The $54,000,000 Laptop!

It’s official: you’re nobody in Washington until you sue someone for $54,000,000.00. It’s becoming the hippest form of personal expression here. And that’s not necessarily a good thing for the taxpayers… The Great American Pants Nightmare just got a little company in DC’s Superior Court system – a laptop.

Ms. Raelyn Campbell of Washington, DC brought the enormous suit because they lost her laptop after bringing it in for repairs. She claims that the “Geek Squad” repair department of the Best Buy in Tenleytown failed to admit to her that they had lost her laptop for months until finally notifying her that it had been stolen.

Ms. Campbell says in her blog (where she details her case at great length) that Best Buy unknowingly gave her some money on her credit card for the laptop as well as a $500 gift card for her troubles. You can read more about it at her blog.

Best Buy spokeswoman Nissa French told me this in an email today:

“We know that this customer was offered and collected $1,110.35 for the cost of the laptop and PSP policy; she also received a $500 gift card for her inconvenience. We’ve done what we can to try to learn about went wrong. We’re obviously embarrassed and disappointed that we were unable to resolve this customer’s issue. We’ve tried to resolve this dispute and feel badly that it escalated to a lawsuit. Unfortunately, we are unable to share additional details about this case. More information will be provided in court.”

So here we go again… although this time, Ms. Campbell (unlike Judge Roy Pearson) acknowledges that her figure is “ridiculous” but necessary to get the corporation to “pay attention to me.”

The suit was filed Nov. 16 in DC Superior Court.

Happy $54 Million Lawsuit Day!