Top 10 The People's Court Cases That Escalated Quickly
That escalated quickly. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the outrageous “People’s Court” cases that had us clutching our pearls from the start.
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00:00 You have got to be kidding me. You turn around and... I mean it. If you say another word,
00:05 I'm going to throw you out. Don't say another word.
00:08 Welcome to Ms Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the outrageous People's Court cases
00:13 that had us clutching our pearls from the start.
00:16 You thought she was somebody else who apparently also got bit by your dog.
00:21 Right.
00:21 Number 10. Friends fall out. These former friends ended up in the People's Court over
00:27 a number of disputes, including some about money, a ransacked home, and missing medication.
00:33 She kept saying, "Well, I was going to pay for it. I was going to pay for it." And I'm telling her,
00:36 "You should have told me about what was going on."
00:39 Other causes for tension are a little more personal but oh-so-entertaining.
00:43 There's clearly enough drama for six seasons and a movie here. Even the plaintiff couldn't
00:48 keep it together through the opening voiceover.
00:50 "My friend or no friend, the woman owes her money.
00:53 She broke the windows in her Land Rover, stole her medications from her house, and took her wig
00:58 and wore it around town. And she's here suing for the $5,000 she's most definitely owed."
01:04 How these two came to be friends, how they fell out, and the petty shots they throw at each other,
01:09 despite being in a courtroom, are more interesting than the case itself.
01:13 Judge Millian, we need a sequel.
01:15 "We love each other, but we argue constantly because she has a very bad mouth.
01:20 That mouth of hers is so vicious, you want to pound her head in somewhere."
01:24 Number 9. Viral Prom Dress
01:27 Two weeks before prom is not the best time to commission a dress,
01:30 but the defendant knew there was a deadline and accepted the commission.
01:33 "I was like, 'This is not going to work for me.'"
01:35 "Okay, so what'd you do?"
01:37 "So, I sent pictures to my best friend, but I told her not to show anybody because I was scared
01:44 that my mom was going to yell at me."
01:45 "Are you starting to figure out why your mother may be right about things that she said?"
01:49 This case went from zero to a hundred when it turned out that the plaintiff's
01:53 mother posted pictures of her in the unfinished dress,
01:56 and it immediately became a laughingstock online.
01:59 Everyone from Wendy Williams to Good Morning America,
02:02 to people in Greece were dunking on this dress.
02:04 "Well, the dress went viral."
02:06 "It went viral?"
02:08 "It was on Wendy Williams' show."
02:09 "Get out of Wendy, I love you."
02:13 "It was on Instagram, the shade room. It made it to Good Morning America."
02:16 "Good Morning America?"
02:18 "White people, teen vogue."
02:20 Who knew that a mere garment of clothing could transcend international borders?
02:24 The defendant countersued for defamation, but the judge ultimately couldn't rule in her favor.
02:29 It's got to hurt knowing her work had become famous for all the wrong reasons.
02:34 "That's my verdict, good luck folks."
02:36 Number 8. Lily Justice
02:38 Plaintiff Theresia Harpster sues the landscaping company that weed-whacked her Asiatic lilies.
02:43 "I heard the weed-whacker going, and I thought, 'Oh no, he's gonna…'
02:46 That's the first thing I thought of, and of course he did weed-whack it down, but
02:50 he never weed-whacked the weeds, but killed my Asiatic,
02:54 and they were very nice and high, and you have the picture."
02:57 To hear the plaintiff tell this story, she is just a harmless woman trying to protect
03:01 delicate flowers from careless, vicious landscapers.
03:04 To hear the landscaper tell it, she's got a mouth like a sailor and a short temper.
03:08 "She came out of her house, screamed at me to get over here,
03:10 and then she started calling me an a***** dumbass and not knowing information."
03:15 By the time this case ends, we have to agree with him.
03:18 She can't even stop mean-mugging him as he testifies about her abusive behavior.
03:22 She even invokes God's wrath when she loses.
03:25 "Liar. God'll get you."
03:29 A hobby is one thing, but when an accident lends you to endlessly berate the company,
03:34 it might be time to choose something lower stakes.
03:37 Number 7. Roommate Squabble
03:40 A mutually beneficial roommate situation turned out to be a complete disaster.
03:44 "She suggested that I come and stay with her for the winter."
03:48 "Okay. And in return, what were you supposed to do?"
03:51 "I was supposed to do nothing, but I offered, out of the kindness of my heart, to be nice and help
03:59 her."
03:59 The plaintiff was unhoused when the defendant invited her to live in her place, but personality
04:04 clashes and hygiene issues made it a negative experience, to say the least.
04:08 The facts of the case are bizarre from the start, but the details get increasingly more
04:13 shocking in ways that have to be seen to be believed.
04:16 "And she's shaking her legs. I said, 'Jennifer, what's going on?'
04:18 'I have to use the bathroom, but I'm in the middle of a game.'
04:21 'I said, 'Take the game with you to the bathroom.'
04:24 'When I'm finished with this level.'
04:26 'After she finishes, she gets up and the back end of her, she's going to the bathroom all over my rug.'"
04:31 This is a level of anger and dysfunction on display that's truly unique for this show,
04:36 but it's also sad.
04:37 It's clear there's a lot more context and nuance here than the court show format allows.
04:42 "Good luck." "I didn't know I found the evidence, I paid."
04:45 Number six, igniting a lawsuit.
04:48 A case that begins with a devastating fire is sure to be wild.
04:52 When babysitter Dajanae awoke to her apartment in flames,
04:55 she was shocked to learn the defendant's daughter had started it.
04:58 "And she told me that she smelled smoke.
05:00 That alarmed me. I went into the living room and the entire living room was on fire."
05:10 The defendant insists that the plaintiff didn't do her job as a caretaker,
05:14 but the twist comes when it turns out the daughter had a prior habit of setting things ablaze,
05:19 and the defendant neglected to mention it.
05:21 "She ever set anything on fire?"
05:23 "Yes, she has."
05:24 The judge tries to reason with them, but when he and his daughter aren't concerned
05:28 with anything but escaping responsibility, she lets them have it.
05:32 "No, you're going to take it easy too, okay? So no, stop. You're right, she's right.
05:38 Y'all got the wrong attitude for people who set a fire in that lady's apartment.
05:42 Very wrong attitude. She doesn't have the wrong attitude. She's entitled to be angry."
05:46 They don't seem to really get it, but it sure is entertaining.
05:50 Number 5 - Life on the Farm
05:52 It's not the usual dog-biting case, that's for sure.
05:56 Plaintiff Mike Loy confesses that he shot the defendant's dog because it kept attacking his cattle.
06:01 "You come upon the following scene. One cow is down and dead,
06:05 and the other cow is lying down in shock, correct?"
06:08 "Exactly."
06:09 Loy even proudly says he would have done the same to her other two dogs if he had caught them.
06:14 While it seems harsh, the judge - and the law - is on his side.
06:17 "I went over there and he showed me the dead cow. He said, 'You need to keep your dogs up.'"
06:22 "And did you?"
06:23 "And that's what we did."
06:24 "Well, clearly not, because the dogs were there again to get shot and killed a week later."
06:28 Threats to livestock and property are taken very seriously,
06:31 and the defendant's negligence is what led to the incident in the first place.
06:35 He already asked her once before to corral her dogs after one of them killed his cow,
06:39 and she didn't heed his warnings.
06:41 "It's unfortunate. I'm very sorry that you lost your pet. I don't mean to sound insensitive.
06:45 I've got to go by the law."
06:46 It's not the funnest case to listen to, but it feels like an important one.
06:49 Number 4. Moving in, moving out.
06:53 Life moves pretty fast, but rarely this fast.
06:56 The judge said it herself this plaintiff had a rough week.
06:59 "You have a very action-packed week between ICU for your heart,
07:02 and ambulances coming, and just people moving in."
07:04 She began dating a woman, took on her daughter and son-in-law as tenants,
07:08 then broke up with that woman, and had heart surgery all in the same week.
07:12 Police escorts, seized and damaged property,
07:15 and ignored court order and arrests make this one of the people's court's twistiest cases ever.
07:21 "Up till 3, 4 in the morning drinking, fighting, there's blood, you know,
07:25 knives, cops are involved."
07:27 No one here was making the best of choices, but the plaintiff's suggestion that the judge is
07:31 homophobic was about as ill-advised as anything she'd done up to that point.
07:35 "Must be the sexuality thing."
07:38 "No it's not, and I resent that. And you know what, get out of my courtroom. Get out.
07:42 I resent that, not only because I have family members who would be very offended
07:47 by what you just said. Get out of here and stop playing victim."
07:50 And that was a high bar.
07:51 Number 3. Kicking the door.
07:54 Figurative wires got crossed during a pipe installation,
07:57 and it turns out the plaintiff didn't need to spend as much money as he thought.
08:01 "And then he tells you it isn't even necessary because you have,
08:04 there's no reason to have new pipes. So what is it you want? Like what do you think should happen?"
08:11 Where the rest of us would be grateful to get off easy, he decided he wanted a full
08:15 refund on the job, despite the work the defendant's company did. While the judge
08:20 does rule that the plaintiff is owed some money back, when he doesn't get the full
08:24 amount he sued for, he storms out, kicking the judge's door in the way.
08:27 "I'm gonna order you to return a couple of hundred dollars to him. I think you had it
08:30 right the first time. I'm ordering you to return $200 to him."
08:32 "I was doing that till he kicked my car. He kicked my car too."
08:36 That's a lot of anger for winning the case, and it cost him.
08:41 The judge reversed her ruling and threw him out.
08:44 "Cuz now I'm really buying that he kicked your car and kicked your door
08:48 cuz he just, get the heck out of my courtroom now. Out!"
08:52 Number 2. Funeral home spat.
08:54 When the plaintiff arrived in court with a cast, you knew this case was going to be something else.
09:00 They say everyone grieved differently.
09:02 "I didn't know that she was gonna hit me. She came and she threw a punch in that land right
09:06 here on my head."
09:07 Some cry, some laugh, and some fight their relatives right in the office of a funeral
09:12 home. Bad blood clearly existed long before the death of this family's matriarch, but conflict
09:17 over the price of funeral expenses erupted into a brawl between this aunt and niece.
09:22 "What do you think Betsy was doing, the days after she died, watching from above,
09:32 the two of you carry on like this. What do you think that Betsy is thinking about?"
09:38 This one's so bad that the defendant believes the dead relative is haunting her house,
09:42 which gives us an idea for a new spin-off. Judge Millian, paranormal investigator.
09:48 "Ladies, put this behind you. Not for me, and not for each other, at least do it for your mother
09:53 and your grandmother. Just put this behind you."
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10:11 Number 1. Harboring a minor.
10:15 The People's Court generally deals with unpaid loans and petty squabbles over rent
10:20 and property lines. Rarely does the judge oversee a case where the literal SWAT team was involved.
10:25 "What? What is this? No, put your hand down, daddy. You're the one they were trying to occupy.
10:31 You're the daddy in this, right? Why don't you tell me what's going on, mommy?"
10:35 Defendants Christopher and Melinda McManus are being sued for pain and suffering because Melinda
10:41 hid the plaintiff's underage daughter in their house for several days under the impression she
10:46 was being abused at home. And that's just where this case starts. "Why didn't you just tell the
10:50 police that? Because then she would be safe. You could just turn her over to the police,
10:53 because the police were at your house on the 21st. Why didn't you just turn her over to the police?"
10:58 As Judge Millian wades through deeply disturbing text messages, the details just get more
11:03 frustrating and heartbreaking. It's an emotional, complicated, and frustrating case, even if you're
11:09 not a parent. This one is going to leave you stunned. "You're out of your mind, both of you.
11:15 You think you have the facts to make decisions that are so weighty and that will have such
11:20 effect on people's lives, including your own son, and you don't have the facts."
11:27 Which People's Court case left you speechless? Tell us in the comments.
11:31 "How old are you? How old are you?" "21, ma'am."
11:35 "Where did you get this hubris? Where did you get this hubris?"
11:40 Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms Mojo,
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11:48 [Music]