These "People's Court" cases were like a revolving door of justice. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the times when litigants on “The People’s Court” made the judge’s decision very easy and very quick.
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00:00 You are a miserable friend and a terrible auntie and godmother to her child."
00:05 Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the times when litigants
00:08 on the People's Court made the judge's decision very easy and very quick.
00:13 "That was the ones, the social services.
00:16 And this one says 11, what are you people doing?"
00:19 10.
00:20 Uninhabitable conditions
00:22 This plaintiff went in, initially wanting to sue his former landlord for a security
00:26 deposit and eight months of rent.
00:28 "So at some point after living there for how long do you find out it's illegal?"
00:32 "Um, we found out around July, I believe.
00:36 I have the notice here."
00:38 While he later relinquished his suit for the return of rent, he still felt that he was
00:41 owed his security deposit.
00:43 Well, Judge Millian agreed, and in fact, she awarded him one month of rent on top of that.
00:48 And rightfully so.
00:50 The conditions of the basement this man was living in were, put simply, disgusting.
00:54 "That's all she did.
00:56 She did this to every tenant.
00:57 She overcrowded the house.
00:59 She made rooms out of no rooms.
01:00 She turned the dining room and the kitchen into rooms.
01:04 I woke up with feces in my shower."
01:06 "Oh, because it backed up?"
01:08 "Yeah."
01:09 The defendant told lie after lie, even when indisputable evidence was presented against
01:13 her.
01:14 And her blase, almost sleepy demeanor, even when the judge verbally destroyed her, is
01:19 kind of eerie to watch.
01:21 "Because you look like a slumlord right now.
01:24 Like a vicious, illegal slumlord.
01:28 Because you're not only renting this place out, but you're renting it out in that condition."
01:33 While evidence triumphs all, her attitude certainly didn't do her any favours.
01:38 9.
01:40 Suing the wrong person
01:41 The absolute baseline for winning a court case is, obviously, suing the right person.
01:47 Detective Solange Fletcher has filed a complaint against a former landlord over an unreturned
01:52 security deposit.
01:53 "Ms. Fletcher, you're suing Ms. Blizzard?
01:55 You're Ms. Blizzard, right?"
01:56 "Yes."
01:57 "For $575, half of a security deposit that you say she inappropriately returned to your
02:04 ex-roommate."
02:06 The problem is, the defendant did return the deposit to Fletcher's roommate, who originally
02:10 paid it.
02:11 This landlord seems exceptionally kind, especially seeing as she let the two out of their lease
02:16 early.
02:17 "And you let them out of the lease?"
02:19 "Yes."
02:20 "That was nice of you."
02:21 "There was no reason to keep them if they weren't happy there."
02:23 "Wow, let's bottle you and spread you around, honey."
02:27 The judge is sympathetic, but if anyone is liable for the money in question, it might
02:31 be the plaintiff's ex-roommate, who also happened to be the grandmother of her child.
02:35 "You may have a cause of action against her.
02:38 So in other words, you may have a lawsuit against the grandmother of your child, but
02:41 I don't have that lawsuit in front of me.
02:43 Because you're not suing her, you're only suing her.
02:45 In this case, today, in front of me, verdict for the defendant."
02:47 That's a story that must have continued outside Judge Millian's courtroom.
02:52 8.
02:54 Additional Charge Some litigants have a pretty broad, and also
02:57 wrong, idea of what a deposit is.
03:00 The plaintiff initially got in contact with the defendant, a contractor, with plans to
03:04 build an addition on his house.
03:07 "I called him when he was working on my neighbor's house.
03:10 I told him I have a plan to add the extension, two bedrooms, two baths, and a kitchen."
03:17 While the first estimate was free, the plaintiff kept moving the goalposts for the project.
03:22 And this required multiple estimates.
03:24 So, in order to compensate the contractor for his time, the plaintiff paid him a deposit
03:29 of $500.
03:30 "I told him, 'At this point, I need to be compensated for my time.
03:34 I don't mind giving you additional estimates.'
03:36 He said, 'No problem, I'll give you a check for $500.'
03:38 I did not ask for a specific amount.
03:41 I said, 'Okay, I agree to that.'"
03:43 When it later turned out that the plaintiff would not be hiring the defendant after all,
03:47 he asked for his deposit back.
03:49 The judge took the opportunity to offer everyone a lesson in the legality of deposits.
03:53 "The idea behind a deposit is that you are compensating the person for something.
03:59 They're taking themselves off the market by giving you time.
04:02 They're taking an apartment off the market because you've asked them to.
04:05 So no, I find that the deposit is not refundable."
04:07 If a professional charging you for their time is criminal, then we all have a case.
04:13 7.
04:14 Making a Mountain Out of a Mole
04:16 During a hair-threading session at a salon, the plaintiff alleges the salon employee removed
04:21 a mole from her face.
04:23 So she's suing for $5,000.
04:25 "You are suing Pretty Jane for $5,000 that you say she owes you because she accidentally
04:33 threaded a mole of yours while she was threading your upper lip."
04:37 It's a dramatic reaction to say the least.
04:40 There's some debate over whether it really was a mole or a skin tag, and the judge also
04:44 points out that the lack of urgency on the plaintiff's part to seek medical help if she
04:48 really thought she'd sustained a personal injury.
04:51 "Ok, what was the date of this event?"
04:54 "April 28th."
04:55 "What was the date you went to the doctor?"
04:57 "I went this past Saturday."
04:59 "You mean right before coming to court?"
05:02 "Yes."
05:03 All this resulted in Judge Millian siding with the defense.
05:06 In fact, she went so far as to accuse the plaintiff of trying to simply make some money
05:10 off of the whole incident.
05:12 "This is not a reason for a judge to look at her and say, 'Hand over $5,000, lady.'
05:19 I'm not gonna do it.
05:20 Verdict for the defendant."
05:21 6.
05:22 $3 Pizza Slice
05:24 Sometimes, people take a little too much stock in the phrase, "The customer is always right."
05:30 Our next pick goes all the way back to Judge Wapner's tenure on the original iteration
05:35 of the People's Court.
05:36 "You're asking for a refund of some money you paid for a pizza.
05:39 You claim you didn't get the right kind of pizza?"
05:41 "Yes, I am."
05:42 A man sues a pizza shop for not having the thick pizza slices they advertised.
05:47 His blank expression and calm, collected demeanor didn't change, not even when the judge awarded
05:52 him his $3.
05:53 "It's a matter of principle and legality.
05:55 I felt that I was in the right.
05:57 I wasn't rude.
05:58 I'm a very serious person, especially when it comes to legal facts."
06:01 It seems no one came out of this one a loser.
06:04 The defendants are suspiciously prepared to give a televised pitch for their pizza restaurant,
06:09 but maybe it's just a case of grabbing opportunities when they're in front of you.
06:13 "When this man ordered his pizza, that chicken was cut specifically for him, for that one
06:19 slice.
06:21 It was made, it was given to him, and it was fresh and it was beautiful."
06:24 They even brought a box of one of their contentious pizzas as evidence.
06:28 5.
06:30 Deposit Drama
06:31 Yet another case where the litigants seem shaky on the way deposits work.
06:35 Half a day after putting down a deposit for a room, the plaintiff's circumstances changed
06:40 and she asks for a return.
06:41 "You didn't move in, but did you sign anything?
06:44 Did you hand over a deposit?
06:47 How much of a deposit did you hand over?
06:49 $700.
06:50 What was the purpose of handing over the deposit?
06:51 You told him I'll take it?
06:52 I told him that I want him to hold it so I could decide if I could afford it.
06:58 Your story's very different than that."
06:59 The problem is that deposits are typically non-refundable, unless otherwise stated, and
07:04 the plaintiff didn't ask any questions about it.
07:06 Though she had a story we can sympathize with about how her boss couldn't come through with
07:10 more hours, the law is the law.
07:13 "You think the default position is, 'Hey, it doesn't say non-refundable.'
07:18 But that's not the default position.
07:20 The default position is that it's non-refundable.
07:22 If you want it to be refundable, you sure as heck better have that on the receipt."
07:26 It was such an obvious outcome that the defendant barely had to defend himself.
07:32 Judge Millian once again delivers a life lesson about renting, deposits, and sticking to your
07:36 commitments.
07:37 "You hand over a deposit, you better be sure.
07:42 Because deposits are non-refundable."
07:43 4.
07:44 You're a miserable friend
07:46 "You are a miserable friend and a terrible auntie and godmother to her child."
07:51 It's not the first friendship we've seen flame out in Judge Millian's courtroom, but it's
07:55 one of the most vicious, and also one of the most clear-cut from the judge's perspective.
08:01 Two former friends, one the godmother of the other's child, reunite after falling out.
08:06 "You don't talk to her for six years and what happens?"
08:08 "And we, I guess we decided to talk again.
08:11 I think I inboxed her, she inboxed me on Facebook, maybe three years after the fact.
08:16 And we tried to just, you know, be cool again, you know, for the kids."
08:20 Unfortunately, the defendant pulls a fast one with a contested PayPal payment and pockets
08:24 her friend's money.
08:25 When the defendant says she can't access her PayPal, it's pretty clear exactly what happened
08:30 here.
08:31 "Right now as we're talking, you can't access your PayPal account?"
08:34 "I can't log into it because I don't know the PIN.
08:36 Yeah, I tried to get a new PIN, but it was a whole bunch."
08:39 "Oh, and you got sued and you haven't bothered to get a new PIN so that we can access your
08:44 account and figure out what on earth is going on?"
08:46 Judge Millian is ruthless in this case and asks the defendant to try logging into her
08:50 account all the same.
08:52 When the account is successfully accessed, the defendant's guilt is indisputable.
08:56 "Oh, look at that, July 3rd, cancelled.
08:59 Nicole Carter.
09:00 How did that happen?"
09:01 "I never cancelled it.
09:02 PayPal must have cancelled it."
09:04 And Judge Millian once again rips a liar to shreds.
09:07 "I am looking not only at her end where they say that you pulled the money back, I am looking
09:12 at your end where I see that you pulled the money back.
09:15 So if it's some big mistake, all you had to do to not look like a complete jerk right
09:20 now is fix the mistake."
09:22 Number 3.
09:23 No bail
09:24 When you're in a jam, who can you depend on if not a friend?
09:28 The plaintiff, Siobhan Wilson, gave the defendant Cameo Crepp her bank card and PIN to bail
09:34 her out of jail.
09:35 "The defendant and the neighbor came up and they said, 'What's going on?'
09:38 So I told my neighbor to take my bank card, my baby, and my car keys, go to the bank and
09:44 bail, get 700 and come down and bail me out."
09:46 Once the bail money was released, Ms. Crepps kept it, asking the judge, "Who does anything
09:52 for free?"
09:53 Well, that's not how it works.
09:55 "And it doesn't belong to you, it belongs to her."
09:57 "Yes, not all of it."
09:58 "Why not all of it?"
09:59 "Because who does anything for free?
10:01 I had to bail her out.
10:02 I had to drive with no license and on top of it, she was telling the court that I was
10:06 going to steal her money before she even got it."
10:08 While the defendant did do the plaintiff a favor, no prior agreement for payment was
10:12 ever decided on.
10:13 The defendant's greed and personal feelings got involved, and none of what she said is
10:18 even close to being a legitimate legal defense.
10:21 It made things awfully clear to the judge.
10:23 "You know why she was calling you a thief?"
10:26 "Because you are."
10:27 "Verdict for the plaintiff, $700."
10:29 The defendant not only admitted to what she did, she went so far as to gloat about it
10:34 too.
10:35 2.
10:36 A Model Litigant
10:38 The plaintiff in this case insisted a few small cuts she sustained during a nail salon
10:42 visit was damaging enough to her modeling career that she was entitled to nearly $10,000.
10:48 "For $9,932 that you want paid to you because they injured you doing a manicure."
10:55 "Yes."
10:56 The faces in the crowd said it all.
10:58 It became pretty clear that though it was the plaintiff's mother who was driving the
11:02 ship and her constant attempts to coach her daughter's answers didn't sit well with the
11:07 judge.
11:08 "If you coach your daughter once more, I'm going to remove you from the room.
11:12 You just told her to say yes.
11:15 You are going to have to exercise self-control or I'm going to remove you if you coach her
11:18 one more time.
11:19 Do we understand each other?"
11:22 Without any concrete evidence, the model and her mother were quickly schooled in the law,
11:26 though the judge did award them the price of the manicure in damages for the cuts.
11:30 "But this is nonsense.
11:32 There's no proof of that kind of damages and I'm not going to award it to them.
11:35 But I'm going to tell you to return the $32 because if you cut her, she should get her
11:39 money back."
11:40 This kind of smug behavior is a clear-cut example of what not to do if you're trying
11:44 to get a judge to award you a ridiculous amount of money.
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12:04 1.
12:06 Get out of my courtroom
12:08 After causing a car accident in which both cars sustained significant damage, the defendant
12:12 was caught in several contradictions.
12:15 "Did the police give her the ticket for running?
12:16 Because what you're saying is she ran a red light."
12:18 "She did run a red light."
12:19 "Ok, who got the tickets?"
12:20 "I got a citation because I didn't have insurance."
12:22 "Did you get a citation for not yielding the right of way?"
12:25 "Yeah, I did."
12:26 "How can you get the citation for not yielding the right of way if she is the one who didn't
12:30 yield the right of way?"
12:31 It didn't help her case that the plaintiff was one of the most well-prepared litigants
12:35 in the show's history.
12:37 It was hard to see how she would have stood a chance from the beginning.
12:41 But when she started tripping over herself and spewing outrageous allegations, it was
12:46 over.
12:47 "I'm asking you, why didn't she want police?"
12:49 "She looked very much either she was drunk or she was on something else."
12:53 "Why didn't they give her a citation?"
12:55 "I have no idea."
12:56 "Did the police just have it in for you?"
12:58 "I can't, you know, I don't even know."
13:01 It also helped that the police report backed up the plaintiff's story.
13:04 While Judge Millian is not as quick to throw out a case as some other TV judges, this one
13:09 riled her up enough that she made her decision fairly quickly.
13:13 Though, not before throwing the defendant out of the courtroom for committing perjury.
13:17 "Get out of my courtroom, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out,
13:21 just get out, get out, get out."
13:23 "I didn't even know that that was a dress."
13:24 "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."
13:25 The secondhand embarrassment is so real.
13:28 Which of these litigants had you wanting to bring the gavel down?
13:32 Render a judgement in the comments.
13:34 "If you and your husband have too many accidents to do this kind of deal, don't!
13:40 Verdict for the defendant."
13:42 Do you agree with our picks?
13:43 Check out this other recent clip from MsMojo.
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