People's Court Blog - 10 18 2012 - Thursday

Lawn Maintenance

Steven is suing Bruce for $300. Bruce is counterclaimimg for $750.00. Steven has been providing lawn services to Bruce since 2006. His company landscaped the property and has been maintaining it ever since. This past year Steven notified Bruce of a price increase. Bruce did not want to pay the increase but he wanted to decrease the services and the cost. He continued paying Steven and finally in March stopped paying. Steven provided lawn care for March and wants to be paid. Bruce says he did not pay because he was not satisfied with the quality of work, yet he did  not complain. The only issue was about dollarweed that Steven did send an e-mail to Bruce describing the way he was dealing with it. The e-mail was very rude and very unprofessional. Steven needs to rethink his e-mail communications. He is entitled to to be paid for his services. The Judge finds in his favor. Bruce loses on his counterclaim, he does not get any money back. He should have complained about the service at the time and not continue to pay for something he was not happy with!

Parking Tickets

Doris is suing Roach for $838.35. This is for unpaid parking tickets. Doris let Roach register his car in her name. Why would she do this? Roach was her very good friend for over 20 years. Now, Doris goes to buy a new car and learns she cannot get financing because of unpaid parking tickets. Never ever let anyone, friend or family register a car in your name. This is a tragedy waiting to happen. So much could have happened. Doris is fortunate it was parking tickets and not a car accident. The car was impounded because of the numerous parking tickets. Roach wanted Doris to set up a payment plan. He is arrogant and unrepentant. He actually is yelling at the Judge during his testimony. How rude! Roach does not want to pay for the parking tickets because he says some of them are Doris's tickets. He has no proof of this. The Judge finds in Doris's favor. Doris needs to understand the position she could have been in if Roach had a car accident and someone was hurt. What I do not understand is that Roach has written off Doris as a friend yet, Doris says that Roach is still a good friend. What has to happen for her to realize what could have happened? It does not seem like a lesson was learned today! What do you think?

Hot Tub Cover

William is suing Lori for $425.93. This is for a hot tub cover. Lori had rented a room from William from May to August. When she moved out she did not give the proper amount of notice. William notified her about this and she paid the balance. Months later he contacts her about the hot tub cover. William claims she only opened the cover halfway and misused it and damaged it. He did not notice it was damaged until he reopened the hot tub. Lori denies the misuse. William has a notarized statement from his girlfriend describing the misuse. If William or his girlfriend witnessed the misuse of the cover they should have talked to Lori right away. William says he did talk to her because he was worried she would be trapped. Lori denies this. William should have checked the cover to make sure it was not damaged. William cannot prove his case and the Judge finds in favor of Lori. William is surprised by the outcome, he thought it was a slam dunk. Lori is glad it is over. It is very important to deal with issues in a timely manner. When someone is going to move out or has moved out, check everything right away. What do you think?

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The true adventurer goes forth aimless and uncalculating to meet and greet unknown fate.

~O. Henry

People's Court Blog - 10 4 2012 - Thursday

Chris / Billiejo And The Not So Brand New Refrigerator

Chris and Billiejo are suing for $2694.94. This is for the cost of a refrigerator and various other costs associated with the purchase. Peggy Lee and Carlos were the contact for an ad on Craigslist. Peggy Lee's mother-in-law placed an ad to sell a refrigerator. The refrigerator was advertised as brand new. After Chris and Billiejo purchased the $3000.00 refrigerator for $950.00, they took it home, plugged it in and guess what? It did not work. Chris took the refrigerator to a repair shop and found out it had been repaired. The condenser had been replaced and other work had been done. The repair shop has documented the work done on the refrigerator. It is very obvious this was a scam to sell a used refrigerator as new. Peggy Lee shows that Chris damaged the refrigerator when he transported it on its side in a trailer. This does not matter since the information in the ad was false.

When Chris tries to reach Peggy Lee and Carlos, they do not return his calls. He meets with them using a fake name when he answers another Craigslist ad. The problem is he does not act responsibly and makes himself look like a loose cannon! Now he is doing the right thing to bring them to court. The Judge finds Peggy Lee and Carlos responsible to return the purchase price of the refrigerator, travel expenses and the cost of the repair shop diagnosis. In total, Chris and Billiejo get back $1177.49. Remember if something sounds too good too be true, it probably is! 

Lisa Lynn And Her Pottery Equipment

Lisa Lynn is suing Nicolle and Christopher for $3978.40. This is for pottery equipment that was stored with Nicolle and Christopher. When Lisa Lynn was pregnant in 2008, the father of her baby removed her items from storage and stored them with Nicolle and Chris. In 2010, she tried to get her property back and did not get it. In 2011, Nicolle donated the pottery equipment to a local school. She has a donation receipt to prove this. 

Why does Lisa Lynn wait so long to get her property back? The only answer she has is that she had so much going on in her life. This is not a good excuse. Years went by. She really could not expect for the items to be there forever. Lisa Lynn seems surprised to lose her case. She feels she did not get a chance to tell everything. I cannot imagine what else there could be. She had years to get back her property and she did not make the effort. It was not Nicolle and Chris's responsibility to return it to her. Maybe she is used to everyone doing for her, but not this time. The silver lining is that the pottery equipment went to a school and children are learning the art pf pottery. Lisa Lynn does not see this as a silver lining, she just wanted her belongings back!

Shannon And The Lost Friendship

Shannon is suing his friend for $1032.54. This is for the cost of parking tickets, impound fees, and various other costs. Shannon claims he put a car in his name for his friend, Richard. The reason he gives is that he wanted to help out his friend. Richard denies that Shannon helped him. This is very much a case of he said he said. It all comes down to the most credible person. The winner is Shannon. Richard continues to deny that anything was done for him, but he is so unbelievable. Shannon's story rings true. I am sure it will be a very long time before he lets someone else take advantage of him. Shannon gets back $784.21. The money he does not get back will be a lesson for him. The shame of this situation is that these two men have known each other for 29 years. This is a lifetime. It must be so difficult for Shannon to have been treated this way by a friend he has known for this long. Another question answered. What is the cost of a 29 year friendship? The answer: $1032.54. Good luck Shannon!

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Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.

~Sigmund Freud

People's Court Blog - 9 17 2012 - Monday

What's Willow Watching Special Announcement: Tomorrow's blog will be written by a very special guest! 

Tia And The Wedding Cake

Tia is suing Joe and Stacie for $998.00. This is for the cost of a wedding cake and emotional distress. Tia hired Joe and Stacie to make her wedding cake after meeting them at a wedding show. She actually ordered three cakes, the decorated tiered wedding cake and two sheetcakes. On her wedding day, the most important day of her life, she was so unhappy with the cakes Joe and Stacie provided. The tiered wedding cake was messy, the scrollwork was terrible, the stand provided was shabby and the frosting was smeared. Joe actually tried to hide damage to the cake with flower petals. Tia shows pictures of the cake and it is sad looking, with flowers petals stuck on it haphazardly. Also, the sheetcakes were not delivered at the same time and dropped off later. All three cakes were difficult to cut and were inedible. Everyone thought the cakes had been frozen. Tia also provides a letter from the catering manager at the hall describing the cake. The letter completely confirms what Tia is complaining about. 

Joe denies everything. He loses his credibility when his story differs totally from the catering manager. He even accuses Tia of sabotaging her own cake. This is totally ridiculous. Why on earth would a bride ruin her own wedding? 

Tia shows a shows a video from her wedding of her apologizing to her guests for the lack of cake. She was humiliated in front of her 250 guests. Tia and her husband did not have the usual cake tradition of feeding each other the cake, she did not have cake to serve to her guests and she did not have the top of the cake to save for their first anniversary. Tia gets her money back from the cake and an additional $50.00 to purchase a cake for their first anniversary. Joe and Stacie are directed to pay Tia $643.86. It is a shame that they could not provide the service they were hired for. Tia's wedding day should not have been ruined because of their inability to do their job. Tia was a beautiful bride and should have amazing memories of her wedding day despite the lack of the wedding cake. I wish Tia and her husband much happiness!

Ralph And The Balance Of His Bill

Ralph is suing Amy for $379.97. This is the balance of a bill for work Ralph did for Amy. Ralph is a private detective. Amy's sons were falsely accused of raping a young girl at a party at their house. Amy's sons did have a party at their house when their parents were out of town, but they did not rape the young girl at the party.The lawyer that Amy hired, called Ralph to investigate. Amy and her husband agreed to pay Ralph directly. They initially paid him $500.00 to start his investigation. Ralph investigated and found evidence to support Amy sons' innocence. In total, Ralph was paid $1500.00 for his work. After Amy hired another lawyer, Ralph did additional work for the case. This is what he is suing for. Amy does not deny that she owes him the money. She describes falling on hard times after spending over $30,000 in attorney's fees. This case took 2 years and 6 months before her sons were found not guilty. Amy describes the complete and devastating toll this situation took on the family. Her one son is suffering with depression because of everything he went through. Amy is directed to pay the balance of the bill. This does not come as a surprise to her. Ralph says that her older son hugged him and thanked him for believing in him when he was found not guilty. I have so much empathy for Amy and her family for everything they went through because of this false accusation. I hope this family can get help with the emotional fallout from such a horrible ordeal!

Derek And The Tow Company

Derek is suing a tow company for $397.39. This is for damage done to his car when it was towed. Frankie is in court to represent the tow company. Derek explains that when he bought his new to him used car, he transferred the license plates from his old car. Unfortunately, Derek had accumulated 8 tickets while driving his other car. The tow company has a contract with the city to run license plates and tow cars with over $350 in tickets. Derek had over $600 in tickets! Within the first week of buying his car, it was towed while he was in work. When Derek went to the impound yard to pay the judgement and pick it up, he saw the bumper had scratches on it. Derek showed this damage to the person working at the impound yard and was told that they did not do it. Derek took pictures of the damage. The pictures very clearly show scratches all across the bumper. Frankie says that they did not do this damage. Derek has the best evidence to prove otherwise. Earlier that day, Derek had a photo inspection done by an insurance company!. He shows the pictures and there is no damage to the bumper! Derek was very fortunate to have had the insurance inspection done on the same day he was towed!. Derek wins the case and the tow company has to pay for the damage to his car. In the hallway, Frankie says that things happen and when they do they take care of it. Really! It does not seem this way, since Derek had to bring you to court! Having the insurance photo inspection done on the same day of the tow was the best timing for Derek. Now, we hope that Derek is more careful and pays his tickets on time or better yet, stop getting them! What do you think?

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Remember: Check back tomorrow for a very special guest blog by a very special guest!

When you become senile, you won't know it.

~Bill Cosby