Family drama is often the juiciest! Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the wildest, saddest, and most entertaining cases where family members brought each other to Judge Judy Sheindlin’s courtroom.
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00:00 claim, and your counterclaim really is almost as ridiculous as your mother's claim."
00:05 Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the wildest, saddest, and
00:09 most entertaining cases where family members brought each other to judge Judy Scheindlin's
00:15 courtroom.
00:16 "She's a pot-stirrer."
00:17 "I do not!"
00:20 10.
00:21 Don't Look At Me
00:23 Plaintiff Joshua Pritchard was assaulted by his girlfriend Molly's brother-in-law over
00:28 stolen money.
00:29 "The camera was turned over, slot machine was broken into, money was gone."
00:33 In what is possibly a Judge Judy first, the guy who committed physical assault in this
00:37 case comes out looking like the sane one.
00:40 The judge usually doesn't have time for emotional litigants, but she's surprisingly delicate
00:45 with Molly, who's clearly overwhelmed.
00:47 "What's your first name?"
00:50 "Molly."
00:51 "Take a breath."
00:56 While the plaintiff had a restraining order against the defendant, it seems that he purposefully
01:00 took up a job at a location that he knew the latter frequented, probably with the purpose
01:05 of getting the defendant in trouble.
01:07 The whole thing reeks of dysfunctional family drama.
01:09 "If you were scared to go out of the house, what did you take a job for at a casino where
01:16 you knew the defendant frequented?"
01:19 When all is said and done, we're just left feeling sorry for the messy situation.
01:23 9.
01:24 Evicting Mom
01:26 Years of resentment boil over in this case.
01:28 "She said, 'After we go to Judge Judy, when we come back, I'm throwing you out on the
01:33 streets and I'm selling the house.'"
01:35 An elderly woman sues her daughter over an unreturned loan and a trailer home.
01:39 The daughter comes with a tale about her mother's attempts to cheat the government and that
01:43 the loan was actually a gift.
01:45 The daughter refuses to sign an order that would keep her from evicting her mother, losing
01:49 the sympathy of the audience and the judge.
01:51 "That's either I am prepared to sign it or I'm not."
01:54 "I'm not."
01:56 "No, you're not."
01:58 "Yeah, that's what I told you."
02:00 It appears that she wants to have her cake and eat it too by owning the trailer, but
02:04 not wanting her mother to have secure housing.
02:07 No one is interested in her sob stories.
02:09 "When she had given me this trailer, my mother has not been in my life."
02:12 "Just a second.
02:13 I'm not interested in your sob stories."
02:15 By the end of the case, the judge has shamed her into signing an order to secure her mother's
02:20 residence in the trailer.
02:22 8.
02:23 Open Door Policy
02:24 We all go through some tough times.
02:26 Sometimes you gotta move back home with mom.
02:28 It usually doesn't end in a restraining order, though.
02:30 "So we didn't get evicted.
02:32 You left on your own?"
02:33 "No."
02:34 "How did you leave?"
02:35 "There was a false restraining order on us."
02:37 Once Judge Judy starts getting straight answers out of these slightly uncooperative plaintiffs,
02:42 she hears their case against the man's mother and stepfather.
02:45 It starts to sound more like a dispute between a teenage boy and his parents than a grown
02:50 man.
02:51 "She tore off the hinges because she tried to collect $100 weekly instead of monthly.
02:56 You just told me that the rent was $100 a week."
02:59 "That's right, yeah."
03:00 Apparently, at one point, the mother "harassed" them over things like paying rent and helping
03:05 with errands.
03:07 The judge doesn't even need the parents to say a word.
03:10 She's got less sympathy than usual, and that's a low bar.
03:13 "Case is dismissed.
03:14 We're done."
03:15 "No, please, can I-" "We're done!"
03:18 7.
03:19 We Are Family
03:20 Well, kind of.
03:22 Family dynamics can be difficult to navigate.
03:24 They can be especially complicated when you don't know if someone is your nephew, cousin,
03:29 or your best friend's son.
03:31 "I think he's the third cousin."
03:32 "So it's not a relationship that's actually-" "But we're closer than that.
03:37 We are a family."
03:38 "Fine.
03:39 I just like to keep things straight."
03:40 Judge Judy likes to keep things as legal and formal as possible.
03:44 So when the plaintiff starts things off in this case by confusing the judge with her
03:48 relationship to her witness, we can already tell this one's gonna be a headache.
03:52 "I like to know-" "What the relationship is."
03:54 "What the relationship is, especially when you swear that he's your nephew.
03:59 Now he's your best friend's son."
04:01 A nasty custody battle and a "who paid for what" line of thinking lead to disagreements
04:07 about who owes the plaintiff rent.
04:09 It's so satisfying to watch the judge's verbal smackdown on the plaintiff's nephew-cousin.
04:14 "I like orders for miniards.
04:17 I unload trucks.
04:18 I paint houses.
04:19 I pour concrete."
04:20 "You do everything except pay child support."
04:22 6.
04:24 This is not like a kitten
04:26 Technically, it's a property damage case.
04:29 "Your stepdaughter, your daughter caused some damage to both the house and later to
04:34 a car."
04:35 "Yes."
04:36 However, the family drama at the center of this case is what makes it memorable.
04:39 When Valencia Carroll asks her mother to take in her friend's baby, her stepfather clearly
04:44 gave her an answer she didn't want to hear.
04:47 "Your stepfather, according to you, came in and said, 'What are you trying to do?
04:52 You want us to take this baby so that you and your friends could go out partying and
04:58 having a good time?'"
04:59 The defendant's elaborate story about how a TV and a car was damaged makes about as
05:03 much sense as her logic behind trying to hand her mom full-time care of a baby.
05:09 It's clear she lost her cool, and just didn't want to hear the word "no."
05:13 "It's not like you're pointing off a kitten, you know.
05:16 This is not a kitten."
05:17 "It's not a kitten."
05:18 "It's a bird."
05:19 "Or a bird."
05:20 5.
05:21 Childhood Savings
05:22 "My father, I believe, decided it's probably safer to put the money in the bank."
05:25 Having earned money as a teenager and placed it in a savings account, the now-grown plaintiff
05:30 decided to cash out and put the funds towards buying a house with her new husband.
05:35 Lo and behold, she comes to find out that the account has been closed seven years before,
05:40 and the money was nowhere to be found.
05:42 "Yeah, when I started looking for it and the bank said that they didn't have any information,
05:45 I thought it was strange.
05:47 I thought that the bank was trying to cheat me or something, and that's when I started
05:50 asking for some help."
05:52 She suspects her mother of fault, as she was the only other person listed on the account.
05:56 Even if she is innocent, and it was a bank error, her mother doesn't even seem bothered
06:01 that her daughter's money is gone.
06:03 She just keeps repeating, "I don't remember."
06:05 "Your Honor, I really don't remember if I closed the account or not.
06:08 I mean, if I did, it was because she asked me to."
06:10 "No, no, no, that's not what I'm asking you."
06:12 Whatever the case may be, the evidence, unfortunately, just isn't there.
06:17 4.
06:18 She's a Pot-Stirrer
06:20 It's like a sitcom plot gone wrong.
06:23 Plaintiff Patricia Reinante's incessant correcting, speaking out of turn, and outbursts don't
06:29 endear her to anyone in the room, let alone the judge.
06:32 "She's too involved in your business."
06:34 "No, I'm not.
06:35 She drags me into the business."
06:36 "Hey, listen to me.
06:37 Listen to me.
06:38 Listen to me.
06:39 I didn't ask you a question."
06:40 She truly is the epitome of a difficult mother-in-law.
06:44 Whether she wants it or not, drama just seems to follow her.
06:47 She is unable to hear anything she disagrees with, and she has decided her right to see
06:52 her granddaughter trumps a restraining order.
06:55 "And she said, 'I have a fully, a restraining order, can get rid of her.'"
06:59 "Absolutely right."
07:00 "So I was asked to, and I get that."
07:01 "Absolutely right."
07:02 "I understand, and I knew that was gonna happen."
07:03 Judge Judy doesn't necessarily agree with Reinante's take on the law.
07:07 She skewers the plaintiff for the entire audience, pointing out that she is the problem in the
07:11 whole situation.
07:13 Reinante, true to form, disagrees.
07:15 "And if it's not good for you to be around a grandparent, for whatever reason, either
07:20 because they're a pot-stirrer."
07:21 "Not a pot-stirrer."
07:22 3.
07:23 Don't speak
07:25 A death in the family can be incredibly stressful, especially when money is involved.
07:30 "It was irritating, but not for the reasons you say.
07:32 It was not monetarily driven.
07:33 I care for my sister."
07:34 "I understand."
07:35 "It was a surprise.
07:36 It was a surprise."
07:37 "It was a surprise."
07:38 Upon his sister's death, the hot-headed plaintiff was shocked when she left all of her money
07:43 to their cousin.
07:44 Although the plaintiff insists the case is not about the money, the judge cuts right
07:48 through that idea.
07:50 "As a relative, don't think that you're getting the appropriate love from the deceased by
07:55 way of monetary reward.
07:58 It's irritating."
07:59 It's not her first rodeo, after all.
08:00 And let's just say, this irritates him.
08:03 He can barely keep from blurting out responses throughout the case.
08:06 "Can you ask what date that was filed?"
08:08 "Shh!
08:09 Okay."
08:10 But the judge takes mercy on him when she realizes the cousin might not exactly have
08:14 clean hands regarding property damage and insurance payout.
08:18 You know it's a messy case when someone who has to be told several times not to speak
08:23 still walks away a winner.
08:25 2.
08:26 I'm suing my mother
08:28 There are a lot of unhealed wounds in this case.
08:30 "And it is your claim that she had you falsely arrested a little over a year ago for both
08:35 stealing her property and for assaulting your sister."
08:38 Plaintiff Glenn Hazleton's lawsuit against his mother for false arrest is ultimately
08:43 unfounded.
08:44 But his behavior in court, and his mother's downcast demeanor, make this one hard to swallow.
08:50 From storming out after being asked about his arrest record, to his slightly impaired
08:54 speech, Hazleton has a hard time communicating with the judge.
08:58 "Excuse me, your honor."
08:59 "Let me first say this."
09:01 "I asked you a question Mr. Hazleton."
09:03 "No I was not high.
09:04 No I was not high, no I was not on no drugs."
09:06 Meanwhile, his mother is forced to tell how her late daughter was assaulted by the plaintiff
09:11 when he attempted to steal her TV.
09:13 The way his mother is positioned facing away from him the entire time makes this one horribly
09:18 sad.
09:19 "She said she came home in an ice pack, but there's no bruises or marks on her.
09:23 I hit her three times.
09:24 It's all a lie."
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09:40 1.
09:42 Rigor Mortis Stew
09:43 Family disputes on court shows are usually a bit more dramatic and a lot less hilarious
09:49 than Detenheim vs. Detenheim.
09:51 "I know defense is you should have had better insurance.
09:53 Is that your defense?"
09:55 "I thought she had full coverage."
09:58 Plaintiff Eve Detenheim sued her sister Carol for damages to her car, resulting from a collision
10:03 with a deer.
10:04 Carol had a pretty novel way of making amends.
10:07 "Waiting for what later?"
10:08 "The deer."
10:09 "What'd you do with it?"
10:11 "Ate it."
10:13 She cooked the dead deer, then offered some meat to her sister.
10:17 This one has some of the best quotes in the history of the show, or possibly in the history
10:22 of any legal case.
10:23 "She'll do stuff like rev up her engine in the morning trying to wake up my son and
10:26 stuff, trying to make my life hard.
10:28 It's become an issue.
10:29 It's like the Hatfield-McCoys or something."
10:31 From the plaintiff's amazing refusal to eat her sister's "rigor mortis" stew, to the
10:36 judge asking who the defendant relies on to do her thinking for her.
10:40 This is classic Judge Judy.
10:43 What are some memorable Judge Judy family disputes that we forgot?
10:47 Lodge your complaints in the comments.
10:49 "This is your family!
10:52 These two children are your family, you made them!"
10:55 "Fool."
10:56 Do you agree with our picks?
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