People's Court: 6-4-12: Responsibility

Watching People's Court is very educational on many levels. The legal aspect of it is very informative. What I find to be fascinating are the people. From all walks of life, the interactions are awesome. I learn so much every single day. I started this blog last week. I enjoy watching the show and I wanted to share my reactions with you. Please join me on this journey of discovery: learning about others and ourselves.


Today's cases all involve people needing to take responsibility for their actions. In the first case, friends move in together to help each other out. It is not a good situation and quickly falls apart. The arrangement explodes and the shenanigans start. The lack of maturity is embarrassing for all of the adults involved. No one has taken responsibility for their actions. 


In the second case a contract is not honored. The photographer does not get paid for his services. Now so much time has passed and the photo provided has been published. The photographer does not feel this was an agreed upon use and wants more money. The contract was not specific to the use of the photo provided. The contract needed to be more specific. Both parties need to take responsibility for the contract they agreed upon. 


The third case involves children. I do not like to see children in the courtroom. The judge makes it very clear that the 7 year old is not responsible for losing the nintendo game. Also, the mother is not responsible for her son's actions. It is unfortunate the parents did not take the responsibility as parents to keep their sons out of a courtroom. The more important issue here is that I hope the mothers put their feelings aside and let the boys remain friends.


Thank you so much for joining me. Please let me know your thoughts on these situations.


    

Remember:

Continue to smile and enjoy your life.

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

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.