PITTSBURGH - Karl Swayne sued his house painter, Bradleys Roadhouse Paints because, according to the complaint, "the defendant contracted with plaintiff to paint the walls of plaintiff's luxury home all 'white,' but defendant proceeded to paint the walls utilizing different shades of white, contrary to both the parties' agreement and reasonable industry standards." The plaintiff seemed to suffer an insurmountable blow to his case when he admitted in his deposition that he could not tell the difference in the shades of paint utilized. "It all just looked 'white' to me," he testified. But fate smiled on the plaintiff, because when the case was called for trial, the jurist assigned was Judge Noah Canku, who claims to be "100% Eskimo, capable of discerning several hundred different shades of white."
After viewing the walls in a non-jury trial for less than three seconds, Judge Canku said he found the paint job "appalling -- it hurts my eyes to look at it," and awarded plaintiff $4,300, the cost to repaint the walls.
