005, having heard nothing further about his missing suit pants, and Soo Chung presented him with a pair of grey pants that Pearson testified had cuffs and double loops which she asserted were his. He testified that he had never in his life worn pants with cuffs, so he knew these were not his, but Soo Chung insisted that they were his pants and asserted that she remembered working on them. Pearson testified that at that point he realized that Soo Chung was never going to replace the pants. After attempting to find out if he could get material for a new pair of pants from Hickey Freeman that would match the suit jacket and learning that he could not, Pearson concluded that this has been going on since 2002, and that despite what the [Chungs] led [him] to believe about living up to the `Satisfaction Guaranteed' sign, and because this is such a striking fraud, he should pursue relief under the District's CPPA. Indeed, Pearson concluded that Soo Chung had measured the inseam and waist on the charcoal grey pants so that she could be sure that when she gave him the grey pants with cuffs, they would be the right size (presumably so she could foist them off as his). So he drafted a demand letter, attaching provisions of the CPPA, including the provision for triple damages and had the letters delivered individually to Soo Chung, Jin Nam Chung and Ki Y. Chung. In addition to his own testimony, Pearson called as a witness his thirty-year-old son, Jumoke Tyehimba, who owned a catering company. His son testified that from March, 2004 to February, 2005, he was employed at the Park Hyatt Hotel as the sales and catering coordinator and was required by the hotel's dress code to wear a suit, or at least a sport coat and pants. Because he was unable to afford a suit and was about the same size as his father, Tyehimba had borrowed four of his father's suits for work. After about a year, he moved to a new job with a substantial increase in salary that enabled him to buy his own suits, so in March of 2005 he returned the borrowed suits to his father. Tyehimba also testified that although he himself prefers cuffs on his pants, none of his father's suit pants had cuffs. Pearson also called Samuel Adinew, a salesman from the men's department of Nordstrom, to testify. He had sold Hickey Freeman suits for thirteen years and recalled that Pearson had contacted him in May, 2005 to inquire whether Hickey Freeman had more of the fabric that matched his suit jacket. Mr. Adinew had checked and found that the material was no longer available. In addition, Pearson called four witnesses to testify about their dissatisfaction with Custom Cleaners. [3] One claimed that the cleaners had damaged the lace on the sleeve of a dress, another claimed that the cleaners had lost a sweater, another claimed that it had discolored a white suit, and another claimed that it had ruined a pair of pants. In two cases, the Chungs disputed the customer's claims and the customer did nothing to follow up or pursue the claim further. The customer who complained that her sweater was missing had no claim receipt and the Chungs questioned whether the item was brought in at all. The fourth customer admitted that she and the man who waited on her may have misunderstood each other. Each of the four customers testified that she would expect the cleaner to pay for the value of the lost or damaged clothing if it could not be repaired. [4]