Resolution and Results

Well it's been an interesting legal week so far. Two cases which had drawn the attention of the media and therefore the public have been resolved though the ramifications of these cases are likely to carry on for some time to come. The first of the cases to be resolved this week was the case of Roy Pearson and his missing, mis-handled, mis-compensated pair of pants. You'll recall that Pearson was suing a local dry cleaning business for losing a pair of his pants and not living up to the 'promises' made by signs hanging in the window which included claims of 'satisfaction guaranteed' and 'same day service' among others. It was considered to be a very frivolous lawsuit considering the fact that the Chungs (the family owning the dry cleaning business) had already made attempts to compensate Pearson for his missing pants. They had in fact offered up sums that were nearly ten times the actual value of the pants. When one reads the details of the case it was painfully clear that Pearson didn't have a leg, let alone two to stand on.

This case brought to light for a lot of people the problems with taking things too far. Pearson claimed that he brought the lawsuit in an effort to represent the beleagured people of his city who may have also suffered under the dry cleaning regime of the Chung family. But as the Judge in the case properly stated, the only person who was to benefit in this case was Pearson and no one else. While he claimed that his case was built on the shoulders of others without a voice but who also suffered the same indignities at the hands of the Chungs he hadn't made provisions to share his requested $54 million. There have been cases in the past which at first glance may have been considered frivolous as well, case in point being the infamous case of Stella Liebeck versus McDonalds. You remember that case as well, that was the case of coffee being spilled and resulting in a multi-million dollar lawsuit.

In that case, McDonalds had refused to pay $20,000 which was what Liebeck had requested as compensation for her medical expenses but they refused. When the case finally came to court, the judge and jury heard the case and awarded Liebeck several million dollars. One could argue that this is what led to the rise of so many ridiculous lawsuits coming out and you'd probably be right. Pearson had a case and could have kept it within the realm of reality but instead he decided to play the martyr that no one really wanted or needed and has now made a mockery of the proceedings of the law. The judge in the case rightly called him out on that point and made sure to point out that this was a case that was meant to benefit no one but Pearson himself. The Chungs are now considering counter-suing Pearson (who is already woefully in debt) for their legal fees. If he can't pay maybe they can just take some of his $1,000 suits as payment.

The other case finally being resolved this week is the case of Paris Hilton. You'll remember that she was sentenced to serve 45 days in prison for violations of driving on a suspended license (which itself was originally suspended for drinking and driving). After being sentenced to jail, Hilton freaked and ended up staying in the medical wing. I guess the Simple Life wasn't quite so simple after all. After a brief respite at home for a day, the judge in this case refused to go along with the Sherrif's decision to allow Hilton to serve her remaining time on house arrest. As if living in a mansion could be considered grounds for punishment. She's probably spent as many days at home after heavy bouts of partying anyways so what's the point? Hilton was ordered back to court by the judge the next morning and was immediately remanded to the prison. Hilton freaked again crying and screaming for 'mommy'.

In the end, Hilton only served out the 20-some days that she was originally sentenced to anyways. That in and of itself is a mystery to me. She was released early on good behavior even before setting foot inside the prison. And this decision was based on what? The fact that she tipped a valet a dollar for getting their car after chewing him out for no reason? Or maybe it was because after she slammed into a parked car while escaping the paparazzi after a night of partying and then left a note apologizing. Whatever the case is, you can see from the accompanying picture that she is a changed girl (I won't consider her a woman because she still behaves like a child). You can see that she shuns the media after making statements as to her puzzlement on why the media is so focused on her as opposed to the real issues such as our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It remains to be seen whether this 'change' in Hilton is for real or whether it can be chalked up to temporary insanity from her incarceration. Whatever the reason, it just shows that we are so crazed after celebrities that they are what matter more than anything else in the world. Perhaps we have a passing interest in the fact that Russia is testing new missiles or building up their intelligence apparatus to levels above what was in place during the Cold War but still, I'm more interested in finding out what Paris Hilton thought of the moisturizers offered in LA County Prisons. I want to believe that perhaps prison will have done something to add a few brain cells to Hilton's head but I fear that hope may be misplaced and a mistake. One can only hope that this trend by Pearson for frivolous lawsuits and by Hilton for 'celebrity justice' will change soon so that the average person can feel better that the justice system does work.