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]