People's Court: 7-13-12 ** Bittersweet ** ****Music Business ** Responsibility ****

This is such a sad family situation. Keith is suing Kara for $2090.00. Kara is married to Keith's stepson, Dan. In 2008, Dan, Kara and their children lived in Missouri. Keith and his wife lived in Florida. Dan was arrested for felony possession of marijuana. The family needed money to get Dan out of this situation. Keith says he does not remember who he spoke when he agreed to lend them the money. Since Kara signed for the money, he is suing her. I do not think Kara is responsible to pay this debt. She had to sign for the money since Dan was in jail. The money was used to pay Dan's fines. When this situation was resolved, Dan and family moved to Florida for a fresh start. They stayed with Keith and his wife while they were trying to get on their feet. This was supposed to be a fresh start for them. Unfortunately, it did not work out that way. Living with the in-laws is a strain to begin with. The loan added tension to the situation. Kara thought that Keith was mean to her children, yelling at them all the time. She said that there were too many rules in the house, it was not fair to the children. They could not even have their snacks when they got home from school. Kara is so emotional, she can hardly tell her story. It is very obvious this entire situation is hard on her. She is trying to be everything to everyone. She has moved out of Keith's house, to try to give her children a better environment. Dan continued to live at his stepfather's house, until he broke curfew. He was kicked out and now sleeps on Kara's livingroom couch. This poor woman seems like she is about to break. Thank goodness, the law is on her side. She is not responsible for this loan. Keith needs to sue Dan for the money. In the hallway, Dan says he will sue his stepson. Kara says she is planning to move to Kansas, to be with her family. I wish her luck. She seems like she is carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.  I hope everything works out for her and her children.

Yvette is trying to help two teenage friends of her son. She thinks they have musical talent and wants to give them a chance to pursue it. This is not her day job, she is trying to do something nice for them. She hires McAuthor to promote their talent. She gives him $2000.00 for an artist development package. He is a music producer, agent, musician, etc. With all of his expertise, he does not seem to steer Yvette in the right direction. There is a one page contract with little information on it. McAuthor says all of the details are on his website. Yvette is new to this business and does not understand all of the pitfalls that can happen. The major pitfall being the teenagers themselves. She does not get a written contract with the kids and their parents. This becomes a problem because one of the kids drops out. Yvette claims McAuthor tried to steal him away from her. She does not have any proof of this claim. He denies it. This particular young man did drop out of the group. Yvette found someone to take his place. She leaves messages for McAuthor and he avoids her. McAuthor has not upheld his end of the contract and Yvette will get her money back. I hope if Yvette continues in the music business, she learns her way around. I give her credit for wanting to help these kids, but she has to protect herself. Hopefully, this will be a learning experience for her.

A shopping cart rolls into a parked car and causes damage. Who is the responsible party? Tracey would like us to believe the store is responsible because the parking lot is hilly. She spoke to the store manager and finds out that this happens to others all of the time. They would not give her anything in writing. She would like us to believe the wind is responsible. She has weather reports with her in court as proof, it was a very windy day. She would like us to believe it was because she was closing her car after loading up her kids and packages. Okay, this is all very amusing! Fortunately, John was sitting in his car when the shopping cart rolled into it and caused the damage. Tracey looked in the car, said she was sorry and then was going to drive away. John approached her and got her information and has pursued this case. He would like her to pay the $543.13 cost of having the damage repaired. Even after being sued, Tracey still  thinks someone else should be responsible. She checked with her insurance company and found out that John can go through his own insurance company. Really! Why? Tracey really has lost all touch with the reality we call life. How can she truly believe she is not responsible for the damage to John's car? Why is she so quick to blame everyone else? What a great role model she is for her children, remember they were in the car! We are not surprised to find out the verdict, Tracey has to pay for the damage. In the hallway, she finally admits that she was responsible for the mishap. Hopefully, Tracey will change the way she looks at life and realize we all need to take responsibility for our actions. 

Please share your thoughts in the comments. Thank you for joining me today.

Think and wonder, wonder and think.

- Dr. Seuss

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People's Court: 6-25-12: Promises

Why do people agree to something and then back out afterwards? This seems to be very common. It is as if their word is not enough. There was a time a handshake was meaningful.

Families are very important. When two people get married it is so nice when the families mesh. This case is about a family torn apart. Traditionally, the bride's family pays for the wedding. The groom's mom paid for the rehearsal dinner and then agrees to pay for the invitations and their family's guests. She denies agreeing to these additional expenses, yet starts making payments after the wedding. After paying back $300.00 she stops making the payments. Her son does not want his new father-in-law to know this, so he continues the payments with his own money. At some point he comes clean and that is when his father-in-law decides to sue for the money. Mother and son do not have the best history. Instead of trying to repair this relationship, these actions are going to further the break. The shame of it is, they do not just make this case about the debt.  Information is brought up about the groom's childhood. This is not necessary to discuss on national TV. The mother is beside herself with emotion. This is so difficult for her. She feels she will never see her grandchildren since her and her son are not talking. She is found liable to pay the balance of what she owes. It is a shame that a family falls apart over $1600.00. I hope this family can get professional counseling and all get along. Do it for the sake of the grandchildren!

A woman lends her ex-boyfriend her car and he gets a parking ticket. Why would she lend her car to someone who has not talked to her for over a month? He calls her out of the blue and tells her a sob story. She falls for it and lends him her car. She has also given him a bus pass to sell. He claims this is a scam but can not prove it. He admits owing her the $20.00 for the bus pass, yet denies that he used her car. He is so unbelievable. He does have to pay her back for the parking ticket, the late fees associated with it and the money for the bus pass. More importantly, this woman needs to stop letting people take advantage of her. She did not hear from this man for over a month and then she lends him her car. He insults her by denying he was ever her boyfriend and describes their relationship as friends with benefits. She needs to protect herself from people like this. Never lend your car to anyone, the consequences can be so much more than parking tickets!

Please let me know what you think. Thank you for joining me today.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

Mahatma Gandhi

12-12-12 People's Court Blog: Family Blues

What an amazing date - 12-12-12! Every time I wrote it today I felt like it was something special. Life is special and we need to treasure every day and every experience. I do not want to look back and have regrets. 
Since it is a week of repeat episodes, here is a blast from the past. On June 2nd of this year, I wrote this, but did not post it. I do not know why! 
Enjoy!

Thank you for joining me today.

Family members suing each other on People's Court can be so sad. A father buys a car and tells his daughter he will transfer the title after it is paid off. After several late payments, he gets the police involved and takes the license plates off the car. After that he will only talk to his son-in-law and not his daughter. She does not like this and stops talking to her father. She will not let him see his grandchildren. Why must the children suffer when the adults fight? This is a recurring theme and is so so sad. The father and the daughter also exchange vile text messages. He is so immature, even the Judge tells him to grow up and act like an adult.

They seem to reconcile in the hallway, telling each other that they love each other. Hopefully, this is sincere and they can be a family again. The grandchildren should not miss out on a relationship with their grandparents.

The next case is a rental situation. The tenant is renting retail space. He feels threatened by the landlord and does not renew his lease. There was a mix-up with one month's rent being paid twice and the landlord tried to claim this was an automatic renewal of the lease. The lease had some very specific clauses that the tenant followed to the letter. He got back his rent, did not have to renew the lease and even had his attorney's fee reimbursed. This is why it is very important to read the lease and understand it.

The last case was about a friend lending her car to another friend. What amazed me was how the young man who borrowed the car behaved. He totally dismissed his responsibility for the damages, even though he was at fault. The insurance covered the damages and he was being sued for the deductible and the rental car. He was very flippant and did not even care that his friend had laid out the money. His response was that she lent him the keys so she was responsible. He lost - no surprise. It was so sad, in the hallway interview it was so clear the girl had a crush on him and this incident did not seem to have any effect on her. I get the impression she would do this again under similar circumstances. We do need to learn from our mistakes. 

Please let me know what you think about these situations. 

Thought for the day:

We are responsible for our own happiness