02x128 - Small Business Grudge

[bunniefuu]

"The staff mistreating
dogs in their care."

[dogs barking]

What happened that caused you
to write this negative review?

She was just saying negative things
about our business.

I had heard about
some bad business practices.

Tit for tat.

You both deserve what you got.

[Announcer]
This is Judy Justice.

[Announcer]
Brenda Langley is suing

business owner Amber Howard
for damages and defamation

to her pet daycare business.

[Kevin]
Court come to order.

All rise.

Have a seat, please.

Hello, Judge.
Case 2173, Langley versus Howard.

-Thank you.
-[Kevin] You're welome.

Ms. Langley, your complaint
states that you live in a rural area,

13 acres.
Your business is pet sitting.

-Correct.
-The property that you own

does not have running water.

-Correct.
-[Judge Judy] So all the water

for your property has to be trucked in.

-Yes.
-[Judge Judy] The defendant

is the owner of...?

-Do you...?
-The wife.

[Judge Judy]
The same thing.

They own a water business,
where they deliver by truck,

massive amounts of water,
and you had used them

for a period of time,
prior to Labor Day of 2021,

when this incident occured.

How long have you been
using the defendants?

Probably about a year.

[Judge Judy]
And how often did they deliver water

-to your property?
-[Brenda] Four times a week.

Usually three times for the pool
and once for the house.

[Judge Judy] OK.
And each time they came,

was that on a set time
during the week?

We tried to get a set time,
but it varied.

Quite often.

OK. Would they call
before they came?

-No.
-[Judge Judy] For the year

that you had them,

when they came, did you pay them
at the time that they came?

[Brenda] Yes, I did.
Oftentimes, we paid in advance.

So we paid for the entire week...

[Judge Judy]
So, you either paid in advance,

-or you paid at the time of the delivery?
-Yes.

-Did you give them a check or cash?
-[Brenda] Check.

Now, let's get to Labor Day, 2021.

On what day were they supposed to come?

I believe it was the 4th of September,
it was on a Friday.

[Judge Judy] And who was at home
to accept the delivery?

[Brenda]
We didn't know when they were coming,

but I had taken my employee out to lunch,

and I called my nephew, who was there
holding down the fort,

and told him if they deliver water,

let 'em know I forgot the check,

so they can either deliver
or come back later.

Well, you live in a rural area.
Coming back later is a big inconvenience,

-because you forgot the check.
-Yeah. It could be.

OK. It happened that it was
a big inconvenience.

-Because you went out for lunch...
-Mm-hmm.

[Judge Judy]
...and you left a nephew.

They came, the check wasn't there,

and they left.
With the water.

Now, what time did you come?

I wasn't the one who delivered the water,
it was my husband.

But I believe he had came...

-[Judge Judy] No, he'll tell me.
-Oh. OK.

So, this is about a year and a half ago.

I don't remember the exact time,
but it was a AM delivery.

Because we were going of town
Friday evening,

going up north, so I was trying
to get done with our route fairly early

-so that we could get out of town.
-[Judge Judy] So, the first time you came

-to the house was in the morning?
-That's correct.

-Not lunchtime?
-No. It was probably

somewhere around 10 AM, if I was to guess.

[Judge Judy] OK.
And when you got there that one time,

-the nephew was there?
-That's correct.

[Judge Judy]
And tell me what happened?

Well, the nephew for starters
is about 12 years old,

and the reason why we don't
necessarily have a time frame for business

is 'cause if it's between business hours,
and we show up, and if they need water,

usually that shouldn't be an issue,
um, for the...

Don't give me a whole story, sir.

-Yeah.
-[Judge Judy] The nephew

-was 12 years old?
-Yep.

OK, and he was left in charge of the pets?

-That's correct.
-[Judge Judy] OK, so the nephew

was left in charge of these animals,

and when you came, there was no check.
What happened?

Um, it wasn't even about the money,
the reason why I left.

Um, the reason why I showed up there
is, he was talking on the phone,

and he said, "We are not ready
for water right now."

He was on his phone?

-Yes.
-[Judge Judy] Where did this conversation

-take place?
-[Kenneth] Near the, the, uh, pool.

The dog pool.

And we were actually taking 4,000 gallons.

So I brought my big truck.

I bring 2,000 for the doggie pool
and then 2,000 for the house.

Because it was a holiday weekend,
so I had to make sure

that we got 'em enough water
to last through the holiday weekend.

OK. And I assume that the plaintiff
was satisfied with your service,

because she had continued
with your service for over a year.

-Yes, that's correct.
-[Judge Judy] That's according to you.

-We had...
-[Judge Judy] That's according to you.

You had been satisfied with their service,

'cause if you weren't,
you would've found somebody else.

But you had been satisfied
with their service,

according to you,
you paid them in advance,

or on the date of the delivery.

On Labor Day, September 4th,

you left your 12-year-old nephew there...

He's not 12, but...

[Judge Judy]
Well, how old is he? Thirteen?

-He's 15.
-So what? What's the difference?

Or maybe he's 15 now,
maybe he wasn't in 2021.

So, the nephew said to you,
"We're not ready for water delivery now."

-That's true.
-[Judge Judy] Is that what you're saying?

Now, your business have a phone?

-Correct.
-[Judge Judy] Did the plaintiff

ever call you and say, "I'm home now,
I'm sorry, there was a mix-up"?

No. So, what happened, um, I showed up
there, he wasn't ready for water.

Um, I told him, I go...

What do you have to do
to get ready for water?

For their purposes, I believe it was
to try to use up as much as they can.

No, no, don't tell me what you believe.

I want to know what you have to do

to get ready for a water delivery.

Do you have to open up the spigot?
What do you have to do?

OK, so basically, their holding tanks,
um, that are in basements,

are in the ground.
So normally, nobody even has to be there,

like 90 percent of our customers.

This particular case,
one of their tanks is in a basement,

which doesn't have an alarm.

So, in order to fill their tank up,

somebody has to be down there
with a radio to radio up to us

to know when to shut the water off.

OK. So, that would've
had to have been the nephew,

who was between the ages
of 12 and 15,

would have had to have been
in the basement?

-That's correct.
-[Judge Judy] OK.

And when you came onto the property,

he said, "We're not ready
for a water delivery."

-That's correct.
-And he would've had to have been

-in the basement?
-[Kenneth] That's correct.

-So you left?
-Yes.

[Judge Judy]
What happened next?

[Kenneth]
Your Honor, I, I told him that, I go,

"It's not that big of a deal."

Um, I go, "I got a few more stops.
I'm gonna do those stops,

"and then I'll come back,
and then hopefully, you'll be ready,

and your aunt would be ready
for water at that time."

So, I went and did my two stops,
um, so I used up another 4,000 gallons,

I filled back up,
went back to their house.

At this time, it was probably
somewhere around 12:00,

and again he said,
"We're still not ready for water."

So, you went back again at noon?

Between 12:00 and 1:00, I would say.

[Judge Judy]
And the plaintiff wasn't home?

That's correct. Again.

How many hours passed
between the first delivery and the second?

It takes me about 45 minutes per stop,

and I know I did about two stops,
about an hour and a half it took me

before I was back there.

And for that hour and a half,
she didn't come back?

So, she was at either
a very late breakfast

or a very early lunch?

-That's correct.
-[Judge Judy] OK.

So, now they go twice
to deliver water to you,

and you're not there,
and neither is your check?

So, now you tell me
what happened next?

Um, Kyle called me.
First, he doesn't have a phone,

but we do have a business line.

So he called me on the business line

and, um, told me
that the driver just left.

He goes, "I don't know where he went."
He said, "I think...

[Judge Judy]
Who told...? Who? Who was that?

I'm sorry, he was my nephew.

[Judge Judy]
Your nephew called you. What time?

-[Brenda] Well, our lunch is...
-[Judge Judy] What...?

-I, I...
-[Judge Judy] You went before lunch.

Because he was there
earlier in the morning.

We did not go before lunch.
We went 12:30 to 2:00.

The dogs always nap 12:30 to 2:00.
We separated the dogs.

How many times did they...
how many...

how many times did they come
to your house to deliver water?

According to what I was told,
I wasn't there, two.

Oh, that's what he says.
He came twice.

Just, we haven't gotten to the third yet,
but he came twice to your house,

-and you weren't there?
-Correct.

You're supposed to wait for a service,
you're supposed to be there,

ready for the service.
That would be on you.

That's not on them, that on you.

They came when they were supposed to,
to deliver water,

and you weren't there,
and you left somebody

who was not equipped
to deal with the situation in charge.

And what happened was,
you didn't have water potentially

over the holiday weekend,
because they were going away,

so you had to scurry
to find other water?

-Correct.
-That's what this case is about.

If your pre-teen or post-teen nephew
was on the telephone,

didn't want to be bothered
at that moment,

that ain't his fault.

That's your fault,
that you left somebody incompetent

when you were supposed
to get a water delivery.

All I'm saying to you is,
this is nasty, a year later.

Nasty.

[Announcer] Brenda Langley
claims business owner Amber Howard

defamed her pet daycare business.

Amber is countersuing
for negative reviews

Brenda made toward her business.

[Judge Judy] OK.
So, according to you,

a year later,

you heard something
about their business,

so you wrote a negative something
about their business

on the Internet.
You'll tell me what that is in a moment.

And in retaliation for that,

they posted a negative comment
about your business,

alleging something that had to do
with the animals.

So that's what this case is about.

Your use of the Internet

to make trouble.

You, a year later.

According to you, you only posted
one negative review.

-Is that right?
-Correct.

[Judge Judy]
And that was a year later?

[Brenda] Yes.
Do you want me to tell you why?

-Mmm?
-'Cause they take the reviews down.

You can't leave it...
I tried right away...

[Judge Judy]
All I'm asking you is,

I don't want to hear
"shoulda, woulda, coulda".

A year later, you posted
a negative review about them.

-Correct.
-[Judge Judy] So I'd like to see

the review, and why you waited a year.

You had had a full year
of positive service from these people.

And the day that you had a problem
with them was your fault.

I just determined that.
It was your fault.

-OK.
-[Judge Judy] So I want to see

what you said about them.

Ms. Langley, so I read this thing,

it says, "Funny how this shows up
as a recommendation.

"Apparently, they took the rating system
off their page.

They were always shorting us
on water for the pool."

Well, you used them
satisfactorily for a year.

So, I think that that's baloney.

We had had a couple of run-ins over it.

[Judge Judy]
"Once when I complained,

the driver said
my nephew told him to stop."

What is that about?
Once when you complained about what?

About the pool being short on water.

Just, what did your nephew
have to do with them?

Your nephew is hardly a teenager.

What did your nephew have to do
with discussing things...

Nothing, really.
Nothing.

He would help them sometimes
bring the hose in, and things like that,

but he was just a helper
every once in a while.

[Judge Judy]
Well, what does that mean?

-He didn't have anything to do with it.
-[Judge Judy] "Once, when I complained,

"the driver said my nephew
told him to stop.

"Video surveillance proved he was lying.

"No one ever approached him
and no one spoke to him.

"I showed the owner the video,
and he didn't seem to care.

The last straw was when the owner,"
that would be them,

"left for a holiday weekend,
and we had no water

and low pool water."
Well, that would be your fault.

You don't say that here.

It just makes it appear as if
they left, and left you high and dry.

But they came at least twice,
he's gonna tell me a third time, probably,

to deliver water.
And you weren't there.

"When my nephew asked if we could
pay next week,

he got in his truck and left."

That's also your fault.

If he would've communicated,
I could've brought the money...

[shushing]
Just a second.

That puts the onus on them.
Why weren't you there?

This is all on you.
This isn't on them.

"No conversation, no phone call,
not even a... [curse word].

"I called his wife to find out
what happened,

and she said they were going out of town
for the weekend."

And you put in parentheses, "too bad."

Well, you're allowed to go out,
you're allowed,

you're allowed to go out for lunch,

when their delivery is coming,

without a check, but they're not allowed
to go out for Labor Day, for the weekend.

"I immediately called a competitor
to bail us out.

"Thank God he took mercy on us
and came out right away.

"We have had excellent service
with the competitor ever since.

"It could've been catastrophic
to try not just to live,

but run a business with no water
over the holiday weekend."

You should have been home
to get your delivery!

-Can I say something?
-Sure.

I always paid.
They knew I was good for the money,

and nobody has to be there
when they deliver water.

We don't watch them deliver water.

Except for maybe in the house,
when Kyle was there to receive it.

[Judge Judy] Just a second.
He just told me

that one of the water tanks
is in the basement.

Somebody has to be there in the basement

in your house.
If your pre-teen or post-teen nephew

was on the telephone,
didn't want to be bothered

at that moment, that ain't his fault.

That's your fault that you left
somebody incompetent

when you were supposed to get
a water delivery.

All I'm saying to you is,
this is nasty a year later.

Nasty.
And for no reason.

I don't hear a reason
why this a year later.

You want to tell me?

I had heard about
some bad business practices,

so it got me upset again,

so I decided to look and find a way

to put a review on.

They had taken their reviews off the page.

So immediately, I wanted
to put a review on there,

but they have it down as a recommendation.

-[Judge Judy] Who cares?
-So, that's when I let go.

I just, still don't understand
why a year later, your stir this up.

So, for a year you were getting water
from a competitor,

you'd cut off their system,
they seemed to be still surviving,

-you're still in business?
-Yes, Your Honor.

[Judge Judy]
They were in business without you,

you're in business without them.

-Right.
-[Judge Judy] OK.

So, this is nasty.

OK. Now, as a result of being nasty,

they wrote a review about you.

-Which is why you're here.
-[Brenda] Yeah.

About your business.
May I see that review?

Um, about her statement saying that
she only gave us one bad review,

we have proof that
we have multiple bad reviews,

not just the one, over that course
of a year and a half...

[Judge Judy]
May I see, I'd like to see them.

Did you write
more than one negative review?

-No, that's not true.
-[Judge Judy] OK, I'm gonna take a look

-at them.
-[Brenda] That's what I posted.

Oh, excuse, I'm sorry,
this is what I posted, right here.

I gave you the wrong copy.

Oh, well, this is a different one,

where you say, "last water hauler",

you suggested "we had to kiss" whatever
or they would not show.

"They rarely answered a call or a text
in a timely manner.

"I was even late to a party
hosted at my home.

"I had zero water and couldn't shower,
couldn't get in touch with anybody.

"The last straw was Friday.
They dropped us on a holiday weekend

and said that they would see us
on Tuesday."

I don't think that was a review,
Your Honor.

-[Judge Judy] Was this not a review?
-I don't believe so.

No, it was a review, it was a comment.
It was a comment.

It was still out there. Alive.
Out there.

So, it was really a tit for tat,
you got tired...

She wrote that review on my page,

so I decided to write a true review
about her page.

[Judge Judy] Perfect.
So did I get that all right?

Good. A pox on both your houses.

[audience chuckling]

[Announcer] Brenda Langley
has accused business owner

Amber Howard of defaming
her pet daycare business.

Amber claims Brenda
created negative reviews

a year after their dispute ended.

I'm looking to see
what you posted about her.

He's got it.

[Kevin]
Here you go, Judge.

Thank you.

OK. So you posted this
on October the 30th.

-And this is on a Facebook?
-Yes.

"We used to supply water
for the puppy pool here

"three times a week and our drivers
witnessed on multiple occasions

"the staff mistreating dogs in their care.

"They would see on multiple occasions
dog feces in the pool

"before they would fill it up.

"We were going to send our dog there
before we knew all this,

"but were told our dog was too small,
and they could not accommodate him.

"Now that I know
the kind of business they run,

"I'm thankful I kept my pet
out of their care.

I would think twice before
sending your beloved pet there."

And then, Lucky Puppy, that would be you:

"Funny, I just gave you a poor review
on your page.

"The difference is, our review was true.

"Your review is defamation of character.

You can remove your untrue statements
or you can be sued. Your choice!"

[Judge Judy] So, now I'm gonna ask you,
sort of, the same question.

The incident happened
on Labor Day of 2021.

October 30th,
and that would be of 2022?

-Correct.
-[Judge Judy] So, between the time

that they ceased to be customers of yours

and a year later, what happened

that caused you
to write this negative review?

So, as you can see in the evidence
I gave you,

she, all the time, was just saying
negative things about our business.

-We never had said anything...
-[Judge Judy] So... OK.

Just a sec.
So, the answer was,

it was tit for tat.

-Correct.
-[Judge Judy] It was tit for tat.

She was writing negative reviews
about your business...

-[Amber] Mm-hmm.
-[Judge Judy] So you wrote,

which I just determined were untrue,

so you wrote a negative review
about her business...

-Correct.
-[Judge Judy] ...a year later.

I mean, if you were really
concerned about the pets,

you would've written it immediately.

So, it was really a tit for tat,
you got tired...

She wrote that review on my page,

so I decided to write a true review
about her page.

[Judge Judy]
Perfect. So, did I get that all right?

Good. A pox on both your houses.

[Brenda]
May I say something, please?

-Sure.
-[Brenda] So what she accused us of

is ill*gal.

I mean, we have to keep
sanitary conditions and we have to...

[Judge Judy]
How do I, just a second.

How do I know that one of their drivers
didn't report seeing feces in the pool?

How do I know that?

I've been there before and asked them
why they didn't need water

that currently week, you know,
that they're gonna need it,

the 2,000 gallons on Wednesday,
like they normally do,

and he said, "We just had to get dogs out,

just because we realize
there was feces in there."

They said it happens a few times a year.

So, it was not a false statement.

[Judge Judy]
Whatever. It's their business, madam.

Just like this is your business

-If you run a dirty place...
-I don't, though...

-[Judge Judy] Just a second.
-My statements were true,

-theirs were untrue.
-Well, they don't run

an irresponsible business.

In your reviews, you're suggesting
that they are irresponsible

and also, thieves,
because in one of your reviews,

you say "they were shorting us
on water."

-Yes, they were.
-[Judge Judy] That's what you say.

And you said it not only a year later,

you said it during the course of the year.

And it was their business.

Their business is as important to them
as yours is to you.

So, if you're gonna weaponize
the, these reviews,

then you both deserve what you got.

You're not supposed to do that.

If you were legitimately concerned
about the dogs,

you would've reported it right away.

What this was, was tit for that,
so you deserve each other.

Claim and counterclaim are dismissed.
Goodbye.

[Kevin]
This court is adjourned.

My thing was that they accused us
of breaking the law,

and it was totally untrue.

My statements were true.

Whether they were in the wrong or not,
they were true statements,

and hers were complete fabrication.

I mean, we had been dealing with it
for about a year and a half,

so I was, I was just really shocked
when I received the paperwork in the mail,

since I did delete the review,
since she did threaten to sue me,

so I did delete it.

Look at reviews,
and if you can't find them,

go somewhere else.

I want both of us
to be successful businesses,

'cause we live in a small community,

and our businesses do not,
you know, we're not in direct competition

with each other.
So I wish her well,

and I would hope
she would wish our business well.

You know, people like me
just learn to look at a restaurant,

and see what the reviews are.

And you sort of assume
that people of good will,

if they're gonna post something
that's negative,

it's because they had
a negative experience.

And I think it's such a shame
that it's become

-a way to weaponize
-Uh-huh.

[Judge Judy]
legitimate reviews,

where somebody,
the plaintiff in this case,

had absolutely no clue
that the problem on Labor Day

was her fault.

-Yeah.
-[Judge Judy] Yeah?

She had a perfectly reasonable
relationship with them for over a year,

she said they paid them in advance,

she never said anything
about shorting water,

It's just the power of the Internet.
I mean, now, today,

I know there are people
that will cancel businesses

for reasons completely unrelated
to the business.

But, if you act out,
you say the wrong thing

you display a negative character trait
in public,

people will go to your business's page,

completely unrelated to anything
in the business,

and just flood the page.
I'm talking thousands,

they will get thousands of people
to write bad reviews

about a business.
Especially if something went viral,

or if the owners of the business,
if they were in a viral video

that was not nice, you know.

It's the power of the Internet
and cancel culture.

Well, you know, the Internet
can be a tool for good and wonderful,

-or, as we know...
-A double-edge sword.

[Judge Judy]
...it can be a very dark place.

-Yep.
-But it can't be a very dark place

without mean-spirited or bad people.

-Yeah.
-[Judge Judy] And there are mean-spirited

and bad people.

You know, I don't how you protect yourself
from something like...

I really don't know
how you protect yourself...

The consumer has to be smart
in reading the reviews,

and how much weight
they're giving reviews.

I like when businesses respond
to especially the negative reviews,

and sometimes they're funny,

because if the defendants had responded
to the plaintiffs' review publicly,

you know, so people like you and I,
who are thinking about using them

for water delivery could see it,

they'd say, "Oh. Interesting.
We called twice and you weren't home.

And you didn't have our money."

-That's the response.
-And so, so, I like to see that,

because it calls out the person
who left the negative review.

But obviously there's downsides
to a business.

You don't want to get into
a back-and-forth

with every person
that leaves a negative review.

But sometimes, when it's warranted...

You respond to it.

But the response isn't supposed
to be a negative review about you.

-Exactly.
-[Judge Judy] You're right.

[Announcer]
Have you been cheated?