Dry Cleaner Who Lost Suit Makes Santa's Naughty List

CHERRY HILL, N.J. – One dry cleaner now knows how to get on Santa's naughty list: lose his suit.

After Christmas last year, Max Weisberg took his red velvet suit to Royal Cleaners, which accidentally gave it to someone else. The family-owned business acknowledged the mixup and offered to pay him half the value of the nearly $400 suit, said Jean Hwang, who said she's the owner's sister.

Weisberg, 54, a civilian employee of the Navy, took the business to small claims court and won a $396.50 judgment to cover the suit and court costs.

But he had to collect the money himself. So Weisberg decided to do it with flair. His wife's public-relations firm notified the media that he would drop by the shop.

Donning a new red velvet suit with soft white trim and shiny black boots, a jolly Weisberg burst into the dry cleaners Monday, television cameras rolling.

"Merry Christmas! Have you been a good girl?" he asked a smiling Hwang. She promised to put the check in the mail to Weisberg the next day.

Weisberg, who has been playing Santa at events for about a dozen years, made a promise, too: If it didn't arrive, he'd be back to protest again.