03x39 - Friendship Turned Live-Streaming Fisticuffs

[bunniefuu]

She thought you were
in an exclusive relationship.

We're just dating.

[Judy] Why would a person ask a woman,
who he was just "dating",

for money?

-Um...
-"Um" is not an answer.

You are so lucky.

You should kiss the ground
that you're standing on.

[narrator] This is Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

Bailiff Cassandra Britt is standing in
for bailiff Kevin Rasco.

And law clerk Alexei Mentzer
is sitting in for law clerk Sarah Rose.

Tanisha Merriweather is suing
her ex-boyfriend, Tye Womack,

for a business loan he failed to pay back.

[Cassandra] Court come to order. All rise.

Have a seat, please.

[Cassandra] Case number 3070,

-Merriweather versus Womack.
-Thank you.

Ms. Merriweather, you and the defendant
were, sort of, briefly in a relationship.

-Is that correct?
-Yes.

And it is your claim, that during
the course of that relationship

-you made a loan to him.
-That's correct.

-And that loan was to start a business.
-Yes.

-He hasn't paid you back.
-Not yet.

Mr. Womack says that you did,
in fact, give him that money.

Which you're gonna show me
where you took it from, right?

Yes.

That he didn't start the business because
he got preoccupied with other things.

-Correct.
-But it was a gift.

-[Tanisha huffs]
-Right?

-Correct.
-Okay.

Mr. Womack, when and where
did you meet the plaintiff?

Uh, we met online and we started dating.

On what online?

Just online.

Isn't there a site, a place, Facebook?
Where did you meet?

It's an online dating app called "Black".

-And when did you meet?
-Uh, May 2022.

-That's when you first met online?
-Yes.

When did you meet in person?

It was toward the end of May,
maybe, like, May 29th.

-You both live in the same area?
-Correct.

Where do you live?

I live in Los Angeles.

-And you, sir?
-Inglewood.

What kind of work do you do,
Ms. Merriweather?

I work for a re-entry program.

So we assess
formally incarcerated individuals.

So we help them with housing,
employment, and education.

-What do you do, sir?
-Freelance production.

So, pretty much all of this
that's going on.

Doing what?

Production coordinator. Um, writer.

Everything associated with film and TV.

-Who do you live with, sir?
-Myself.

-Who do you live with?
-Myself.

-Ever been married?
-No.

-You?
-No.

-Have kids?
-[Tanisha] Yes, one.

-How old?
-Twelve.

-Boy or girl?
-It's a girl.

-Lives with you?
-Yes, she does.

-And you, sir?
-Three.

-How old are they?
-Seventeen, 15, and six.

-Are they also in Los Angeles?
-They are.

-Do you see them?
-Often.

-Who do they live with?
-Their mothers.

But each one has their own room
at my house.

-In your house?
-Yes.

You pay support for them?

-No, we don't have support set up.
-Okay.

The two of you met
online in May '22,

and at the end of May,
for the first time...

At that time, Mr. Womack,
what kind of work were you doing in May?

-Production.
-According to what I read,

that sort of dried up
and you were blowing through your savings.

I wouldn't say that.

I did wrap a show

and Ms. Merriweather asked me, uh,
what my plans were,

if I had any business aspirations.

-I told her, um...
-What month was this?

I'd like to say the end of 2022.

So you were dating from May of 2022
through December?

Yes.

Were you and Ms. Merriweather,
at least on your part,

exclusive in your dating?

No.

-Were you?
-[Tanisha] Yes.

-Did you know he was not?
-No.

Voilà.

From May of 2022 to December.

Did you ever tell Ms. Merriweather
that you were seeing other people?

I let her know that "dating"
was seeing other people.

And that we were dating,
we weren't in an exclusive relationship.

Tell me how you explained that to her.
I'm just curious.

Because this $5,000
is a whole bunch of money.

So I would like to know

how you explained to her
that she was just a date.

That we were dating, um...

And in dating you date other people.
You see other people.

-Um...
-Well,

I wanna know how you conveyed that
to Ms. Merriweather.

'Cause this comes in a little bit later
in your story, sir.

She said she didn't know
that you were dating other people.

We never had any talks of exclusivity.

That's not my question.

[Tye] I don't know
how to explain it, but, um,

I just let her know that we were dating.

And she was free to do
whatever she wanted to do.

-You also told me...
-[Judy] Shh. I'm getting it.

Okay.

When you had this discussion

about this brainstorm that you were doing

about how to add some money
to your bank account...

You're in the production business.

What do you know about
the used car business?

-Um...
-"Um" is not an answer.

-I've been in...
-I've been in cars too,

but I don't know anything
about flipping cars.

I just know that I drive a car.
What do you know about it?

I've gone to school for mechanics,
so I know how to fix a car.

Great.

But about selling, I haven't done it.

-So I was just...
-About doing anything, how to buy,

where to buy,

-how to sell...
-I have attended auctions before.

-I have purchased cars...
-You have?

-...from auctions before.
-Oh, good.

And so, you must've told that
to Ms. Merriweather.

-I did.
-Okay.

'Cause she wouldn't have guessed that.

For instance, I wouldn't say to, you know,
my memory is not what it used to be...

But if I were dating a guy
who was in production,

all different kinds,

I wouldn't say, "By the way,
did you ever fix cars?"

-You understand?
-Yeah.

That had to come up
in a conversation somehow.

-It did.
-I want you to tell me how.

-This is the end of the year.
-We were talking about

things that I've done.

I mentioned different jobs that I had.

How did it come up? You must've said,

"You know what, my job wrapped
and I don't have a steady income now.

And I have three kids
and I have to support myself.

They all have a room in my house."

It had to have something.

You aren't living together.
You each have your own space. Right?

-Yes.
-Okay.

It had to come up somehow.
It's not a guessing game.

You know, she wasn't like Johnny Carson
and Carnac, what's in the envelope?

You know, the answer to the question is...

It had to come up
by you saying something to her, sir.

So we were having a conversation
about the show wrapping.

She asked me if I had any,
anything lined up.

What any business ideas
that I may have had.

-I shared them with her.
-What did you say to her?

She said, "What's lined up?
Your show wrapped. What's lined up?"

I have an idea for purchasing cars
and flipping cars.

-You said to her?
-Yes.

Okay.

And I asked her,
"Are you asking me out of curiosity

or because you wanna help?"

-She said a little of both.
-Why would you...

Why would you ask somebody
that you were just dating

-for financial help?
-Because, again, we're just dating.

-So if...
-That's what I'm asking you.

Why would a person of character

ask a woman who he was just "dating"
for money?

Any brothers and sisters,
Mr. Womack?

-I do.
-How many?

-Too many to count.
-Too many to count?

I can count all the way up to 100.

You're a hustler, Mr. Womack.

[narrator] And later today...

-Who do you live with, sir?
-I live in the wind.

-You live in the wind?
-Yes.

Whatever direction it's going,
it's where I live.

I've always wanted to meet somebody
who lived in the wind.

Now my dream has come true.

[theme music playing]

[narrator] Tanisha Merriweather claims
her ex-boyfriend, Tye, Womack,

owes for a loan she gave him
for a car-flipping business.

A grown man asks a person,
who is self-supporting,

takes care of a child
who lives with her full time...

Why would you ask her for money?

I didn't ask her for money,
she offered the money to me.

-How does that happen, sir?
-Over the course of the conversation.

And then she let me know, you know,
that business venture you were into?

I'm gonna give you the money.

Ms. Merriweather.
You have a 12-year-old daughter.

-She go to school?
-Yes.

-She does okay in school?
-Yes, she does.

Does she have plans
on going on to higher education?

Yes, she does.

Yeah. You have
all of her college money put away?

Not all of it, no.

-You saved some?
-I'm saving, yes.

You're saving.

-So your daughter can go to school.
-Yes.

You wouldn't give somebody
that you were casually dating,

who was dating other people,
money, just as a gift?

No, I would not.

Why would you do that?
You don't look like an idiot.

[chuckles] I'm not.

Mr. Womack, I can understand that
if you had an exclusive relationship

and you both thought
you were gonna build a life together,

and you were struggling financially,

and you had a discussion about how
you could improve your financial profile,

that I can understand.

But let's see what you told me, sir.

'Cause this is all about
loan, gift, gift, loan...

She thought you were
in an exclusive relationship.

You, not so much.

You had an idea for flip cars
to make some money.

According to you, she said I can help.

-Right? With that business. Right?
-Yes.

Not to give it to you
so that you could support your kids.

Or to go out and find a new girlfriend.

-No.
-Which you did.

According to you, that's what you did.

So, let me understand,

you said to her I'm going to use the money
to start a business

to flip cars.

Is that what you're telling me?

-Yes.
-But then you didn't.

You've given me a whole lot of reasons
in your answer as to why you didn't.

So let me see if I remember.

You said you were preoccupied
with your mother's illness.

-Right?
-Yes.

And then she started to ask you
a whole lot of things

while you were preoccupied
with your mother's illness.

Like, where to go to dinner,

or will you go to Disneyland,

or other,
that you considered silly things,

considering your situation
with your mother.

-That's what you say in your answer.
-Yes.

But you weren't so preoccupied
with your mother

that you didn't find another girlfriend.

'Cause that's what
you also say in your answer.

So somehow,
between taking care of your mother

and this alleged business,

you found time to find a new girlfriend.

Correct.

And you never did buy a car
or start the business.

-That's what you also said.
-First off,

-she was never my girlfriend.
-That's not what I asked you.

-A "new girlfriend" was not what she was.
-I didn't say that.

Would that be correct?

Let's read the question back to him,
Whitney, that I posed to him.

'Cause he didn't give me
the answer to my question.

"But you weren't so preoccupied
with your mother

that you didn't find another girlfriend.

Because that's what
you also say in your answer.

Somehow,
between taking care of your mother

and this alleged business,

you found time to find a new girlfriend.

-Correct?"
-Not a new girlfriend.

She was never my girlfriend to start with.

You mean she was never. But you found...
Strike, just a... Strike the word "new".

It was a sufficient girlfriend
for you to put in your answer.

-So, while dating other people...
-No, no. Not what I asked you, sir.

You want me to read the question again?

You managed to find another girlfriend.

-No.
-No.

-Did you buy a car?
-No.

I'm gonna ask you the $24,000 question.

Or, excuse me, the $64,000 question.

What did you do with her money?

-I used it towards my mother's funeral.
-Really?

-Is that what she gave you the money for?
-No.

-Then you took...
-She also let me know

that I could use the money
for other things.

-And I told her...
-Just a second.

Just a second. Ms. Merriweather.

Did he tell you he used that money
for his mother's funeral?

-No, he didn't. No.
-[Judy laughs]

[Tye] We weren't talking at that time.

-When did your mother die?
-Uh, March, this year.

So she gave you the money in what month?

What month did she give you the money?

December, January.

-Look there.
-[Tanisha] December, 2022.

You had December.
So you had Christmas for your kids, right?

You had January. Whole month of January.
So what you're telling me is

you didn't spend
any of that money in December.

You didn't spend
any of the money in January.

You didn't spend
any of the money in February.

You saved it all up
for your mother's funeral?

[Tye] December and January,
I'm not sure if you remember,

it was really rainy
and we had months of rain.

Like, two solid months of rain.

There were no auctions to go to
because they're outdoors.

-And?
-So I couldn't go.

[Judy scoffs] You are so lucky.

You are so lucky, you should kiss
the ground that you're standing on.

He has three children,

who have two or three mothers.

I know, at least two.
Three mothers? Right.

And he took your money

and spent it on himself.

-Right?
-Yes. Yeah.

Any brothers or sisters, Mr. Womack?

-I do.
-How many?

-Too many to count.
-Too many to count?

I can count all the way up to 100.

You're a hustler, Mr. Womack.

Can I see the $5,000 that you gave him?

You're a hustler, and you should
thank your lucky stars, madam,

that you didn't involve him
in your daughter's life.

'Cause it would be a terrible thing

to involve a hustler
in your daughter's life.

Judgement for the plaintiff
in the amount of $5,000.

-We are finished.
-[Tye] Thanks. Great.

[Cassandra] Court is adjourned.

It was a gift.
She gave me the money.

He knew that he owed me the money
that I loaned him.

It was not a gift for him
to use for his mother's funeral.

She gave me the money.

And I told her once I got
money from the business

that I would pay her back.

Or she could become a partner
in the business.

No, we had a conversation
about him starting a business.

He came to pick the money up
from me and I gave him cash

for him to start his business,
and also repay me.

And had I been with her, she'd never
ask me for that money ever again.

No, he owes me, and it was
for a business that he started.

It was an investment.

Out of the blue, she showed up at
my house with some subpoenas.

He didn't respond back.

He blocked me and that was it.

I'm not gonna loan out any
more money to anyone I'm dating.

[Judy] Okay, my clerk,
so this is my take on this case.

I made a decision today

based on what I perceived as the facts,

and the relationship
between these two people.

The fact that I think she got hoodwinked.

So, now I want you to give me
a legal rationale for what I just did.

Sure. So, he accepted money
for a car-flipping business.

And he's under a legal obligation
to exercise best efforts

to put that money
towards his car-flipping business.

And he used it
for reasons outside of that.

This was not a no-strings-attached gift.

This was for car flipping.

-He has to use it for that.
-I buy that. Thank you.

Case number 3069, Finley versus Neal.

Please come forward.

[narrator] Aaliyah Finley is suing
her children's father, Jason Neal,

for property damage
and emotional distress.

Ms. Finley, you and the defendant
have three children together.

-Correct.
-And it is your claim

that he destroyed some property of yours.

And that he subjected you
to emotional distress.

Yes.

I've had a few husbands
who subjected me to emotional distress

over the years.

Comes with the territory sometimes.

I looked at your claim.

I have to tell you,
before we even get started,

Ms. Finley, 'cause I'm a very fair person,

I was unimpressed with your claim.

I really don't know
what you're doing here, seeking $5,000.

From January 7th, 2022, Mr. Neal,

up until today's date,

were you and the plaintiff intimate?

-Uh...
-Shush. Nuh-uh. Look at me.

"Uh" is not an answer.

[theme music playing]

[narrator] Aaliyah Finley
claims her children's father,

Jason Neal, owes for property damage

and emotional distress.

So, let's get to some facts
and I can move on with things

that are current and important.

Your three children are how old?

Three, two, and one.

And the defendant is the father
of all those children.

Correct.

-Did you ever live together?
-No.

-Who do you live with?
-I live alone with my children.

-You work?
-Yes.

Who takes care of the children?

-While I'm at work or...
-Yeah, while you're at work.

They go to daycare
in between my mother and my sister.

-Who do you live with, sir?
-I live in the wind.

-You live in the wind.
-Yes.

Whatever direction it's going,
that's where I live.

I've always wanted to meet somebody
who lived in the wind.

Now my dream has come true.

Okay. He destroyed your property.

When was the first time he destroyed
your property and what did he destroy?

He vandalized my car.

-He vandalized your car.
-Yes.

-Month and year.
-September 29th, 2021.

And what have you been doing
since September of 2021?

We're now two years later.

During that time, my father had died,
so it was a lot going on.

I had to deal
with the death of my father.

I was pregnant as well.

-My father's from Texas...
-You've had two children

-with him since he vandalized your car.
-No. I did not.

-One?
-One.

I was pregnant with our last child
when he vandalized my car.

-You're child is one.
-She's 16 months.

I was pregnant with her.

What else did he do?

By the way, did you drive that car?

Yes, that was my personal car.

-Do you still have it?
-Yes.

-You still have it?
-Yeah.

Yeah. Did you fix it?

No, it was $4,500 to fix the radio.

Well, he's not paying you $4,500
for something that happened two years ago.

-What's next?
-After that, he broke my phone.

[Judy] Month and year
that he broke your phone.

Mm, it was at our baby shower.

It was probably, like,
I wanna say January of 2022.

-Well, that's a year and a half ago.
-Mm-hmm.

And you managed to have a baby shower.

-Yeah.
-Right?

-So you had a baby shower.
-Mm-hmm.

And that was after the car was vandalized.

-Yes.
-Yeah. Okay.

And tell me about the phone.

-Um...
-Thirty seconds or less.

Okay, so basically, um, with the phone

I was having a dispute with a friend.

And I guess he didn't like
what was being said,

so he just took my phone
to end the conversation

-and threw my phone.
-Threw it where?

On the ground.

-What happened to it?
-The screen cracked.

-Is that the phone?
-No.

So what happened to the phone?

It was broke.
It was, like, the screen broke

and there was ink on the screen.

So what did you do?
Did you get a new phone?

-Yes.
-When?

-The next day.
-You have the receipt?

I don't have the receipt
for the new phone,

but I have a receipt
for the phone he broke.

I need a receipt for the new phone.

I don't have that, ma'am.

Then you don't have a case
with regard to the phone. What's next?

He broke my necklace.

He broke your necklace.
When did he break your necklace?

Around the same time.

[Judy] Tell me about it.

So, this is at the baby shower.

-It was at the baby shower?
-Yes.

-Was it the same baby shower?
-Yes.

I made a joke and he didn't like it.

So I was like, he's only here because, um,
I, like, made him come.

He's not here because I love you.

He grabbed my neck and pulled me closer
to try to kiss him

and I didn't want to do that,
so my necklace broke.

And this all happened in...

-It all happened...
-January of 2022.

Yes.

Mr. Neal, I'm going to ask you a question.

Do you remember the date
of the baby shower?

Absolutely.

-What's the date of the baby shower?
-Oh, man. [laughs]

But you said "absolutely".
Uncross your arms.

-Um...
-Oh, God.

[Judy] What's the date of the baby shower?

I think it was January 7th.

-In whose house?
-Um, a family member's.

From January 7th, 2022, Mr. Neal,
up until today's date,

were you and the plaintiff intimate?

-Uh...
-Shush. Nuh-uh. Look at me.

"Uh" is not an answer.

That's either a yes or a no.
You should remember that.

Yes.

-Yes, absolutely.
-[Judy] Yes. Yes, absolutely.

And if I were to ask you
the same question, Ms. Finley,

between January,
when he tried to pull you close

and to kiss you and broke your necklace
'cause you didn't want to kiss him,

have you and the defendant been intimate?

No.

I don't believe that.

In any event, whether I believe it or not,

you have no case against him.
Your case is nonsense.

I wrote "nonsense" when I read it.

-But are you sure...
-The case is dismissed.

We're done. Thank you.

[Cassandra] Case is closed.
This court is adjourned.

I didn't really like it.

I'm feeling the way I look, good, man.
You know, everything is copacetic.

'Cause he hates himself.

When you do things,
you know, out of spite,

you never prevail, you know.

I didn't tolerate it.

Oh, she lied, she...
You know, defamation of character.

You're gonna stand up there
and tell them you're not intimate with me.

Look at me. How are you
not gonna be intimate with me?

I hope he just gets his life together.

We keep our space and we continue
to gravitate in different directions.

I did move on.

Oh, I'll always be there.
We're gonna co-parent, regardless.

But significant others? No.
I won't be tanging that no more.

I feel like because he's in a position
where he has nothing,

so he wants no one to have anything.

Back in the wind.
That's the way I like it.

I think that case
can be summed up in a moment.

You asked the defendant do you know
when your child's baby shower was?

And he said absolutely.

Said okay, what's the date?

Um, well, hmm, let me think about it.

-That was it.
-Yeah.

-That's a funny moment.
-Yeah.

-That's gonna be a TikTok moment.
-Yeah.

[narrator] Are you a victim of a scam?


[theme music playing]