03x06 - A Keyed Affair

[bunniefuu]

She was like,
"Oh, I'm gonna come fight you."

[Trishana on phone]

[Jah'nia on phone]

Why were you mad at her?

She was saying, "You're mad
because he's with me and not with you."

This is the prize?

[all laugh]

Don't fight over a guy.

It's so ridiculous.

[announcer]
This is Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Trishana Roberts is suing
her ex-boyfriend's girlfriend,

Jah'nia Scott,
for vandalizing her car.

[Kevin]
Court, come to order. All rise.

Have a seat, everyone.

-Hello, Judge.
-Hello, Kevin.

Case number 3005,
Roberts versus Scott.

Oh, my God.
This is the prize?

[all laugh]

[Judy]
I just wanna know.

Unfortunately.

-[Judy] But this is the prize.
-Yes.

[all laugh]

[Judy]
What does the prize do?

He does a lot. He works for
North New Jersey Communications.

[Judy] Mm-hmm.
And how long have you been together?

Seven years on and off.

How much on and how much off?

Mostly on, somewhat off.

Maybe about a year and a half off.

Did you live together most of that time?

[Jah'nia] No.

[Judy]
Who does he live with?

His family.

Does he stay over at your house?

No, I mostly go to his house.

Did you ever want to live with him?

Yes.

[Judy] Did you ever want to make
your arrangement official?

Yes.

I'm always curious when seemingly
intelligent women are fighting over a guy.

What is his response
when you suggest,

"After seven years,
we sort of move it forward"?

It's something that we both
wanna do in due time.

We just wanna make sure we're all set
and ready to go with money, jobs,

and getting everything together,

make sure our life is on track first
before we do that.

Okay. And you're gonna tell me
how the plaintiff fits into this...

moving it along and getting it together
and getting the job

and getting money put away
and all that stuff.

Where does she fit into the picture?

That, honestly,
doesn't have much to do with her.

She's just his child's mother.

[Judy]
And how old is the child?

[Jah'nia]
She's gonna be one.

Well, if you've been together
seven years on and off

and you're planning your future,
at least for a short period of time,

your heads weren't in the same direction.

This is what your case is about,
Ms. Roberts.

It is your claim that the defendant,
who is currently the girlfriend of

but was for a period of time
the ex-girlfriend of

and then he was with you
for a little bit of time,

keyed your car.

And when do you say
she keyed your car?

-What date?
-On November 11, 2022.

I read your complaint and the answer.
Tell me the circumstances.

-The night that it happened?
-Yes.

So, me and Marcus,
we went out with the baby.

[Judy]
Okay, that's him.

[Trishana] Yes.

[Judy]
And so you and Marcus were out.

We were out with the baby, and we got back
around, like, 12:30 in the morning.

And so we already decided,
like, it's best to just stay over there.

So, we were staying over there,
me and the baby.

-[Judy] Staying at his...
-At his house.

-[Judy] His house.
-Yes.

And, at that time,
you were on an off period?

No, we were together then.

[Judy]
Well, clearly, you're not. And?

And, so, Marcus,
he had went into the bathroom

to take a shower
and his phone rang.

I didn't think anything of it
'cause her name wasn't saved as her name.

It had, like, some kind of nickname.

-And so...
-[Judy] What was the nickname?

J Money.

[Judy]
Say that again.

J, the letter,
Money, like cash money.

[Marcus] Mm-hmm.

J Money.

[all laugh]

Okay, so, came up with a tagline.

-[Trishana] Yeah.
-J Money.

So I answered it the first time,

and it was like she was out
or something like that.

It was very loud in the background.

Then I hung up and she called back.

And then when she called back,

she was like,
"Oh, I'm gonna come fight you.

Where is Marcus?"
this and that,

and then I took a recording of it.

I do have the audio of it.

-I'd like to hear it.
-[Trishana] Okay.

Just make a press
where it's supposed to press.

[Jah'nia]

[Trishana]

[Jah'nia]

[Trishana]

[Jah'nia]

[Trishana]

[Jah'nia]

[Trishana]

[Jah'nia]

-[Trishana]
-[Jah'nia]

[Trishana]

Why were you mad at her?

She said I'm mad that he's with her
and not with me.

And then she said it was loud,
and that's why she hung up.

No, she hung up
because she was trying to be funny.

And that's why the second time
when I called again,

that's why I responded like that.

-So she said, "No, he's with me."
-[Jah'nia] Mm-hmm.

She was saying, "You're mad
because he's with me and not with you."

-[Judy] Okay.
-Antagonizing me.

It may have antagonized you,
but that was sort of true.

-I answered her question.
-Shh.

It was sort of true, right?

[Jah'nia] Mm-hmm.

That he was with her
and he wasn't with you,

and you were still together then.

-[Jah'nia] Mm-hmm. Yes.
-[Judy] "Uh-huh" is right.

Now, she doesn't owe you anything.

I'm just telling you,
she doesn't owe you anything.

He owes you something
because you were in a relationship.

-[Jah'nia] Right. Yes.
-[Judy] Right?

Why did you wanna fight with her?

This isn't the first time.

It's a whole bunch
of building up animosity.

Like, she has put me
in group chats with other females.

She has said a lot of things
to me in the past,

and I guess it just
built up at that point.

I was pretty over it.
I still am pretty over it.

Well, if she was on group chats
and she was antagonizing you

over periods of time,
why weren't you mad at him?

Oh, I was. I did get mad at him
also all the time.

[Judy]
Did you ever threaten to beat him up?

Mm-hmm. Yes.

[Judy]
Did you ever beat him up?

[chuckles] No.

Well, but you went over to the house
where she was staying with him.

-Right?
-[Jah'nia] Right.

[Judy] And when you got to her house
on November 11, who did you go with?

I went with two of my friends.

-[Judy] Male or female?
-Female.

Were they with you
at the time of the phone call,

or did you call them
to go with you to the house?

They were with me.

-You were out?
-[Jah'nia] Yes.

Where were you?

Um, we were at a bar.

-You and the two friends?
-[Jah'nia] Yes.

[Judy] This was late in the evening.
This was about 12:30.

It was November 10 at 11:00 PM.

-[Judy] So it's late.
-[Jah'nia] Yes.

And so when you went over there,
it was around midnight.

What did you expect to happen?

Oh, I wanted her to come outside.

[Judy]
And what?

I just wanted to argue.
I did wanna fight her. I did.

Okay. I want to tell you
how ridiculous that sounds to me.

And it should sound so ridiculous to you.

You sound like
a perfectly intelligent person.

-[Jah'nia] Mm-hmm.
-[Judy] Right?

Yes.

[Judy]
And he's the prize.

Right now,
he doesn't sound like such a prize.

I had received a phone call
from her friend,

and her friend had threatened
to k*ll me and my baby,

'cause that night was the night
that I also found out I was pregnant.

[announcer]
And later today.

This is about a fight
that the two of you had

that I actually couldn't
be less interested in.

[laughs]

Letting everybody
know that right up front.

You had a fight
at your boyfriend's house, right?

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Trishana Roberts
claims her ex-boyfriend's girlfriend,

Jah'nia Scott,
owes for the cost of keying her car.

So, when you got there, what happened?

She didn't come outside.
She stopped answering.

At a certain point, Marcus came outside
to tell me, like, to calm down.

He was like, "Calm down, like, breathe.
The baby's inside.

Don't make a scene. You're gonna
wake up everybody in the house."

He's like, "I just wanted
to spend time with my daughter."

He couldn't do that earlier,
like at 4:00 in the afternoon?

No, obviously not.

Obviously not.
What were you doing out at a bar?

[Jah'nia] I was meeting up with my friends
because I had to tell them something.

They were at the bar, so I was like,

"I'll just come to the bar
and meet up with you guys."

Okay. Where did he tell you he was?

I had his location, so I knew he was home.

No, no, no. You were just
leaving him home for the evening?

No, I didn't know where he was at.

At first, I didn't know where he was at.

That's why I was getting so upset
because he wasn't answering.

He just said, "I'll talk to you later,"
and I'm like, You're being weird."

That's when I started
getting all the bad feelings.

[Judy]
Okay. Now, Marcus came out.

"Be quiet." Whatever.
What happened next?

After that, he asked me to leave.

And I did leave.

I went back to my friend's car.

We sat in the car for 30 minutes
just sitting there.

For what?

[Jah'nia] I was so mad,
they were trying to calm me down.

We were just talking.

After that is when I had received
a phone call from her friend,

and her friend had threatened
to k*ll me and my baby,

'cause that night was the night
that I also found out I was pregnant.

And then what happened?

[Jah'nia]
Once I left, she had responded back

at, like, 2:00-something in the morning,

and she was saying, like,
"Come back, like, come back.

Where you at? Come back.
Come outside."

[Judy]
And did you?

No, I did not.

Okay, so let's go to the evening.

She arrived.
She said, "I wanna fight you."

Marcus came out.
That, you agree with.

I read your complaint.

Now tell me what you saw.

So what I saw was, her and Marcus,
they got into an altercation outside,

and then he came back inside

and he was just laying there
on the bed with me and the baby.

And so something just told me
to, like, go look out the window.

So when I went to the window,
I saw her and her friend

walking around my car
with a flashlight.

They were looking for
my township's permit parking.

Well, you don't know what they
were looking for, but they were...

I verbally heard it from Marcus that
that's what they were looking for.

-[Judy] Oh.
-He told me.

Marcus, stand up.

Over here.

Marcus, how did you know that they
were looking for the town permit parking?

I did not say that to Trishana.

I have no knowledge
of what she's talking about.

[Judy] Okay.

Now, you did discuss
with her that evening

the fact that she saw
Ms. Scott around her car.

You did discuss...

No, we discussed that
Ms. Scott was outside.

I'm asking you whether
you discussed with Ms. Roberts

that she saw Ms. Scott
outside near her car.

No.

-[Judy] She didn't tell you that?
-No.

When for the first time did you
find out that her car had been vandalized?

About two days after the incident.

Tell me how that happened.

Well, it was when Trishana, when she was
getting ready to leave with the baby.

[Judy]
So she stayed with you for two days?

It wasn't two days. It was about a day
and a half of the next day.

So she stayed with you
for a day and a half.

Yes, it was the next day going into
because she had health problems.

She wasn't in the condition
to drive home by herself.

So she stayed over
until she was ready to drive.

When she was ready
to leave the location,

that's when she realized
that her car had been vandalized.

And when she realized
that her car had been vandalized,

I assume she showed it to you.

Yeah, she sent me a picture of it.

-She didn't notice it...
-But she was at your house.

She didn't notice it
until she left my house,

and that's when
she told me about it.

And when she told you about it,
did you have a discussion

as to who might have vandalized her car?

At the time,
Me and Trishana talked about it.

-I don't remember...
-[Judy] What did she say?

-I don't remember...
-[Judy] Think carefully.

Okay. I don't remember
the particulars about every detail.

I'm not asking you for every detail.
I'm asking you for general details.

She said, "My car is keyed."
What else?

And I asked her what does
she want me to do about it.

I didn't know who scratched
her car at the time, still don't.

When you parked the car outside

when you brought the baby over
to where he was living,

did the car have any marks on it?

No, it's a brand-new car.

I just got it in February that year.

And also Mr. Moore is the one
who told me to move my car

because she knows
what my car looks like.

So I moved it across the street.

It's usually parked in,
like, his little driveway.

But I moved it across the street

'cause I didn't want anything
to happen to my car.

[Judy] Was that after the phone call
that she told you she was coming over?

[Trishana] Yes.

'Cause I had recorded it
and showed him when he was in the shower.

Yeah, so...

And he said,
"You better move your car."

-[Trishana] Yeah.
-[Judy] That sounds accurate.

-Yeah.
-[Judy] That sounds right to me.

Does that sound right to you, Marcus?

-That is right because...
-[Judy exclaims]

-That is right. That is right.
-[Judy] Right.

"Move your car because you don't want
anything to happen to your car."

[Marcus] But that part's not right, Judge.
I didn't mean to cut you off.

No. "Move your car."

[Marcus] Because her...
can I explain?

I have a garage with a driveway
that blocks up the street.

Her vehicle was parked in my driveway.

So, and that's when I told her
to move her car.

Did you hear
the recorded message of Ms. Scott

when she said, "I'm coming over"?

No, I did not,
because when I got out of the shower,

she tried to tell me about it
and I was so upset

that she answered my phone
in the first place

to antagonize her,
because this is not the first instance.

I was so upset,
I did not wanna hear the video.

I was more so concerned
on spending time with my daughter.

Do you have any other evidence to support?

I have a lot.

I'd like to see evidence that you have
to support the fact

that Ms. Scott was the one
who, or one of her friends,

somebody that she was with,
vandalized your car.

She says to you, Marcus,

"Well, she should never
have touched my car."

And you said to her, "I agree,

but that all could have been avoided
had you not touched my phone."

[Marcus] Correct.

[Judy] So you're arguing with him
and he's just saying to you,

"It's not my fault.
Why are you yelling at me?

Why are you mad at me?
I tried to get her to leave."

[Trishana] Right.

[Judy] Okay, so you say to her,
"When you get a quote, let me know."

-Right?
-Yes.

Okay. And you say,
"Just leave Marcus out of it.

He didn't do anything."

-Yes.
-[Judy] "Leave him out of it."

Correct.

And she says to you, "Okay,
and you're paying for my rental too,"

when she gets the car fixed.

Right? So she's having
conversations with you.

Right.

-Do you have a picture of the car?
-[Trishana] Yes.

-It's with you, I believe.
-Oh, yeah.

-[Trishana] The before and after.
-Nasty. Oh.

And I'm satisfied,
based upon all the circumstantial evidence

and the fact that you saw her
around the car, which I believe,

and the fact that I listened to that,
which is ridiculous.

Don't fight over a guy.

It's so ridiculous,
especially when you're pregnant.

That really sounds not smart.

Fourteen hundred dollars
it's gonna cost to fix your car,

which you seem to have acknowledged
in the text messages.

Judgment for the plaintiff
in the amount of $1,400.

-We're finished. Thank you.
-Thank you.

[Kevin]
This court is adjourned.

She parked on a street in a neighborhood
where a lot of things happen,

so it's possible
anybody could have done it.

She did it. I witnessed her literally
walking around my car and keying it.

She couldn't have done it,
and that's why I'm here today

on her behalf,
because I don't believe she did it either.

She just needs to leave me alone.

We have a child together.
I'm not going anywhere.

I hope that she leaves me alone.

Actually, I have to tell you,
he seemed like a reasonable...

Oh, one thing I wrote down,
"a prize with a job."

-We usually don't see that.
-A prize, that's right.

-Yeah, I wrote that down in my notes.
-He was a prize with a job.

Yeah. Still not worth the fight.

[Judy] Never worth a fight,
because if you're fighting over him,

that means that he's being
disloyal to both of you.

I still don't understand
why women get mad at each other

and not get mad at the prize.

[Sarah] It must be part of our nature.
I don't know.

Yeah. I don't know.

Case 3036,
Ladd versus Mendez, Jr.

All parties, please step forward.

[announcer] Jaszmine led is suing
her ex-boyfriend, Gregorio Mendez, Jr.,

for personal items and a broken phone.

Okay. You two young people were dating,
not living together.

You were living with your mother?

Yes, correct.

[Judy]
And you were living?

I was living with him at the time.

So you were living at his mother's house?

Yes, Your Honor.

You have a two-year-old child
with the plaintiff?

No, that's incorrect.
She claims it's mine.

I actually wanna request
a paternity test.

That kid looks nothing like me.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Jaszmine Ladd claims
her ex-boyfriend, Gregorio Mendez, Jr.,

broke her phone
and is wrongfully keeping her belongings.

When did you move
into his mother's house?

I moved in on January 20.

-Of this year?
-[Jaszmine] Yes, Your Honor.

Where had you been living before that?

I had been living with my grandma,
Your Honor.

[Judy] How long had you been living
with your grandmother?

I had been living with her
ever since I graduated high school.

And when was that?
-[Jaszmine] Back in 2021.

[Judy]
So you're about 20?

Yes, Your Honor.

-Do you work?
-[Jaszmine] No, Your Honor.

-[Judy] Do you go to school?
-No, Your Honor.

-[Judy] What do you do?
-I watch my kids at home.

-How many children do you have?
-[Jaszmine] I have two.

[Judy]
How old are they?

[Jaszmine]
One is two years old and one is one.

Is he the father of either one?

Yes, Your Honor.

[Judy]
Where are both children now?

They're staying at my grandparent's house,
where I live currently.

You currently live with your grandparents?
You're back again with your grandparents?

Yes.

[Judy] When you went to live
with the defendant in January,

did you take the two children with you?

No, Your Honor.

[Judy]
You left them with your grandparents?

-[Jaszmine] Yes, Your Honor.
-Why?

Because I realized that it wasn't safe
over there where he was.

And he said,
"Oh, that's not my child."

[Judy]
Why did you move in with him?

Because I felt
like I loved him at the time,

but it was wrong because
he turned out to be a narcissist.

[Judy] As long as you I recognize that
that was the wrong thing to do.

Yes, it was, Your Honor.

Of course, they can come and go
and whatever.

Uncross your arms.

[Gregorio]
Oh, I'm sorry.

[Judy] They can come and go,
you know, and flit around,

but you have a responsibility,

if you made two babies,
to be there with them all the time.

Your grandparents
didn't sign on to be new parents

to a one- and a two-year-old.

-[Jaszmine] Yes, Your Honor.
-[Judy] Mm-hmm.

-Do your grandparents work?
-No, they don't.

But they have custody over my kids.

-They have legal custody?
-[Jaszmine] Yes.

My grandma recently
got legal custody over my kids

because of the situation
that had happened.

So why aren't you working?

Right now, I am currently
not working because I had a job,

but then I was trying to find another one,
and it just didn't work out yet.

Get a job.

Yes, Your Honor.

Get a job. It's the only way
you're ever going to be free.

Yes, Your Honor.

[Judy]
You have a responsibility.

You had children
when you were 18 years old.

Sort of ridiculous.

You understand that you have
a responsibility to be there,

-to parent them?
-[Jaszmine] Yes, Your Honor.

This is about a fight
that the two of you had

that I actually couldn't be
less interested in. [laughs]

Letting everybody
know that right up front.

You had a fight
at your boyfriend's house.

-Right?
-Yes, Your Honor. Yes.

[Judy] Yeah, and this fight
took place on what date?

It took place on the 14th.

-[Judy] Of what?
-[Jaszmine] March.

What were you arguing about?

We were arguing about that
he told me that I'm too fat

and I'm not good enough for him.

-Did you say that to her?
-[Gregorio] Yes.

[Judy]
Those words. Okay.

Mr. Mendez, Jr., how old are you?

[Gregorio] I'm 22.

[Judy]
You have a child with the plaintiff?

No, that's incorrect.
She claims it's mine.

I actually wanna request
a paternity test.

That kid looks nothing like me.

Have you gone to court
with regard to that child?

No, Your Honor.

[Judy]
Is he the father of that child?

Yes, he is, Your Honor.

Well, then he should be paying support
to your grandparents, and so should you.

Yes, Your Honor.

-Get a job.
-[Jaszmine] Yes, Your Honor.

[Judy]
Take him to court.

Yes, Your Honor.

They'll give him a DNA test,
takes a second.

They'll swab him and take a DNA test.
One, two, three.

He'll be comfortable
with whether or not he's paying support

for a child that is biologically his.

-[Jaszmine] Yes, Your Honor.
-[Judy] That's all.

I have tried doing that.
My mom even got the test to do it.

She just never wanted
to do the test with the kid.

[Judy]
Well, let me ask you this question, sir.

If the child is yours,

don't you think that
you would like to be part of his life,

know that he has a father, right?

I've tried making, you know,
I'm doing my best to be a dad.

No, no, no. Go to court.

[Gregorio] Yes.

Take a day off,
file a petition for visitation.

[Gregorio] Yes.

And in the petition for visitation,
you'll ask for a paternity test.

[Gregorio] Okay.

You can't go in and ask
for an order of support,

but your grandparents can
and you can join them.

Yes.

[Judy] But this child
should know who his father is.

You say he's his father.
He says, "I may be, I don't know."

But if he is, he should be paying support.

Anyway, you had this fight
on March 14,

and because he said some things
that were insulting to you.

Yes, Your Honor.

[Judy] And then
you called somebody to come

and pick you up from the house?

[Jaszmine]
Yes, Your Honor.

[Judy] And then you got
into some sort of a fight.

-Right?
-Yeah.

Did you scratch his face?

No, I didn't touch him at all.

[Judy]
Okay. Did he put his hands on you?

-Yes, Your Honor.
-[Judy] He pushed you.

[Jaszmine]
Yes, he pushed me against the wall.

-No.
-[Judy] Okay.

And you say she scratched you
and left marks.

Could I see the pictures of that?

Yes, I do have pictures.

[Judy]
Were the police called?

[Jaszmine]
Yes, Your Honor.

-[Judy] Do you have a police report?
-Yes, Your Honor.

[Judy]
I'd like to take a look.

[Gregorio]
Thank you.

I'll take both, please.

So there's one
right above your wristwatch.

Is that right?
That's a scratch on your hand?

-[Gregorio] Yes.
-Anything else?

There's still more you can see...

[Judy] No, no, no. Anything else?
Should I swipe?

Is there any other picture?

Just this little scratch on your hand.

[Jaszmine] Those are the two dates that
the police got called two times on him.

This doesn't say anything.

[Jaszmine] That's all that
they gave me, Your Honor.

[Judy]
Okay, well, it doesn't say anything.

He called you some names.

You called a friend
to come and pick you up.

And then what happened?
He pushed you. And then what happened?

[Jaszmine]
He told me to walk home.

And then I got outside
and that he actually had to take me home.

-[Judy] He took you home?
-[Jaszmine] He had to, yeah.

-[Judy] He took you home?
-[Jaszmine] Yes, he did, Your Honor.

[Judy]
Why are you here?

To get my stuff back.

And so you have stuff there
because you were living there?

[Jaszmine]
Yes, Your Honor.

Okay. Now, Mr. Mendez,
listen to me carefully, sir.

Who is this?

My girlfriend.

[Judy]
What use does she have here?

[Gregorio]
She has evidence and has...

[Judy]
Evidence of what?

When we broke up, she actually
went to her house, causing chaos.

[Judy] I don't care.
And I don't know why she's here.

What I'm asking you is,
do you have property In your house

that belongs to the plaintiff?

'Cause she was living
with you for two months.

Do you have property of hers?

-Yes.
-[Judy] What did you do with it?

-[Gregorio] It's here.
-Oh, here. So it's here?

-Yeah.
-[Judy] Great. Terrific.

And I also wanna sue him
for breaking my phone

because I had to get a new one.

-Did you break her phone?
-[Gregorio] No, I didn't.

Did she break your phone?

-Yes.
-[Judy] Yeah. Okay. Good.

Well, you sort of deserve each other.

You have your property back.
Goodbye.

This case is over.
We're done. Goodbye.

-Thank you.
-[Kevin] This court is adjourned.

People really need to see
who a narcissist like him is and learn.

You know, I'm doing the most I can.

You know, I do landscaping,
set up tables and chairs.

What is she doing,
at the end of the day?

Everything escalated to that fight
because he started comparing me,

telling me that I'm ugly
and saying harsh words to me.

She scratched me multiple times.

She even grabbed my neck
and scratched my face a couple times.

Time to take care of me.

Hopefully, that's not my kid.

But if it is my kid,
I gotta make the best of it,

be the best dad.

When the defendant actually acknowledged
calling the plaintiff,

who potentially is the mother
of one of his children,

that he called her fat and ugly
and not good enough for him,

my favorite line of yours
of all time, hands down,

"If you were the prize
at the end of a race,

-I would start running backwards."
-[Judy laughs]

That, I don't know where they get off,
but that one-liner, the whole time

that case is going on,
that's all I could think about.

If you don't have the custody
of your children and you're 20 years old,

-have a job.
-Yeah.

I don't know. I get so frustrated,
but I'm not going to get frustrated.

I'm going to have lunch.

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