WASHINGTON, D.C. – A judge in the U.S. capital lost his $54 million lawsuit on Monday against a dry cleaner over a pair of misplaced pants and will have to pay the defendants’ trial fees.

Roy L. Pearson, an administrative law judge in the District of Columbia, claimed that a ‘satisfaction guaranteed’ sign in Custom Cleaners misled consumers who, like him, were dissatisfied with their experience.

The judge hearing the case ruled that Pearson did not interpret that sign in a reasonable fashion.

‘A reasonable consumer would not interpret ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ to mean that a merchant is required to satisfy a customer’s unreasonable demands,’ D.C. Judge Judith Bartnoff wrote.

Bartnoff ruled that Pearson must pay the defendants’ filing fees and other miscellaneous costs for the trial, which drew international media coverage and widespread ridicule as an example of the United States’ lawsuit-happy legal system.

As an administrative judge, Pearson hears cases involving the decisions of city government agencies. He could not be reached for comment.

Pearson asked the cleaners to pay him $1,150 when they misplaced a pair of pants he brought in for a $10.50 alteration in May 2005.

The Korean immigrant family that runs the business says he refused to accept the pants when they found them a few days later. Pearson said they were not his pants.

The pants, gray with cuffs, were among the 70 items of evidence introduced at the two-day trial.

Pearson sought $1,500 for every day that Custom Cleaners displayed the ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ sign during a four-year period, multiplied by the three defendants. He also sought $15,000 to rent a car to take his clothes to another cleaner for 10 years.

Pearson said during the trial he would keep $2.5 million for himself and use the remainder of the award to encourage others to file similar lawsuits.

The defendants intend as well to ask Bartnoff to award them lawyers’ fees, estimated in the tens of thousands of dollars.