People's Court Blog - 10 2 2012 - Tuesday

Shannon And The Color Purple

Shannon wanted highlights in her hair. She did not like the colors that were put in her hair and is suing for $435.00. This is for the cost of the job and the repair. Shannon describes a process by which she chose colors out of a book for her hair. Kevin says she said she wanted purple. He told her purple would not look good with blonde hair. Shannon denies this. She says she wanted eggplant. Well, Shannon...purple and eggplant are the same color! When Shannon saw the colors of her hair when it was done, she was unhappy. So unhappy that she tipped the hair stylist. She did return to the shop three days later and wanted her money back. She says that Kevin told her to give it the weekend and come back. It is so hard to figure out who to believe. Thank goodness the Judge is really really good at this! The Judge decides in favor of Kevin and Shannon does not get any money. I think a major part of the decision involves Shannon using the word, eggplant. It means purple! Shannon's hair looks good now! She should continue going to her current stylist! The Judge shares that she once had purple hair, I would love to see that! 

Dan And His Beloved Guitar

Dan is suing for $1180.00. This is for the cost of the repair to his beloved guitar. Peter is in court to represent the bar that Dan and his band were playing in.  Dan's band is called "Below Average White Band". They play classic 70's rock. One night they were playing in a bar and Dan took a break and put his guitar on the stand. An intoxicated patron carrying a beer in his hand, stumbled on the stage and knocked over a speaker that hit the guitar and broke its neck. Dan describes his guitar as priceless. Thank goodness it was able to be repaired since the bar now has to pay for that. The Judge finds they are liable for the cost of the repair. Dan was able to prove his case. Peter, the manager is not happy about this. Peter was not there that fateful evening and has nothing to contribute to this case! Dan plays in the hallway for us...http://peoplescourt.warnerbros.com/

Robert And The Very Responsible Driver

Robert is suing Brandon for $189.99. This is for the cost of a lawnmower. Brandon was being a responsible driver. He swerved to avoid hitting a cat. He turned into Robert's driver and ran over his lawnmower and ruined part of his vegetable garden. What is Brandon's reward for not killing a cat? He worked for a half a day on Robert's farm and gave him a replacement lawnmower. Two weeks later Robert decided he did not like this particular lawnmower. He bought a new one. Of course he should not expect Brandon to have to pay for a new lawnmower. The Judge awards Robert $85.00. This is the legal answer. 

The moral answer would have been to reward Brandon's responsible driving with a free pass. I think saving a cat's life is way more important than a lawnmower. Please Brandon remember you did the right thing. It is Robert who needs to look at his behavior a little more closely. Also, no one mentioned who the cat belonged to. Since Robert owned a farm amd the cat was in front of Robert's house, what if? ... 

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

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Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

~Carl Sagan

People's Court - 8 7 2012 - Tuesday

My Cat Almost Died!

Jill is suing Juan for $5000.00. Juan owns a pest control company. Jill received a lovely gift from one of her cats. He left a mouse on her pillow. Jill called Juan to take care of the problem. She had a contract with his company for termite control. Jill said she told Juan what the problem was and left the doors unlocked for him. About one month later, one of her two cats started to act lethargic. Jill's daughter took the cat to the vet. She brought him home with instructions to give him the prescribed medicine. The next day, the cat was worse. Jill rushed him to critical care. He was being poisoned by a rodenticide, a poison used to kill the mice. Jill found bags of poison in the basement. These bags have instructions on them to keep out of reach of children or animals. Juan claims these bags were used years before when the basement was separated by a wall. He used a different type of pest control for this occurrence, because he did not want the cats to have access to the poison. Juan says he used bait boxes in the basement. He claims the cat got sick from eating a mouse that ate the poison. So either type of approach would have caused the cat to get sick. Jill did not mention finding bait boxes in the basement. It is very clear from the cat food and the litter boxes, the cats spent a lot of time in the basement. The Judge finds that Jill can not prove her case. There is no proof of when the bags of poison were put in the basement. There is no proof of how the cat ingested the poison. For these reasons, Juan is not responsible to pay the vet bills. The good news - the cat survived and is enjoying life. In the hallway, Jill said she is happy that her cat is fine. Juan said he would have done it differently if he knew there were cats in the house. Wait a minute...Juan knew there were cats in the house. Jill told him her cat brought her the mouse, also the cat food and litter box were in the basement. What would he have done differently? Maybe he wouldn't have used poison at all. There are other ways to remove mice from a home without using poison. Hopefully, Juan will approach his job with a more humane approach towards the animal residents of a house. What do you think?

I Want My Guccis!

Samuel has been going to Ed's optical shop for many years. This most recent visit was not a happy one. Samuel had his eye exam and had his lenses upgraded. At this same visit, Samuel asked Ed to adjust his sunglasses. When Ed worked on the adjustment, he broke the temple (arm) of the Gucci sunglasses. Ed tried to locate a replacement arm, but could not. The frames were six years old. Samuel wanted replacement frames. He says that Ed has many Gucci frames in the store. Ed did replace the frames with a comparable frame. The frames were not the Gucci brand, just comparable in shape and color. Ed explains there are signs in the store explaining the store is not responsible when customers provide their own frames. He says that Samuel routinely brings his own frames. Samuel returned to the store two weeks later, and demanded replacement Gucci frames. The manager spoke to him in the back room since Samuel was being very disruptive. He was offered a solution and left the store, only to file a lawsuit. Samuel says there is a gap between the lense and the frame where light comes through. The Judge agrees with him after examining the sunglasses. The solution to this problem is that Ed is found responsible to pay the depreciated value of the six year old Gucci sunglasses. This amounts to $255.00. Samuel is suing for $5000.00. The rest of the money is for pain and suffering. Samuel is not able to prove that he had pain or that he suffered by not being able to wear Gucci sunglasses. In the hallway, he says that if he had walked into a train because he could not see, there would have been pain and suffering. He also says that he likes Ed's store and he will definitely go back. Oh lucky day for Ed! 

Never Lie To the Judge!

James, a photographer. is suing Jim, for copyright infringement. James has a verbal agreement with the owner of a nightclub. One night a week he took pictures for the nightclub's Facebook page. He was paid $50.00 for the one night a week. The nightclub is out of business. James does not have any proof from the owner about the agreement they had. Jim has a website that promotes local businesses. The nightclub is listed as an out of business venue. Pictures from the nightclub are still available on this site. James believes Jim is selling the pictures and is making money from his work. Jim explains that a third party actually sells the pictures. Jim also says that he made $38.00 in commissions from the sale of the pictures. None of the pictures that were purchased were James's pictures from the now closed nightclub. Now, it is time for James to show proof of his copyright. He hands the Judge a paper when she asks if he has a copyright on the pictures. He says yes, but he does not have a copyright. Why did he lie in court? He says his attorney says he does not need a copyright in order to sue. Yet, he is suing based on copyright infringement. It is a shame that James received such bad advice. Yet, it was his choice to lie to the Judge. It is always better to be honest. Remember - honesty is the best policy. James does not prove his case, he does not get $5000.00. In the hallway, James says he will now get the copyright and sue again. Jim says that James is suing him personally and should have sued the company. Hopefully, James will not sue Jim again. It is time to move on. What do you think?

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

Sometimes all you can do is walk away, hide your tears, and pretend you're okay.

-Unknown

People's Court: 7-3-12 ** A Cat ** A Truck ** A Dog

People need to be nicer to each other. It is common courtesy to return someone's cat, fix someone's truck or to treat someone else's property with respect. It does not seem that any of these situations should become problematic, but when they do, the courtroom is the  place to resolve them.

Jonathan rescued a cat from a shelter. Since he was home from school for the summer, he was not able to bring the cat home. His plan was to have a friend take care of the cat for the summer and when he returned to school take the cat with him. He asked a co-worker, Amy,  if she would take care of the cat for the summer. She agreed to do this. Jonathan paid her to do this and covered the expenses. There is a discrepancy regarding how much money was agreed upon. The good thing is when things started falling apart, there were e-mails back and forth. The content of the e-mails clears up the amount of money. At the end of the summer Jonathan tried to reach Amy to schedule a time to pick up the cat. She did not return his phone calls, so he e-mailed her. She did correspond with him through e-mail. Did she forget about the e-mails? Jonathan brought the printed e-mails to court. As the Judge reads them we learn the true story. Amy and her family fell in love with the cat. Amy did not want to return the cat so it could live in a dorm room. She was convincing Jonathan to let her keep the cat until she asked for money. This is where everything falls apart. She wanted him to cover the expenses of the cat and she was going to keep the cat. She really could have not have it both ways. She has to return the money Jonathan gave her since she was keeping the cat. I give Jonathan so much credit for making the right decision. He thought of the cat and what would be best for the cat. He knew that Oscar was in a loving home and he wanted the best for him. Amy wanted the money! Hopefully, her family is not as mercenary and Oscar truly is in a loving home.

Larena lent her truck to Jocelyn, the mother of her grandson. It sounded like they had a close relationship. Larena lived with Jocelyn for a period of time. She took care of her grandson. We also find out the Larena has court appointed custody of her grandson. At some point, Jocelyn was going to go into the service. This plan changed when she met someone and had another child. She also stopped seeing her son because the new man in her life was controlling. She allowed this situation to occur and she should step up and be with both of her children. The truck in question is parked in a lot. When Jocelyn's friend leaves it there after using it, the car needs repair. Jocelyn tells Larena she will take care of the truck when she gets back from the Bahamas. When she returns, she decides it is too expensive and does not do anything. Now the fees are accumulating and no one is taking care of the bill. A $300.00 parking bill is now over $1700.00. Larena should not have to be responsible for this bill. She also claims that Jocelyn caused her to have an asthma attack and is suing for pain and suffering. Jocelyn is countersuing for rent, the phone bills and car insurance. Neither of them get everything they asked for. More importantly, in the hallway Jocelyn tells us she has learned not to be nice to family, although Larena is always welcome in her home. Larena is more cynical and bitter and tells us not to trust family or friends, they will stab you in the back. How sad! Hopefully she will continue a relationship with her grandson.

Laura is suing her landlord, Thomas for her security deposit. She has rented a basement apartment for 2 years. When she moves out, she expects her security deposit back. She says she painted and cleaned the 

carpeting. The landlord is keeping the security deposit because there were damages to the apartment. The tenants had a dog and the carpeting was damaged, there was paint spilled on the carpeting, the place was left unclean. He does have pictures to prove what he is saying. He also has a printout of a facebook page from the tenants's daughter telling the world they got a puppy in July. Laura did tell the landlord about the dog but told him it was a temporary situation. She moved out in September and they had the puppy from July. It is not a good idea to lie when your life is chronicled on Facebook. The 15 year old needs to learn to use privacy settings for her Facebook page. The mother seemed surprised about all of this. Really Mom, you need to monitor what your daughter is doing on the computer. Laura also is suing for damages because of the mold. She cannot prove this and the pictures the landlord shows do not help her case at all. She does get back a small portion of the security deposit. The fact that the apartment was illegal when Laura was living there did not help her at all. Neither of them have much to say in the hallway. You wonder if Laura is sorry to have brought this case to court. It was embarrassing and did not seem to be worth it. Why do people want to publicly humiliate themselves?

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

If you think sunshine brings you happiness, you have not danced in the rain.

-Unknown

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