and the cost of personal property.
Kimberly is countersuing for the cost of her jewelry.
Now, here's Judge Joe Brown.
You, sir, are suing the defendant
because she kept you from going into the property.
Correct. You were wanting the civilly allowed...
She changed the law, too....statutory damages here.
Correct. Okay, and you, ma'am,
are counterclaiming for a like amount,
saying that he stole some property from you.
Is that right? Yes.
Okay, now, what kind of relationship did you two have?
We had, well, I thought it was a very good relationship,
seven and a half years, and it just ended.
Were you married? No, we were not.
Okay, now, where were you living?
We were living at her grandmother's house.
All right, were you paying rent? Yes, we were.
Okay, now, what happens?
Just the things that went on in the past in the relationship,
the cheating and everything like that,
I decided this is too much.
You were accusing her of infidelity.
Yes, so I decided to go ahead and move out,
started to move out.
As my brother and I were moving boxes out of the house,
her 15-year-old friend went into my truck
and grabbed the garage door opener off the vehicle.
Her 15-year-old friend.
Yes, Your Honor, I'm not even going to go into that,
but she went into my truck
and stole the garage door opener off my visor and my pickup,
which infuriated me.
I was just like, what gave this person the right?
Went ahead, and from that point on,
I totally admit I lost my cool,
started doing childish things, name-calling,
and everything like that.
Never got violent or anything like that, just name-calling.
Came back into the house, my brother said
she just took your house key,
or started to take your house keys off your keychain.
My keys were sitting on the kitchen table in the house.
Well, did you retain the keys, yes or no?
Once the police got there, they made her give me the keys.
The police came? Yes.
After being called, every name in the book,
every derogatory name, a woman can be called for six hours.
It took him six hours to move two truckloads out of the house.
Well, did he hit you?
He did not hit me, but that morning,
I noticed my jewelry was missing.
He admitted he took it, that he couldn't get it back.
Did you take her jewelry?
Yes, I took back a set of diamond earrings.
Oh, you gave them to her?
Yes. Oh, good.
And a little cocktail ring, diamond cocktail ring.
Okay, so is that what you're talking about?
Mm-hmm.
Okay, go ahead.
The police said, you know, that I can't make him leave,
that I had to give the keys back.
I gave them back.
He agreed he would not come back until the next day.
That morning, I woke up, I found my jewelry gone.
I didn't trust him to be in the house moving without me this day.
Well, those were gifts.
He just rescinded the gifts.
I got a birthday gift seven years ago for my birthday.
That was the ring.
For Christmas, I was given diamond earrings.
I don't think they're his to take back.
I didn't take back the code I gave him.
Well, he was exercising a claim of right to them,
but in any event, what happens?
The police said they would come and they would sit
and watch him take his stuff out the next day.
The next day, he sat in front of the house for five hours.
I called for civil standby.
The cops never came.
Then nobody came.
I offered, though, three to four times for him
or his family members to come in and get his stuff.
Please just come get your stuff out.
He waited until the ball...
He was trying to wait for the police.
Right, but the police told me on the phone...
He was accusing me of stealing everything under the sun.
Cops told me if I put his property into the garage,
that I could change the locks to the house
and leave him access to the stuff in the garage.
See, it's a civil matter.
The police cannot give you legal advice.
But they did.
A and B, they act at their own peril
if they attempt to intervene in a civil matter, so...
It was her friend, personal friend.
It was the police officer on the phone.
He's not the one that told me.
The other two cops that came out...
Well, you rely at your peril on anybody giving you legal advice
unless that person is licensed to practice law.
And, Your Honor?
Now, let's get back to this.
When did you ultimately get back in there?
The following weekend.
And you say, how many days was that?
Five days, or, well...
It was Friday the 14th.
It was five days, because he was there all day Sunday.
He could have moved the stuff out Sunday.
He refused to take it.
He came back April 14th and took one load,
came back April 15th and finished taking the rest of the stuff there.
Okay, how long were the locks changed before you completely moved?
I don't know.
Add the days up.
When did you move out of there?
Six days.
Six days.
Now, how did you get in there to move your belongings up?
She had told me that her mother, Miss Gray over there,
was coming down from Nevada,
and I felt confident with her mother being there,
that I could go there, remove these items,
without being accused of, like he said, stealing...
Some impropriety.
Everything under the sun.
And, you know, like I said...
So you moved out.
Correct.
So you say you were locked out for six days.
Correct, Your Honor.
All right, now, just what brought all of this to this kind of point?
What happened to break you two up?
I just realized that I didn't love him anymore.
I had stopped loving him for a couple years,
tried to make it work.
Like the weekend before, I had stayed out late,
he got mad, called me a liar.
She had a 15-year-old girl out till 4.30 in the morning.
15-year-old girl.
Or a 15-year-old friend.
It's just a friend of mine.
I didn't want to be...
What are you doing with a 15-year-old girl out to that time of the morning?
She was just a friend, and it was daylight savings time,
so it really wasn't that late.
It was 3.30 in the morning.
We went to the pool hall...
What are you doing out to 3.30 in the morning with a 15-year-old?
We went to the pool hall, we played pool with her friend.
What is your relationship to this 15-year-old?
We're just friends.
I'm like a mentor and a big sister to her sister and her older sister.
A mentor and a big sister till 3.30 in the morning.
Exactly.
We were at her sister, her friend's house.
What is your version of this relationship?
Everything so far is pretty much right on.
When they came home at 4.30 in the morning,
I was like, you know, I looked at the clock,
I'm like, what are you thinking?
You got a 15-year-old girl out, be the adult, you're 32 years old.
When we got home, he called us liars.
I finally decided at that point,
I did not want to be in the relationship anymore with him.
Well, why do you feel that this is something improper here
between her and this 15-year-old?
I want to hear your reason.
Because from her statement, when I said,
what were you guys doing?
And she said, we were playing pool.
And I said, pool halls don't stay open till 4.30 in the morning,
especially with a 15-year-old child, a person that's underage.
Minors generally have a curfew.
Minors generally are expected to be in,
especially 15-year-olds at a reasonable time,
which is not 4.30 in the morning.
Right.
Her friends' parents are close family,
friends of her family.
I don't care her friends.
They offered us to stay the night.
I don't care.
You got a 15-year-old and a 32-year-old coming in
as not big sister, mentor, or whatever,
but as friends with a 15-year-old.
And say, OK, well, anyway, you two broke up.
Now, you say he took back some gifts he had given you.
Right, a ring that he gave me for my birthday seven years ago.
That's not theft.
He went and retrieved the gift.
Now, why do you say that you should be compensated for $900
relative to these items?
Because the earrings were $725 retail value.
He paid $600 for them.
The ring cost him $300.
I don't have them anymore.
I think I should either get the jewelry back
or the cost to replace them.
And your honor?
And what did you do?
You threw him out.
We'll be back with more of Judge Joe Brown after this.
You decided that you were going to get rid of him
because he was properly concerned, ma'am,
about your behavior and conduct relative to a 15-year-old.
And later today?
They actually have drugs found?
Yes.
I found the drugs in their belongings.
I called the police.
It was a white powder substance found in the Ziploc Valley.
I mean, I had just gotten home.
She just all of a sudden says, this is why you're moving out.
And I'm asking her, well, where did you get those?
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We're back with Judge Jo Brown.
The defendant in this case says her ex had his chance to retrieve his belongings.
Since then, she claims he stole her jewelry.
So she changed the locks.
Let's take a look.
The statutory penalty that we're talking about that you're trying to get right here under California Civil Code.
Restriction of access of tenant to property.
The landlord shall not prevent the tenant from gaining reasonable access to the property by changing the locks.
I'm not the landlord.
Well, you were acting as a landlord.
You had a lease with your grandmother, I take it.
And you were acting as a landlord.
You had a lease with your grandmother, I take it, and you were acting in that capacity when you changed the locks on the premises.
And you decided that you were going to get rid of him because he was properly concerned, ma'am, about your behavior and conduct relative to a 15-year-old.
So in any event, you restricted his access.
The court finds that six days has been established.
Now, relative to your cross complaint, the court will dismiss your claim, your counter suit, and it will fine for the plaintiff who is carried by the preponderance of the evidence, the necessary burden of proof.
Judgment accordingly, $600 for the plaintiff.
Thank you.
Court is in recess.
Sir, you may step out the door into your right.
What did you tell him about changing the locks before him?
I told him I'm changing the locks.
You've stolen from me.
I don't think it's fair that he stole my jewelry.
I don't get compensated for it.
I don't have the jewelry.
Well, at the time, there's a lot of hurt going on.
It's a 7 1 2 relationship.
Was it right?
Probably not.
Will you give them back to her?
Probably, yes.
And now we're on to the next case.
Item number 32, Pence versus Cruz.
Would the parties step forward, please?
Misty Pence is a 24-year-old customer service representative from Richmond, California.
She is suing former tenants, Jose and Mary Cruz, for unpaid rent and bills.
Let's see, you're suing the defendants for past-due rentals, bills, loans and lost wages.
Is that right?
Yes, sir.
Let me hear about it.
They were tenants in one of your properties.
Is that right?
That's correct.
I own my home.
As of August 1999, I had been renting a bedroom to the defendant ever since then.
There was a police report made against them in October due to the fact that I found drugs
in their belongings ever since then.
Did they actually have drugs found?
Yes, I found the drugs in their belongings.
What were the drugs?
I called the police.
I have the police report.
What were the drugs?
They just said that it was white powder.
Why would you be going through their belongings?
It was a board game that was left in the living room.
We were going to play the board game.
Who is we?
This is my witness, Michael Voorhees.
What's his relationship to you?
He also rents a room in my house.
Was there any prosecution initiated?
All I have is a police report.
None?
No.
How did that so-called powdered substance get where it was in your version of the fact?
To tell you the truth, I don't know how it got there.
The only thing I could come up with was the fact that I had purchased the backgammon board.
I had purchased the backgammon board at a garage sale.
It got put into my storage with all the other stuff.
We go on about our business for the next week or so.
The next thing I know, I get a call from my wife at work, frantic, saying we've got to move out today.
She's telling us we've got to move tonight.
I get home.
Obviously, I'm all upset.
First thing she tells me, it's this.
She pulls out these drugs.
She never hands them to me.
Who did that?
The plaintiff.
She pulls them out of her pockets.
I never saw where they came from.
I had just gotten home.
She just all of a sudden says, this is why you're moving out.
I'm asking her, where did you get those?
How did they get there?
What's in them?
Was that before or after the police got called?
This is before.
That was before.
At that point, let me ask you a question.
Does she or does she not make a demand on you to move?
Yes, sir.
They did not leave until February of 2000.
This was in October of 99.
Did you live there after this incident?
Yes.
How long?
Until February, like she said.
February.
Do you admit or deny that you owe rent?
I admit I owe some rent.
Now, you have any claim to offset that rent?
Yes.
When we moved out, I noticed movies, my child's movies, Disney movies were missing.
Videos?
My daughter's movies.
That's a nominal amount.
There was more than just that.
Yes.
That was just one case.
There was quite a bit of damage done by their animals to a lot of our property.
Such as?
We had some items that were in a storeroom in the back.
The dog was allowed to take shelter in there during the rain and stuff.
And it just trampled everything.
Alright, you want to talk.
I'm going to let you talk.
Okay.
Now, what did you see?
When me and Misty were sitting there at the table talking and stuff,
and that's when she pulled out the backgammon board.
And we were in a place where she opened it up.
First she asked who it was.
And I said, well, that's what they were saying when she grabbed the cup.
Can I add on to that?
I thought the dice were in it.
Two baggies fell out.
The baggies weren't full of the powdery substance,
but you could tell there was a powdery substance in it.
They reported it and nobody got arrested.
My daughter was sitting there.
I terrorized my daughter.
Okay, hold on, hold on.
You two sides are not getting along very well.
No.
Judge Joe Brown continues after this.
We came home and we found all our stuff stacked up in front of our door.
Everything, everything we had through the house, our food,
everything was stacked up in front of the store.
We were told we couldn't use the bathroom.
We were told we couldn't use the kitchen.
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