So stop treating it that way!
54 million dollars. The amount of money sued for over a lost pair of pants.
Normally, this would not be a big deal, because normal people don't really know what the hell the law is there for. I'm here to hopefully correct that.
The law is there to put right what has gone wrong.
Was the pair of pants worth $54 million? I doubt that. I very much doubt that.
How was this number arrived at? I believe that this person who sued calculated the amount based on some frivilous per diem penalty for his incomplete satifaction when satisfaction was 'guaranteed'. Here's a hint - all you can get back from satisfaction guarantees is the money you paid and the price of anything they lost/damaged.
Did they intentionally lose his pants? No. Therefore, there are not punitive damages. Punishing them would do nothing, as they didn't even intend to cause anything but his pants to be altered! So he can get the price of his pants and his $10 for the alteration back. That's it, because that is all he lost. I am absolutely certain that he could've settled that out of court. But he didn't, In fact, when offered a settlement of $12,000, he turned it down. I find it very sad that they even felt they should offer a settlement. This man did not deserve any money beyond what I have already outlined.
The second to worst part is, this man is a JUDGE. If a judge doesn't know what the law is for, maybe he shouldn't BE a judge. Maybe he should BE disbarred and impeached for contempt of court, having filed a lawsuit for harrassment purposes and financial gain. In fact, it appears that he had very little money to his name at the beginning of the trial because he had been sanctioned by the divorce courts for having created unneccessary litigation. He should know better, and since he does, he should be held accountable for his frivilous lawsuit.
Based on the verdict, it appears that he not only didn't deserve any punitive damages, he also was unable to prove that they lost his pants, therefore no actual damages were awarded.
Abusing the law as a citizen is one thing, but abusing the law as a judge is another. Is he going to rule that way as a judge, allowing lost clothes to become multi-million dollar issues?
Stop treating the courts as a way to gain. It's not there for people to gain from. It's there for people to get wrongs put right. If you're in an accident, and get surgery, you get the surgery paid for, and any money from missing work. You don't get random millions and if you do, it's because you can never work again.