A lawyer left the courtroom with some extra bling after agreeing to a deal with the case’s judge to get his ear pierced.
As People reports, attorney Joshua Sussberg made the promise to Judge Brendan Shannon amid working to find a buyer for the famed mall retailer Claire’s, which had filed for bankruptcy.
Sussberg had told the judge during the proceedings that he felt Claire’s was an important store for young people and shared that he even got his ear pierced at a Claire’s back in the ’90s. Should he be able to facilitate a Claire’s purchasing deal, Sussberg said he would get his ear pierced again right in the courtroom.
“Mr. Sussberg, that seems like a gauntlet has been thrown down and I will hold you to it and it may actually spur market interest,” Shannon said.
Lo and behold, a purchase agreement came through and the sale was approved. Next up was the, ahem, ear-raignment.
During a hearing Sept. 9, a Claire’s employee named Tiffany Rivera came into the courtroom with her equipment — “I had to make a phone call to the Marshals Service to get that thing through,” Shannon said — and helped Sussberg go through with the deal.
“It felt great to follow through on my pledge because it meant that Claire’s was going to survive,” Sussberg tells People. “Close to 1,000 stores would remain open, thousands of people like Ms. Rivera would keep their jobs, and the next generation would have the opportunity to experience Claire’s like so many generations before.”