Who's The Real 'Villain'?

Twenty-three-year-old Lee Williams had 11 tattoos. Now he's got ten and a long scar on his arm, reports CBS News Correspondent Drew Levinson.

Three years ago, a tattoo artist at a Detroit area parlor inscribed the word "villian" on his right arm.

The problem is, he misspelled it. Now, the former Marine is suing the parlor for $25,000.

"Since all of the problems with the tattoo, I didn't get any more after that," Williams said. "The embarrassment of the whole situation is the main problem with me."

Williams says that after his friends made fun of him, he paid $2,000 to have the letter surgically removed.

He admits he and the tattoo artist weren't sure whether villain ended in "ian" or "ain."

"[The tattoo artist] even asked a couple of his buddies in the next booth over, 'Hey, is this how you spell it?'" Williams recalled. "They said, 'Yes.' He started to stencil out the word himself with the incorrect spelling."

The attorney for the tattoo parlor, David Zuppke, said, "At that time, he should have got up and said, 'Why don't I check a dictionary?'"

"That's the part where I can kick myself," Williams said. "I know I should have looked it up before I went in. The thing is, I trusted his professionalism as far as him being a tattoo artist."

Zuppke added, "My guys are professional artists. They will put anything on you appropriate and legal. They don't care how it's spelled. If you tell them you want it spelled one way, they will do it that way."

A judge will decide who is responsible for the lousy lettering, but it could be one to two years before there is a verdict.