People's Court Blog-10 10 2012-Wednesday

Valeria And The Order Of Protection

Valeria is suing Ralph and Kristine for $5000.00. This is for the cost of a car that was left on their property. Valeria and her husband Joe were tenants of Ralph and Kristine. Joe was arrested and is in jail. Valeria was 8 1/2 months pregnant. Valeria had to move out because Kristine got an order of protection against her. So far, none of this has anything to do with the case. Why are these people in court? Valeria did not take her car when she moved out. She left it in Ralph and Kristine's driveway. The car was getting ticketed for being unregistered and then...it was gone. Where did it go? Ralph says it was towed, stolen or taken. Kristine says it was towed but has no evidence of the tow. She does have a friend that works for the city that confirmed it was towed, but did not provide any evidence for Kristine to bring to court. Wow! Such complications! Valeria has no proof   where the car is. The Judge calls a recess, makes a phone call and finds out! The city towed the car  because it was unregistered. Mystery solved! Valeria could very easily have found out where the car was and got it back. She does not get any money. Even though this case was about the car, the saddest part is that Ralph and Kristine seemed to have found a way around a long drawn out eviction process. The order of protection was instrumental in having Valeria leave the property in a very timely manner. It is never made clear if Valeria is guilty of the violence against Kristine, since this case was about the car!

Bendal And The Impressive Weight Loss

Bendal is suing his sister, Cynthea, for $5000.00. This is for a $3500.00 loan and for slander. Bendal has no proof of the loan, Cynthea says it was a gift. This is a classis case of he said she said. Usually there is some hint of the truth when both sides tell their stories. In this case, not so much. What is very clear is that these two siblings do not get along. What a shame! Family is very important. What is clear is that at some point Bendal gave Cynthea money. The amount is not even agreed upon. Bendal says it was $3500.00, Cynthea says it was $3000.00. Unfortunately there is nothing, not a text, not an e-mail, nothing to tell us whether this was a loan or a gift. What is the slander about? Well, Bendal is very proud to show the jeans from last year that he wore when he weighed over 500 lbs. He had gastric bypass and lost over 300 lbs. Very impressive. He says that Cynthea is very mean and told people he had AIDS. She denies this and once again no proof. Just one person's word against the other. How sad that these this brother and sister are not there for each other. Bendal is unable to prove his case and does not recover any of the money he is asking for. If there is any way these two siblings can mend their problems, I would hope they do and get beyond these differences!

Sade And The Book Club

Sade is suing her cousin, Kerifa, for $240.00. This is for the cost of her share of a trip to Florida. Kerifa started a book club. Sade joined it. Everyone in the book club had planned a trip to Florida. Sade gave Kerifa her share of the money for the trip, $200.00. Everything was going fine and then something very strange happened. Sade received a phone call from Kerifa's sister. She asked Sade if she could take her place on the vacation. Sade thought she as joking and said yes. Sade did not know that Kerifa was with her sister when she made the phone call. Kerifa called Sade and told her that only book club members could go on the trip and she could not give away her part of the trip. Sade told her she was only joking and was not giving it away. Kerifa told her she would give her the money back if she did not want to go. Oh my, this is a real mess! Sade did not go on the trip, Kerifa's sister did not go on the trip. Why are we here? Well. after the trip, Kerifa did not return Sade's money. She told her it was nonrefundable. You can't tell someone you are going to give their money back and then not do it. The Judge rules in favor of Sade for $200.00. The additional $40.00 she was suing for was for the court costs, that she recovers since she won the case. Once again, family is pulled apart over money. Is it really worth $200.00 to lose a relationship with a cousin? I hope these two ladies can work out their differences and resume reading books together!

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;

An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

~Winston Churchill

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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People's Court: 7-16-12

I Want To Live In Peace!

Today we meet Jane and John. They are neighbors in a 4 family townhouse. Jane and John share a common wall. They have also share a love-hate relationship. Their children have played together and they have exchanged gifts at Christmastime. Yet John complains about where Jane parks her car and when her yardwork is done. Jane consults her neighbors when she decides to relocate her trashcans. She says she is trying to keep the peace. John says she parks down the street when she should park in her own driveway. Also, John has issues when Jane's landscaper decides to spread pesticides during a barbeque. There were people and food outside and he thought it should be done at a different time. There is a tense moment in court when John finds the need to describe the landscaper as Mexican. Why does he think this is necessary? It does not endear him to anyone. This case is not about the petty squabbles these two have had through the years. It is about the siding that John decided to put on Jane's portion of the house. He had the exterior of his house renovated and extended it to include Jane's house. The additional siding makes his house look bigger than hers. She wants the siding removed and the stucco replaced on the first level and siding replaced on the second level. This is not an entirely reasonable request. According to an estimate Jane has provided, this job will cost $4000.00. The Judge says this is an overinflated estimate. The siding on the second level does not have to be replaced, it can be painted. The siding on the first level needs to be removed and the stucco replaced. The Judge rules that this should cost $1500.00. In the hallway, John says he still loves Jane and wants to get along. Jane tells us coming to court is not about the money. She wants to live in peace. I do hope they can work out their differences. Living so close to someone is a delicate situation. When you do not get along, it can create so much tension. Everyone should feel comfortable in their own home. 

It Is Time To Put On Your Big Girl Panties!

Jessica and her Aunt Genese are in court suing Chanelle. Chanelle is Jessica's friend. Jessica received a very large amount of money on her food stamp card. She offered the card to Chanelle, but did not specify how much she could use. When Chanelle returned the card with no money left on it, Aunt Genese was upset. Jessica did not care. Jessica does not seem to worry about anything. She is smiling and happy and does not want to sue Chanelle. Her aunt has no legal right to sue. Genese tells us that Chanelle promised to pay back part of the money. Chanelle admits this and then adds that Jessica told her she did not have to pay anything. So she decided not to give Genese any money. Genese is not happy about any of this. She wanted Jessica's food stamp money. It seems everyone wants the food stamp money except Jessica. The Judge tells Jessica it is time to put on her big girl panties. I do not think Jessica understands that the Judge is telling  her to grow up. She needs to take responsibility for what is going on around her. She has a two year old son and needs to be a good parent. The Judge tells Genese she has no right to sue and since Jessica is not pursuing a case against Chanelle, the case is dismissed. Also, Chanelle has a counterclaim against Genese for harassment. This is dismissed also.  Genese was not harassing Chanelle by asking for money that was promised. Aunt Genese did not know that Jessica told Chanelle not to give her any money.  In the hallway, Aunt Genese says Jessica will learn from this. I hope she does learn and realize that her actions have consequences. She needs to provide for herself and her son. Chanelle tells us that she does not have hard feelings towards Jessica. Why would she? Jessica did not even want to be here!

Tow The Car To My House!

Dwight was in a car accident and needed his vehicle towed. He wants everyone to believe the car was to be towed to his house. The tow/repair company towed the car to their yard. An insurance adjuster needed to  see the car. When they find out the insurance company is not going to cover the cost, they bill the owner for the tow and storage fees. Dwight claims he wanted the car back right way. Why does he wait a month to get the car? When he goes to get the car, the bill is over $1,000.00. By the second month, the bill is over $3000.00. The Judge tries to find out why Dwight waited so long. He keeps saying the same thing - I wanted the car towed to my house. Okay, we get it, unfortunately, the car was not brought to his house. Why did Dwight wait so long to get it back? There were delays by the insurance adjuster, there was snow during the winter. Are these reasons to wait a month and then call the police? There is never a clear answer about the timing. We are very clear that Dwight says he wanted the car towed to his house. He did not sign a release at the scene of the accident authorizing the car to go to the tow/repair company's yard. Although, it does make sense that a car that is totaled is not left in a private driveway. Dwight can not prove the repair company did anything wrong. He is responsible to pay the tow and storage bill. The good news for Dwight is that it is not the amount the tow company is asking for. He is found responsible to pay $580.00, not the $3000.00 plus that the tow company is asking for. He also is going to get his car back. I hope this is what he really wants! You know what they say, be careful what you ask for, you might get it! In the hallway, the manager of the repair company does not understand why they did not get paid for the entire time they had the vehicle. The Judge explained it in detail. Yet another person who is not listening in court. There are rules and the Judge is there to enforce them.

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