Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas Day 12 25 2012

Hi everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas Day. Hopefully after the new year there will be new episodes of People's Court and the blog will resume. I miss writing about the cases. All of the recent repeat episodes have been featured in the blog posts.
 
This is a good week to reflect. I have been thinking about the decisions we make. Do we have other people's interests in mind or just our own? Do we try to be selfless or selfish? Many of the cases do show the selfishness and the mean spirits that motivate people. Are we to believe that people are inherently bad? I do not like to think that way. When we are faced with the senseless tragedy of the Newtown shootings, it does give you pause. Yet, the heroic stories that came from this tragedy give renewed faith in the human spirit.
 
Life is very complicated and we can only try to do our best. If every action is met with the question, " "Will someone be proud of me for doing this?", the outcomes would be so different. People need to start caring about their actions and the effects on others. We do not operate in a vacuum. Everything we do has an effect on someone else. A smile or "Have a nice day" can make all the difference in the world. How many times does it lift your spirits when someone behaves this way?
 
I hope everyone thinks about their effect on others. For every action, there is a reaction. Love, caring and trust mean so much. This is the season we think about family and friends and want the best for everyone. Let us put our differences aside and care about others. It should not take a tragedy to motivate us to commit acts of kindness. Let us try to work that back into our everyday lives.

Wishing Good Health and Happiness to All During The Holiday Season and for 2013!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

People's Court Blog * 12-11-12 * Tuesday Case 2 of 2


This is the second case from 10-29-12.


There Is A Proper Way To Do Business
Steven is suing Dominic for $457.26Steven hired his uncle's nephew, Rick, to do two roofing jobs for him. One at his personal house and the other at a rental property. Part of the cost of the jobs included dumpsters at each property for the construction debris. Rick contracted with Dominic for the dumpsters. After the jobs were done, Dominic needed payment for removing the dumpsters and disposing of the construction debris. Rick did not pay for the dumpsters and Dominic wanted payment from Steven. When Dominic contacted Steven by phone, they had a very angry exchange.  Steven did not want to pay for something he thought he already paid for. Rick gave money to his helper, Sam, to pay Dominic. Sam did not pay Dominic. Instead of suing Steven or putting a lien on his property, Dominic dumped the debris on his driveway. He says it is the debris from the dumpster, Steven says it was from someone else. Either way, it does not matter, it was illegal for Dominic to dump the debris. He also damaged the basketball hoop when he backed into the driveway. Dominic does not think he did anything wrong and he also is countersuing for $544.00 for the 2 dumpsters. Why does he think he should get paid for removing the dumpsters when he left the debris? Dominic does not have a good answer to this and he does not recover on his countersuit. Steven does get his money for having to remove the debris from his property. Dominic did replace the basketball hoop because the sheriff's officer told him he had 24 hours to replace it. 


What do we learn from this?
Anger has no place in a business proceeding. These two men should have been able to solve this issue without bringing anger into it. There is a legal way to handle a problem of nonpayment. Dominic could have put a lien on the property and should have dealt with Rick, not Steven. Bringing back the garbage and dumping it on Steven's property was not a good idea. Dominic also indicates that he will do it again if he does not get paid for a job. Someone did not learn from going to court. Damaging the basketball hoop almost seemed like an afterthought to Dominic. Who thinks that the only reason he replaced it is because the sheriff's officer told him he had to?  

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A Word To Learn:
Disport: to frolic, amuse or display

Monday, December 10, 2012

People's Court Blog * 12-10-12 * MONDAY Case 1 of 2

Hi Everyone. I am back. Thank you for being patient. My family was affected by Hurricane Sandy but not to the extent of many others. We had house damage, property damage and we were without power and water for over a week. This is minor compared to the loss many others experienced. We all need to continue to have compassion for those that lost so much in this terrible storm.

People's Court is still airing repeat episodes. Because of this I am going to catch up on past shows.

The episode that I am posting today is from 10-29-12 when Hurricane Sandy hit us. I was in the process of writing when we lost the power. I am going to review the episodes individually. Today's review is the first case from 10-29-12. Here it is:


This Was Not A Harmless Prank!
Lucinda is suing Leigh and her son Marcus for $852.00. This is for medical bills she has because of what Marcus describes as a harmless prank. What did the 15 year old Marcus do? Well, he was frustrated with the way Lucinda bossed him around at work so he stole her wallet and threw it in the dumpster. Why does Lucinda have medical bills? Lucinda had a panic attack when she realized her wallet was missing. Did Marcus confess right away? No, he waited until he went to the police station and then confessed. His mother is in court and is defending his actions, saying he did the right thing. I understand she is his mother, but Marcus needs to take responsibility for his actions. In court, he does admit he stole money from the wallet. He was not arrested yet, he has to do community service; washing and waxing police cars. His mother is also making him wait until he turns 17 to get his driver's permit. Since he did not confess right away to what he had done he created the situation where Lucinda had a panic attack. The Judge finds him responsible to pay the medical bills. His mother is taken off the lawsuit since she is not responsible for her son's actions. Lucinda tells Marcus that she is not mad at him and hopes there are no hard feelings. In the hallway they all hug and it brings tears to my eyes! Marcus seems to have learned his lesson and hopefully in the future will find a better way to deal with his anger and frustration.

Why do people find it so easy to treat each other with disregard? I know Marcus is young,but he should still have a moral center and should know better. I think it is important to teach our children to have respect for others. The mom should be setting a much better example for her son. What do you think?

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A Word To Learn:
Tutelary - of or relating to a guardian