Free Republic

Urooj Khan had sworn off playing the lottery after he took an Islamic pilgrimage to the Middle East in 2010, but as he stood in a 7-Eleven near his home on Chicago's Far North Side this summer, he lost his will for a moment, handing over $60 to buy two instant-game tickets. After scratching off the second ticket, he leaped in the air, shouting over and over again, "I hit a million!" When Khan, 46, accepted an oversized check from Illinois Lottery representatives days later at the same store with his wife and teenage daughter at his side, he spoke...

Rising oil price raises insolveny prospect for dry-cleaners Suzy Jagger in New York Washable polyester almost finished them off in the 1960s and now the surging price of oil is putting American dry-cleaners out of business at the fastest rate for four decades. The dry-cleaning business is particularly sensitive to the oil price because almost every part of their operations is either dependent on fuel or derived from it. On Friday the price of oil hit a new high with light sweet crude climbing to $142.99 a barrel, before settling up 57 cents at $140.20. This time last year, the...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The owners of a dry cleaner who were sued for $54 million over a missing pair of pants have closed and sold the shop involved in the dispute, their attorney said Wednesday. The South Korean immigrants are citing a loss of revenue and the emotional strain of defending the lawsuit. They will focus their energy on another dry-cleaning shop they still own, said their attorney, Chris Manning. "This is a truly tragic example of how devastating frivolous litigation can be to the American people and to small businesses," Manning said in a statement. Soo Chung and her...

Legal reform groups and supporters from across the country attended a cocktail fundraiser last night at which the star attraction was a pair of pants. The $54 million pants, as they've come to be known, were the subject of a lawsuit that gained international attention and ridicule of the American legal system. Now, they have their own security guard. The dry cleaners defeated the lawsuit, but now owe about $100,000 in legal fees. The American Tort Reform Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform — groups that advocate tighter guidelines for filing lawsuits — joined forces...

Jun 25, 10:40 AM EDT Dry Cleaner Wins Missing Pants Case By LUBNA TAKRURI Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- A judge ruled Monday in favor of a dry cleaner that was sued for $54 million over a missing pair of pants. The owners of Custom Cleaners did not violate the city's Consumer Protection Act by failing to live up to Roy L. Pearson's expectations of the "Satisfaction Guaranteed" sign once displayed in the store window, District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff ruled. Bartnoff ordered Pearson to pay the court costs of defendants Soo Chung, Jin Nam Chung...

When experts from the US and the IAEA came upon blueprints for a 10-kiloton atomic bomb in the files of the Libyan weapons program earlier this year, they found themselves caught between gravity and pettiness. The discovery gave the experts a new appreciation of the audacity of the rogue nuclear network led by A. Q. Khan, a chief architect of Pakistan's bomb. Intelligence officials had watched Dr. Khan for years and suspected that he was trafficking in machinery for enriching uranium to make fuel for warheads. But the detailed design represented a new level of danger, particularly since the Libyans...