People's Court: 6-28-12: Honesty is the Best Policy

Being truthful seems to be a lost art. Remember when our word was our bond, an agreement was sealed with a handshake? Those days are over. Embellishing, exaggerating or outright lying is so common today. Honesty is the best policy, especially in court.

A couple rents a luxury condo for $6000.00 a month. Soon after they move in, the windows leak whenever it rains. They let the landlord know and when the repairs are not done, they decide to pay less rent. The landlord is aware of the problem, she experienced it when she lived there and did contact the builder to say it was happening again. Why wasn't it fixed? This is not made clear. What is made clear is that for 4 months the tenants keep back rent each month. They explain they decided on the amount by calculating how much of the apartment was not habitable. They have a floor plan of the apartment, no pictures of the actual problem. There were pictures taken by the super of the building after the fact. The Judge decides they have exaggerated the situation and decides they do not get back the full security deposit. Also, it is not a good idea to withhold rent without documentation. Clearly stating a problem and proving it has occurred is the best idea when you have to prove it in court.

Best friends for 39 years. Alysa and Lisa have been friends since kindergarten. What a shame it has fallen apart over $1500.00. When Alysa is arrested for violating an order of protection, she calls her best friend to bail her out. She lets Lisa know where to find the money. She even tells her to take some extra for herself. For some reason, when the bail is returned to Lisa, she keeps it. Lisa is not straightforward with the court or with her former friend. First she denies receiving the money, then she says he mother signed and deposited the checks without her knowledge. Another story is that she was supposed to keep it. Why would Alyssa ask for it back if she had told her to keep it? It was not her money to keep. When the checks were sent to her, she should have called her friend. She needs to pay it back. Unfortunately, the damage is done and the friendship is over. Lisa's son has been involved and they are not going to forgive Alyssa for her bad behavior. In the hallway, Lisa's parting words are, "good riddance". So, so sad.

Justin and Brian thought is would be a good idea to trade vehicles without the proper paperwork. Both men had their vehicles posted on Craigslist to sell. They met and decided to make an even trade. Justin did not have a clear title to his vehicle and Brian could not find the title. This should have raised numerous red flags. But the two men forged ahead. Speaking of forging... Justin  provides a work order from his job for repairs needed. He works at this fine establishment and explains he is providing the labor. He has paid half of the $4475.04 and is making payments to his boss to pay off the rest. Brian explains that the car he received from Justin, cannot be put on the road since the title is not clear and it needs major repairs. The Judge calls a recess and when she returns she is very angry. The work order provided by Justin is fabricated and he has not paid any money to his boss. It is a blatant lie. She orders the vehicles switched back. The deal has now been undone! You get the feeling Brian does not want the truck back. He delivers pizzas and does not want a gas-guzzling truck. Justin admits being a liar and should be totally embarrassed and humiliated. Why would someone do this in court on national TV? Your guess is as good as mine.

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

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

-Unknown Source

Remember to submit your favorite quotes or sayings!

People's Court: 6-20-12: Family, Friends, Strangers

Welcome to Summer 2012! 

Everyone has so much to deal with. The last thing we want to think about is being taken advantage of. Whether it is by family, friends or strangers. Why should we allow ourselves to treated poorly by others?

This landlord/tenant case is a good illustration of people treating each other poorly. These two women do not get along. The day to day problems are so toxic that they really need to separate from each other. The landlord needs to pursue an eviction of this particular tenant. She feels that illegal activity is occurring in the apartment. The reason for the suit is because of a flood. The landlord is accusing the tenant of leaving the water running in the tub in the middle of the night. She claims to have proof but does not have it with her. She is in court, this is the time to have the proof. The tenant is countersuing for harassment. Again, there is no proof on her part. If she is not happy with her living arrangements, she should move out. She has pictures of the mold in her apartment. It is a very unhealthy environment and she should not have to live there. She says she has called the city and there are violations that have been cited. She should have sued based on the conditions in the apartment. This environment is toxic on many levels. When the case is over neither party gets any money. The tenant needs to realize, it will not truly be over until she moves out.

This is a case about two friends. One lends the other her credit card to buy a camera. This is a very expensive camera she is going to use to venture into a new business.  She begins to make payments. Then, the camera is stolen. Does she still owe her the money? Of course she does. But, now she calls it an investment. She cannot change the agreement after the fact. She owes the money. Is it really that easy? It should be, but now we have another problem. No one kept track of the payments or paying off the credit card. The money situation is a mess. It is left to the Judge to do " a little rough justice". The friend gets back some of the money, not everything she is asking for. The more important question is: Are they still friends? It seems like the friendship is over. What a shame when her friend was there for her when she needed help.

This is a case about a family that has lost their way. A mother and daughter that have been very close are not talking and the daughter has publicly wished death on her mother. How do things get so bad? The daughter put her mother's car in her name. The mother got several parking tickets. The car gets towed. The mother does not pay the tickets. Why? She claims her daughter owed her money from a cell phone years before.  They must have been close for the daughter to help out her mother with the car. There does not seem to be a relationship at this point. The Judge recommends that they stay away from each other or get family counseling if they want to get back together. They do not seem receptive to the idea of repairing the relationship. The daughter says her mother has nothing to do with any of her grandchildren. Such a shame. I do not think families should sue each other. There should be a way to work things out. It is always a heartbreak to see a family divided.

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

Anything you're good at contributes to happiness.

Bertrand Russell

People's Court: 6-11-12: Voodoo Curse

Another exciting day on People's Court. Three new cases today. Let's get started...

A woman wants a granite countertop in her kitchen. The store she goes to sends a subcontractor to her house to measure. She gives him a check and cash. Not only does she not get a receipt for the payment, she does not fill out the check. She leaves it blank instead of writing the name of the store. Of course, the subcontractor happens to be a thief. He deposits the check and takes the cash. The store owner thinks she is dealing directly with the sub and cutting him out of the picture. When she tries to get her money back, the store owner realizes what has happened and is able to get some of the money back from the sub. He is responsible to pay her the rest of the money. Now he can go after the sub if he chooses to. The woman does realize that she made a mistake, the way she wrote the check, giving the cash and not getting a receipt. She does not think threatening a voodoo curse was a mistake!

The second case involves family. A brother suing his brother. It is a shame to watch a family fall apart right in front of you. The Judge wonders whether the one brother is clueless or evil. She quickly finds out as the brother tells one lie after another. He let his brother sublet his rent controlled apartment when there was a balance due. He collected rent from his brother and pocketed it. He lied about receiving money even though he signed a receipt. He illegally locked his brother out of the apartment. The brother that was taken advantage of won the case and seemed like a really nice guy. There was mention of a sister. She was not in the courtroom. This seems to be common when family members do not want to be caught in the middle. The consensus is that the brother is evil!

The last case is a traffic accident. The young man that caused the accident admits it in court. On his written response to the complaint, he stated he was not at fault. The truth comes out, he admits he is responsible but feels the estimate is too high. He actually obtained two estimates from pictures of the damage to the other vehicle. This does benefit him, since the Judge takes this into consideration. It was very impressive for this young man to get the estimates. 

People do constantly amaze. Sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way. The important thing is to always think about what you are doing. Do not let people take advantage of you.

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

Remember:

They can't hurt you unless you let them. - Anonymous

People's Court: 6-6-12: Why?

Are people ever going to take responsibility for their own actions?

A woman lends her boyfriend money over and over again. He promises to pay her back and does not. Yet, she still keeps lending him money. Does she deserve to get the money back?

When are people going to learn from their mistakes?

Also, why would he buy a car and put her name on it? None of this makes sense. When they break up, she takes the car because she has the legal right to do it. She trades it in. He does not get anything back, he wanted the deposit he put on the car, He does have to pay back some of the money he borrowed since he admitted to it. These situations get very messy in a relationship. People have to be very careful to understand whether it is a gift or a loan. Remember to also get it in writing.

Then we have a man riding motorcycles with friends through a free range town. A horse runs into him and injures him. The police reports appear to support this theory even though the horse owner says he was speeding and he hit and injured the horse. The horse did need to be seen by a vet. The owner of the horse admits the horse broke out. He has fixed the fence and the gate since the incident. It seems fairly straightforward. For some reason, the owner of the horse keeps saying they were riding Harleys and the injured man says it was a Honda. Why would the type of bike matter? 

A young man moves out of his apartment claiming it was uninhabitable. He did not give notice and does not want to pay what is due. He can not prove that he notified the landlord about any problems. It is very important that all communication with landlords are documented. They need to be given the chance to fix a problem. Why wouldn't he just send an e-mail?

These cases seem to raise even more questions about how people behave.

Please let me know what you think. Thank you.

Remember: Life is good.

People's Court 6-5-12: Proof Positive

What have we learned today on People's Court? A few friends are out drinking. A young woman's purse disappears. She is very fortunate that the surveillance tapes show someone picking up the purse and putting it under his jacket. Even with photos with this evidence, the young man who has been identified, claims it was an innocent mistake. He was getting the purse for one of his friends. Why didn't she say it was not hers? Why, when he was arrested, he did not ask his friend for the purse back? He could not answer these questions. Also, he said he was guilty when he was arrested. An innocent person does not plead guilty. Much credit is to be given to the boyfriend. He did his research and found this person on Facebook. The young woman did not get her purse back, but did get reimbursed for the cost and everything in it since she had receipts. It is very important in court to have proof.

The second case is about a woman taking a job as a verification specialist. We learn this is to check properties to see if they are vacant. The pay is based on volume. She was not effective in the job according to the employer, so they stopped giving her work. They did owe her money, but not the amount she was asking for. She wanted them to pay for her car, cell phone, cell phone plan and a gps. She claimed she would not have made these purchases if she did not take the job. The employer never said they would reimburse her for these items. She did get paid for the work she completed. In the hallway, she says it was a good job, but did not pay enough. She knew the pay when she took the job!

The last case was sad. A dad suing his ex for overpaid child support. He found out his daughter was not going back to school and had moved into her own apartment. He checked if this was grounds to terminate support and found out it was. He went to court to have the child support order changed. It was granted and backdated to when the young woman moved out on her own. The interesting aspect of this is that the ex did not feel she had to pay the money back since she turned it over to her daughter. The daughter's parting words was that she should not have to pay it back since it was for her. Really!!! Maybe her dad would help her out if she asked him. She did not even talk to him. That is the sad part. There was no relationship between them. Maintaining a relationship with both parents is so important for a child of divorce. Once they are old enough, they can make their own decision regarding the level of the relationship with their parents. It is sad when the parents make that decision for the child.

Please comment on these situations. I would like to know what you think.

Remember: Everything you can imagine is real - Pablo Picasso

Knowing Yourself

Thank you for joining me today...
Family situations on People's Court are so interesting. Such a sad case, a mother suing her daughter. The mother believes her daughter stole her jewelry when she moved out. The daughter says she was kicked out and denies stealing the jewelry. The daughter moved back in when she was pregnant. The family is so shattered, the daughter now lives with the maternal grandmother. No one is speaking to each other. The baby will never know her grandmother. The mother is so angry, she left a text message for her daughter's friend that she hates her daughter and would not even attend the funeral of her own mom when she passes.
How do things get this bad? This family needs counseling, not court.
A woman purchases a pellet stove. The installation is done incorrectly. A fire occurs. No one is hurt, thank goodness.The contractor will not admit there were mistakes, even though it is documented. He continually interrupts the judge and is kicked out of the courtroom. What has happened to respect? He did not like that he had to "just" answer questions and could not explain his case. That is what testifying is - the judge asks, you answer.
A dog in an apartment does damage. The damage is so obvious in the pictures. The tenant continually tries to minimize it. The landlord has pictures. It is so true that a picture is worth a thousand words. The tenant does not get back her security deposit. It is very important to show that you have left the apartment in the same condition you received it. Pictures before and after are essential.
I think the family situations are so sad when they leave the courtroom and it is obvious they are not going to patch things up. This is one of these cases where it would be so nice if there was a family counselor waiting outside. Many times the judge will discuss the future of the family, pushing people in the right direction. In this case, the damage is so deep and raw, she did not even attempt it. Sometimes, there is no possibility of patching things up, People can only take so much and when you are hurt by those that you have spent your life with, it is time to let go. That is a great lesson for today - recognize when it is time to walk away.

Thought for the day:

Be true to yourself.