From Five Million to Poverty in 12 Years!

Straight from the files of ridiculous and downright alarming because of the lack of “smarts” among us is this story:

Lottery winner blames bad advice for his losses

From $5.5 million to living on a pension

By DERRICK NUNNALLY
dnunnally@journalsentinel.com

Posted: April 20, 2007

On the day he rode home in a limousine from his security-guard job 12 years ago with a winning $5.5 million lottery ticket in his hand, Andrew Cicero of Muskego figured he had it made.

Andrew Cicero holds a ceremonial Megabucks prize check for $5.5 million in 1995 as store manager Rick Swan (left) and owner John McAdams applaud at the Pick ‘n Save Food Store in New Berlin. Now, the money’s mostly gone.

But he finds himself now in far different straits than he imagined that May day when he accepted a giant Wisconsin Megabucks novelty check, took five secretaries to breakfast and planned both a trip to see his roots in Sicily and a college fund for his five grandchildren.

Cicero, 72, has sold his Waukesha County house and lives in a Milwaukee apartment on a pension and Social Security income while he takes an investment counselor to arbitration. This month, he sued a Milwaukee accounting firm over tax advice he claims cost him at least $170,000.

Remainder of the article here.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
My devotional blog is here.

The World’s Craziest Lawsuit

On the day we traveled to Tucson last week, I heard two talk-show hosts discuss this almost unbelievable story in which a man sued a dry cleaners for losing his pants which he had taken in for alternations. The sewing job was priced at $10.50; he’s suing for $65,462,500. Yep, you read correctly, and nope, I didn’t make an error with decimal points. He is suing for more than sixty-five million dollars! Guess what; He’s an attorney. Guess what else; He’s a judge. Guess again; He’s a judge in the District of Columbia. Talk about ridiculous and frivolous…and crazy; this is it!

Lawyer’s Price For Missing Pants: $65 Million
By Marc Fisher of The Washington Post
Thursday, April 26, 2007; B01

When the neighborhood dry cleaner misplaced Roy Pearson’s pants, he took action. He complained. He demanded compensation. And then he sued. Man, did he sue.

Two years, thousands of pages of legal documents and many hundreds of hours of investigative work later, Pearson is seeking to make Custom Cleaners pay — would you believe more than the payroll of the entire Washington Nationals roster?

He says he deserves millions for the damages he suffered by not getting his pants back, for his litigation costs, for “mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort,” for the value of the time he has spent on the lawsuit, for leasing a car every weekend for 10 years and for a replacement suit, according to court papers.

Pearson is demanding $65,462,500. The original alteration work on the pants cost $10.50.

By the way, Pearson is a lawyer. Okay, you probably figured that. But get this: He’s a judge, too — an administrative law judge for the District of Columbia.

I’m telling you, they need to start selling tickets down at the courthouse.

Oh, where to start: How about the car? Why should Ki, Jin and Soo Chung — the family that owns Custom Cleaners on Bladensburg Road NE in the District’s Fort Lincoln section — pay Pearson $15,000 so he can rent a car every weekend for 10 years?

The plaintiff, who says he has devoted more than 1,000 hours to represent himself in this battle, says that as a result of poor service at Custom, he must find another cleaner. And because Pearson does not own a car, he says he will have to rent one to get his clothes taken care of.

Read the entire article here.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
My devotional blog is here.