People's Court 6-18-12: Honesty

Some of the situations on People's Court are very complicated. The facts of the case are essential. With different stories or no proof, it makes it so much harder to find the truth. Honesty is always the best policy. When it is one person's word against another, a tape recording can be very revealing.

• A car accident occurs. Even though the police are called, the people involved have very different stories. The one driver does not even recall the impact. He claims he did not hear anything because of the rain. When one car hits another, you can feel it. He claims the other car must have hit him, he denies hitting the other car. He also denies what he said at the scene. Enter the tape recording - this was a very good idea! We get to hear part of the conversation. Everything he denied saying, was on the tape. This is so interesting. Why lie about what was said? Does he think it will make him look guilty or stupid or both? It proves he is a liar. How can you believe anything else he says? Since his testimony is so unbelievable, the Judge finds him liable for the damages to the other car. If he would have told the truth, he could have avoided this embarrassment.

• In the next case, a tenant moves out and wants his security deposit back. He has sent the landlord a certified letter requesting the return of his security deposit. The landlord has not responded. When the tenant researches his rights, he find out he is able to receive double his security deposit back. The landlord has not sent him an itemized statement. The landlord does not seem to know his responsibilities. There is no excuse for this. He does not have any proof of the damages he is claiming, he can not keep the security deposit. Also, since he did not provide notification to the tenant, he is required to pay him double. It is so important to know what our rights and responsibilities are. The information is only a click away.

• This situation is very interesting. A management company sends workers into an apartment to paint. There are two workers. The tenant stays home to monitor the activity. She notices one worker walks around the apartment and does not stay in the room where the work is being done. She knows she has put her jewelry on the top of her dresser, she says she took it off because it was too hot! Even though her bedroom door is closed, it is not locked. She did not see the worker go into her bedroom, yet her jewelry is missing. There are so many things she could have done differently.  She could have put the jewelry away or back on. She could have asked him to stop wandering. She could have watched him more closely. She could have asked him to leave. She can not prove he took the jewelry. She claims people have told her this particular worker was a problem. No one has put anything in writing for her. She has no proof. The management company is not found liable for her missing jewelry.

It is important to tell the truth. It is important to know your rights. It is important to protect yourself. If all of these things are in place, the above situations might have turned out differently. Hopefully, all of us, the people involved and the people watching can learn from these experiences.

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

Remember:

The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters.

Audrey Hepburn

People's Court: 6-14-12: Lessons to Learn

People need to be able to use common sense in their interactions with others. When this fails, thank goodness for small claims court. We can learn from these experiences.


A father tries to help his son by letting him move back in. The son rents a storage unit for his belongings. He does not make his payments and the father pays the back fees. Now it is up to the son to maintain his payments. He does not. He is a 34 years old  and irresponsible. He does work but does not help with any of the bills. He ignores the e-mail notifications from the storage unit company. Unfortunately, they do not send him a certified notification. This is required by the rules of the industry. The items in the storage unit are thrown out. The owner of the company understands now that this was not a very responsible way to do business. The father also understands that he is enabling his son to be irresponsible. The Judge tries to explain to him that it is time to let his son stand on his own two feet. Let us hope that the money they won from the case goes into a bank account for the son to use when he finally moves out into his own place.

A woman rents an apartment. She finds out after 2 months she needs to move out due to a family emergency. She thinks this is reason not to give notice. It does not work this way. When the landlord lets her know she is not going to get her security deposit back, the tenant returns to the apartment, puts the heat on high and opens all of the windows. Now we find out it was an illegal apartment - who saw this coming? - the Judge cannot award rent money to the landlord. She can award the cost to fix the boiler and because these actions were seen as malicious, she awards punitive damages. The tenant does not get any money back.

A man wants to get his 1976 Buick restored. He takes it to a shop on the recommendation of his brother. The owner is a longtime friend of his. After taking the car and discussing what he wants, he leaves the car and after that no one seems to be on the same page. Their stories are so different, you wonder if they were even in the same room with each other. Written contracts are so important. Receipt for monies given are so important. A contract does not exist if there is not a meeting of the minds, written or verbal. At the end of the case the man does get his money back. His brother, who was in court with him, lets us know this incident is not going to ruin the friendship he has maintained for years. This is always good to hear.


These situations should be able to be resolved and not ruin years of friendship. Unfortunately, in so many cases it does not appear to end this way.


Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you for joining me today.

Remember:

 I believe that love and laughter can only happen when one person takes the time to think about what would cause the other person to feel good.

-Yakov Smirnoff

People's Court: 6-7-12: Consequences

People do not seem to realize their actions have consequences. A landlord moves around a tenant's belongings. Things are broken and missing. She is responsible since she had no right to touch anything. They have a contract and she does not abide by it. She does not seem to understand that she had no right to be so involved in her tenant's living situation. I felt terrible for the tenant, he was in school and was constantly having his life disrupted.

A man buys a car for the mother of his child. Several years later she takes him to court for child support. It is awarded along with back support. He takes the car back. He is angry that she took him to court and does not admit that is the reason he took back the car. It is very apparent from the timing that he was being spiteful. It is a shame that these people do not get along. They are raising a child together. 

A woman hires a contractor to replace the roof of her garage. She is very happy with the work. He returns some of the materials to Home Depot. For some reason, the store gives her the receipts. She has no right to the extra materials or to the money. The contract she signed was for a set amount, including materials and labor. He did the job and that should have been the end of it. She did not even pay him the full amount. He did not file a countersuit, why? His explanation is lack of time. I think he should still file a countersuit, he did the work and is entitled to the money.

When striking a deal with someone, a written contract is very important. People need to understand what they are getting and what they are providing. Please let me know what you think.

Remember: Today is the first day of the rest of your life!

More Life Lessons

I am still watching People's Court. There is so much to learn from this show. Adding a co-worker/friend to a cell phone plan. Remember this is a very bad idea. This particular case differed in that the people sounded like they remained friends. It is good to know that going through this situation did not ruin their friendship. Trying to be nice and help people out sometimes ends with the parties not talking to each other. It is always a shame to see friendships ruined, no matter what the reason.

A woman ordered custom sweatshirts for her daughter and son-in-law to be. The artwork on  one of the sweatshirts was not centered on the back. It was off by inches! The owner of the shop would not replace it because he said the customer was rude and obnoxious. What is wrong with people these days? There was an obvious mistake that needed to be corrected and he did not like her attitude. She says she was very nice and who really knows what happened in the shop that day. It should have been resolved quickly at the store, since the item was not what the customer expected. This situation could have been avoided totally. The customer did not check the order before she left the store. When someone orders a custom made item, check it thoroughly before leaving the store. Do not accept something that is not what you ordered.

A college student being sued by the landlord for the rent of the other two roommates. The landlord kicked out the 2 roommates, for good reason. What she did not realize is that her actions had consequences. To expect the remaining roommate to pay the entire rent did not make any sense. He tried to get additional roommates and was not able to. This was a good lesson for landlords. In this case, going to court was very beneficial for the college student.

What we learned today: Once again - do not add anyone to your cell phone plan- always check merchandise before you accept it - if you are sued, go with the flow, if you are in the right, it will benefit you.

Thought for the day:

Keep a positive outlook.

Life Lessons

I am amazed by people.  In our everyday life, so much happens. There is always something to learn. Years ago, someone told me that each day we should strive to learn something new. People-watching is so much fun. Sit on a bench and watch the people go by. Watch them interact with the world or ignore the world around them. Or....watch it unfold on TV from the comfort of your own home. A very interesting show is People's Court. I wonder what motivates people to sue. Some of them are about being cheated, scammed or swindled. Others are families and friends. One thing we should all have learned from court TV is never ever put anyone on your cell phone plan. Unless you do not mind paying their bill, one day something will happen and they will not pay. Hello Judge!!!! 

The most recent People's Court episode I watched had the typical three cases. Two of them were fairly straightforward, one of them gave me pause. A woman rented out her daughter's room to a male friend. They admittedly had an intimate relationship and her biggest worry was that her 19 year old son was becoming friends with this man. She locked this man out of the house because he was drinking. She did not understand that she did not have the right to do this and would not even open the door to the police!

I know times are difficult and we all are looking for a way to pay the bills. What happened to our morals, our scruples, protecting ourselves and our family, and being a role model for our children. Granted her son was an adult, but bringing a virtual stranger into her home - anything could have happened. Bringing this man into their home was her first mistake and then showing her son that dealing with a problem was to ignore the police at the door shows so much more lack of judgement. What are we teaching our children???? What have we been taught? This woman made so many mistakes and she left court unaware of all of them. When the people take something positive from the experience it gives me hope. Those of us watching might not make these same mistakes. I know I will not be renting out any rooms! It is a good day when we have learned something.

Let me leave you with this thought for the day: 

Smile and the whole world smiles with you.