People's Court Blog - 10 19 2012 - Friday

October Challenge Check-up: I seem to have set my goals too high. This week has not been a success for the challenge. This is okay. We have to allow ourselves a setback. It is not a failure if you are trying. The success is in the effort. I will continue to strive to meet my goal of posting the blog the day the show is aired. Continuing to reach for my goal is the challenge that I have set for myself. Hopefully you have met your goal that you set for this month or are getting close. If not, keep on trying!

Friends Fighting
Regina is suing Tamika for $5000.00.

Regina and Tamika were friends. Regina knew Tamika's mom for 25 years, When Tamika moved back home, Regina befriended her. These two women went out together, clubbing. They went out for Tamika's birthday, although it was a week early. Tamika celebrates a birthday week! When the club closed at 2:00 am, Tamika did not want to leave. Regina says that at the end of the evening Tamika drank two Long Island Iced Teas before they left. One of them was for Regina and she was the driver! Both of these women sounded unfit for driving. While Regina was driving home, Tamika tried to stop her. As Regina tried to pull over she thinks she hit something, a car? the guardrail? She does not know. Thank goodness it was not a person! Regina says she pulled over and Tamika pulled her hair and hit her head into the steering wheel. Tamika says Regina was upset because she was flirting with someone that Regina liked. She claims Regina ripped her pink leather jacket and hit her several times. Regina has pictures of her injuries and can prove that her hair weave was pulled out. The Judge finds in her favor for $1000.00, for her hair weave and personal injury. She cannot prove the damage to her car. What a shame that a friendship has to end this way! Tamika is not setting a very good example for her her children, ages 20, 17, 10 and 4. Regina should find someone closer to her own age to spend time with. Both women have to stop drinking and driving - so very dangerous! What do you think?

Dog Attack

Michael is suing Ilene for $1307.91.

Michael was walking his Jack Russell Terrier, Jake. When he walked past Ilene's house, two large dogs charged at him. He heard Ilene yell to pick up his dog. He picked up Jake and tried to shield him from the two dogs. One of the dogs bit him and Jake. Ilene ran over to him and tried to get the dogs away. She fell and hit her head on the curb. Ilene really got hurt, She even cracked a rib when she fell. She remembers Michael yelling at her to get up when she fell. Wow! I know he was dealing with a lot, but really have some mercy. Ilene offered to pay for the vet bills. She gave Michael a check but he did not want it. He wanted to be reimbursed for sunglasses that he lost in the confusion of the moment and lost wages. Michael says that even though he got a paid sick day from work he wants to be paid for it. Life does not work that way. He used the sick day and that is what they are for. Ilene is found responsible to pay the vet bill of $562.00. She is fine with this, but she also got a lecture about having too many dogs. It seemed that day the reason the two dogs were running down the street was because the dogs got away from her. As Ilene was putting 2 of the dogs in the house, the third one pushed out and ran down the street with one of the leashed dogs. It does sound like Ilene had a lot going on, but she did the right thing to offer to pay the vet bill. She did not count on Michael being greedy!

Collateral Damage
Mark is suing Michael for $7000.00.

Mark loaned Michael $2000.00. Michael admits that he borrowed the money and gave Mark his climbing equipment as collateral. When he did not get a job and could not pay him back, he told Mark to sell the equipment. Mark should not have to be responsible to sell the equipment. Michael should have sold it to pay off his loan. Even though he had not paid Mark back, Mark says he paid Michael to split firewood. It really is not believable that he would give Michael $400.00 when he is owed $2000.00. It is more believable that the money was deducted from the loan. Then there is the $200.00 that Mark had advanced to Michael for a job he did not have a chance to do. After doing all of the math, Michael owes Mark $1800.00. Why was Mark suing Michael for so much money? He says he wanted to get his attention. It really does not work that way. He should have only sued him for the amount he felt he was owed. I think if he sued Michael for $2200.00 he would have noticed! What do you think?

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

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What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

~Plutarch

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?

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

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

~O. Henry

People's Court - 8 17 2012 - Friday

I Met Them In Church!

Lillian is suing Peter Gary (Lillian calls him Gary) and Theresa for $3000.00. This is for rent, a loan and damages from bedbugs. Lillian met Gary and Theresa in church. Lillian and her husband got a divorce and he moved out. Lillian wanted to help Gary and Theresa and she also needed help with her mortgage. She asked them to move in with her and her two children, ages 5 and 7. Lillian asked them to pay $400.00 a month rent. Initially, they gave her $200.00.  I do not think Lillian should have moved people into her home. It is not a good idea when you have young children. Her ex-husband did not like it either and he took the children away. He wanted Gary and Theresa to move out right away. Lillian's ex-husband did a background check on Gary and found out he had a warrant for his arrest. He did not want his children in the same house as Gary and Theresa. He felt they were a bad influence around the children. Lillian asked them to move out. They found a free house to move to. The house needed some work before they could move in. Lillian gave them back the $200.00, hoping this would get them to move out. Then, Gary and Theresa told Lillian the house needed more work, so she gave them $500.00. Lillian was paying them to move out. The next thing that happened was a bedbug infestation. Lillian had the house exterminated and it seemed the infestation originated form Gary and Theresa's room. Lillian and her present husband took the couple out to dinner and told them they needed to throw away the futon, since it was infested with bedbugs. They also told them they needed to move out. Gary and Theresa deny everything. They claim they were never asked to pay rent. They were going to help with the children and pay the utilities. They said the bedbugs did not come from their furniture. It was from used furniture Lillian brought home. Lillian said the used furniture she brought in was before Gary and Theresa moved in.  Lillian threw away their futon and then they finally moved out. They never paid her towards the utilities, they never helped with the children (the children were with their dad). So, what did they do? Well, Gary and Theresa took advantage of Lillian and had a free place to live. When they did move out, they moved into a fixer upper for free. How do people behave this way? The Judge finds that they owe Lillian 2 months rent and the $500.00 loan. They do not have to pay for the damages from the bedbugs since there is no way to prove they were responsible for the bedbugs. It is such a shame that Gary and Theresa took advantage of Lillian. Although, Lillian did allow this to happen. What was she thinking bringing strangers home to live with her and her children? What do you think?

We Were Friends For 30 Years - What Happened?

Arthur is suing his longtime friend, Kurt, for $5000.00. This is for medical bills, wages from lost work and a tree replacement. What causes two men who have been friends for 30 years part ways? We may never know because their stories are so different. Arthur claims that Kurt attacked him and broke his wrist. Kurt blocked the driveway with his camper all night. In the morning, Kurt left and Arthur was able to go to the hospital for treatment. After that incident, Arthur told Kurt to get his belongings off his property. Kurt keeps some of his belongings, machinery and equipment stored on Arthur's property. The second incident occurred when Arthur was staying at a campground. Arthur says that when Kurt removed his belongings, he cut the lock on the garage. Kurt did leave a new lock in its place. Arthur says that Kurt came to the campground to apologize to him. Kurt was intoxicated and very incoherent. When Arthur left the campground and returned to his mobile home, he heard a chainsaw. When he went to look he saw a tree cut and it was blocking the driveway. Arthur shows a picture of cut trees as evidence. Arthur explains there is more than one tree cut because he cuts trees also. Arthur says he contacted the police and tried to make several police reports but was not able to. He also was not able to get a restraining order. Why would Kurt attack Arthur? Why would he block the driveway? Arthur does not have answers to these questions. Now, it is Kurt's turn to talk. He explains that they are both on the lease for a campground property. When Kurt went to get his seasonal pass for the campground, he found out that Arthur took his name off the lease. This was corrected. Arthur told Kurt to remove his belongings from the property. Kurt removed everything and admits he had to cut the lock to get in the garage. He did leave a new lock with two keys. He denies attacking Arthur and breaking his wrist. Kurt says he heard through the grapevine that Arthur broke his wrist. Kurt denies cutting down the tree and blocking the driveway. Arthur cannot prove his case. He does not have any evidence. What a shame that a 30 year friendship ends over ...what? We really do not know what caused this to happen. Both men tell such different stories, we can only speculate about the answer. What do you think?

Please Don't Hurt Sebastian!

Sheila is suing Willie, her neighbor, for $5000.00. This is for vet bills and pain and suffering from a dog attack. Sheila explains that she and her cousin were getting ready to leave the house. While she was pulling the van out, her cousin, Vincent, had her little dog, Sebastian. Sebastian is a Maltese, a small breed of dog. Vincent explains that while he was walking Sebastian, a Rottweiller came running towards him. He pulled Sebastian up in his arms and the large dog jumped at him. Sebastian wriggled and jumped out of his arms. The Rottweiller grabbed Sebastian and was running away with him. Vincent was chasing him and then, Sheila saw what was happening. She started to chase after them to save her dog. Sheila said there were people watching, but they did not help. Finally, the Rottweiller dropped Sebastian. When Sheila picked up Sebastian, he nipped her on the finger because he was so scared. The Rottweiller started to come back and Vincent kicked him. Sheila took Sebastian to the vet for emergency care. Sheila shows pictures of Sebastian's wounds. He is lucky to have survived such a vicious attack. The neighbors told Sheila the Rottweiller was Junior's dog. Her neighbor Willie is known as Junior and he raises Rotteillers. Willie explains that he was out of state when this occurred. The police called him and told him his dog attacked another dog. Willie called his house and had them check if any of his dogs were missing. Willie says he has 4 Rottweillers, all females. 3 Rottweillers were in the kennel and one of them was not at home. Willie said the other female was not on the property. He takes his females to the male when they are ready to be bred. It does seem suspicious that one of his dogs was missing at the time of the attack. The police did catch a Rottweiller and the dog was taken to the shelter. Willie went to the shelter to identify the dog. Actually, the Animal Control Officer, wanted the dog to identify Willie. The Judge explains that a penned dog will react when they see their owner. Willie said when he stood at the pen, the dog stayed in the corner. Also, this was a male dog and his dogs are all females. Willie does admit that his dogs have gotten out of their kennel and the fenced in yard. He says this has happened several times. How do the dogs get out? Willie says his 9 year old daughter will go in the the kennel to play with the dogs and puppies and sometimes does not close the gates properly. Why would this have to happen several times before he corrects the problem? This particular incident occurred when his daughter was not home. Also, Willie is adamant that the dog was not his. Since there is no proof that the dog belonged to Willie, the Judge calls a recess to contact the Animal Control Officer. She is not able to reach the A.C.O. and makes an interim ruling. At this time, she rules in favor of Willie. The Judge is very clear that she will go to him personally and "slam" him if she finds out he owned the dog. Sheila cannot prove the dog that attacked Sebastian belonged to Willie. It is a shame that no one is held responsible for what happened to Sebastian and to Sheila. They went through a horrible experience. The story does not end there, no one claimed the Rottweiller and he was put to sleep. Someone owned this dog and this is inexcusable to have allowed this to happen. What do you think?

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

We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different,  yet the same.

-Anne Frank

People's Court - 8 10 2012 - Friday

I Want My Money Back Now!

Diane and Constance were good friends. Once again, money gets in the way of a friendship. When are we going to learn that friendship and money do not mix? Diane is suing Constance for $390.00. Diane tries to explain how she came up with $390.00. There is money lent for a plane ticket, there was money given to return to a family member. It is somewhat convoluted how much money was lent and how much money was returned. No one has written anything down, no one has kept track of the money. Diane would lend her friend money and a portion of the money would be returned. Then she would lend her more money. Constance says they were such good friends they would lend each other money all the time. What went wrong? Diane wanted her money back and did not want to wait. Diane left several voicemail messages for Constance. They were not very nice messages. Since they were in a different language, the Judge gets help from someone in the gallery. The Judge swears in a fifteen year old, after he agrees to translate the voicemail messages. He explains that there is cursing and demands of the return of money. What is not included is the amount of money that is owed. Constance says she accidentally erased the message that mentioned the amount of the loan. This is very convenient. Constance said she returned $90.00. She said she gave a check to a friend to give to Diane. It is funny, Constance has not mentioned this in her written response to the complaint. Constance has not made any other attempt to pay the money back. Neither woman is very credible in their testimony. Considering how much money Diane said has been returned to her, the Judge awards her $270, not the $390.00, she is asking for. I am constantly amazed how people allow their friendships to be destroyed over money. Friends should not lend each other money. When money is involved, people seem to forget the value of their friendship. They also find it very easy to be cruel to each other.  It really is a shame that this friendship is over due to money. What do you think?

The Roof  Is Leaking- I Want My Money Back!

Tynesa is suing Donna for $200.00. Tynesa wanted to rent a house from Donna. They agreed to meet at the house on Friday. They met at the house and did a walkthrough. Tynesa signed a lease and gave Donna the money for the deposit to hold the house. This actually was a partial deposit. Tynesa was supposed to give the rest of the deposit in a few days. After Tynesa signed the lease, she changed her mind about the rental. Tynesa says it is because she saw the roof was leaking and the floors were unclean. Donna told Tynesa she would fix everything before she moved in. Tynesa says that Donna told her she would only fix what was required by HUD. This was a government subsidized rental. Tynesa's son has asthma and she did not want him to be exposed to mold. It is interesting she did not see any of these problems before she signed the lease. Tynesa asked Donna for the deposit back. When she refused to return it to her, Tynesa called the police. Tynesa said this all happened on Friday. Donna says this is not how it happened. They met on Friday and then again on Monday. She said Tynesa had called her on Monday to say she changed her mind and wanted her deposit back. Donna explained it was a nonrefundable deposit. She had a signed lease and was not going to return the money. Also, on Monday, Donna received a call from someone who wanted to rent the house. She went to the house and Tynesa was there with a man. Donna says they both demanded Tynesa's money back and were yelling at her. Donna called the police. Tynesa denies this. The Judge gives her a chance to change her testimony. She is adamant that she was there on Friday and not on Monday. The Judge calls a recess to contact the  police department. The Judge returns and now we find out that Tynesa lied. The police were called to the house on Monday. Donna does not have to give back the deposit. Why would Tynesa lie? Did she think it would really help her get her deposit money back? What do you think?

Hurricane Irene Strikes Again!

Sylvia is suing Tanya for $800.00. This is for a shed that was damaged during Hurricane Irene. A tree limb from one of Tanya's trees fell on the roof of the shed. When Sylvia saw the damage, she had her landscaper speak with Tanya. The landscaper was going to charge $75.00 or $80.00 (depends on who is telling the story) to remove it. Tanya said this was too expensive. The landscaper offered to take it off the shed and throw it in Tanya's yard for $20.00. Tanya declined this offer also. Sylvia and her son went over to talk to Tanya at a different time. Tanya said she would deal with it on Saturday. When it was not done on Saturday, Sylvia called her. Tanya said she would deal with it on Wednesday. It was not done by Wednesday, and it is still not done. Tanya explains that she called a tree removal service and they were backlogged because of the storm. There was some laughter on the courtroom, when the Judge thought she was saying a tree boo boo company. This really was cute. Tanya said she is still waiting for them to show up. Sylvia did not want to wait and filed this lawsuit. The kicker is that legally Tanya is not responsible to remove the limb from the shed. The tree was not dead, dying or diseased. The limb broke off the tree during the Hurricane and it is considered an act of God. Sylvia wants a new shed, although Tanya says that Sylvia said she did not care about the shed. Sylvia denies saying this. She wants Tanya to replace her shed. This is not going to happen because the Judge rules in favor of Tanya. It is unfortunate that Sylvia was not more patient. If she was, Tanya would have had the tree limb removed from the shed. In the hallway, Tanya says she is still going to have  the tree limb removed from the shed. Do you think she is really going to do this?

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

You are young at any age if you are planning for tomorrow.

-Unknown