The pants suit plaintiff doesn’t deserve to be paid for representing himself in the latest legal spin cycle, a judge ruled Thursday.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff denied Roy Pearson’s assertion that the dry cleaners reimburse him for attorney fees after Bartnoff ruled in favor of Soo and Jin Nam Chung in the $54 million pants lawsuit.

Pearson represented himself, taking three days off from his job as a D.C. administrative law judge to prepare his opposition to the Chungs’ motion that Pearson pay their attorney fees.

Bartnoff, in a two-page ruling Thursday, said the Chungs were entitled to $80,000 in expenses and called Pearson’s request for attorney fees “wholly unjustified.”

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Pearson, she wrote, “tried to take what was at best a misunderstanding about one pair of pants and expand it to a claim of $67 million.”

The controversial judge will not have to pay the Chungs because the couple withdrew their demand Monday as an “olive branch” to Pearson.

The Chungs had hoped that Pearson would not appeal Bartnoff’s verdict so they could move on with their lives.

But Pearson filed his notice Wednesday to appeal anyway, meaning the pants case will likely live for several more months.

Pearson might not have been able to reimburse the dry cleaners. A judicial commission told him last week that his $100,000 job was in jeopardy.

smccabe@dcexaminer.com