01x85 - Ghosted Tickets; Staged Furniture Fail

[bunniefuu]

You purchased tickets from the defendant,

sent her money, never got the tickets?

You have proof to me
that you sent her the money?

Yes, ma'am.

And she sent you no tickets?

Correct. Yes.

Can I explain why I did it?

I'm waiting for your story.

Make it one that this face
is gonna believe and understand.

[announcer] This is Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Jaclyn Okwumabua
is suing ticket seller,

Rayven Walker,

for a refund of music festival tickets.

[Kevin] Court comes to order. All rise.

Be seated, please.

[Kevin] Hello, Judge. Case number 1167,

Okwumabua versus Walker.

[Judge Judy] That's a mouthful.

Okwumabua?

[Jaclyn] Okwumabua.

How about O?

[chuckles] Yeah. That works, Jacky O.

[Judge Judy] Does that work...
does that work for you?

- Yes, ma'am.
- [Judge Judy] Okay.

Ms. O, tell me about this concert
you wanted to attend.

It is a music festival.

It's called Rolling Loud.

They have different locations.

Basically, once the state started
lifting their quarantine orders,

the one in Miami
was the first one that occurred.

So that happened
in July of this year, 2021.

And that was the concert
you wanted to attend?

And that was the concert
I wanted to, to attend.

[Judge Judy] According to your complaint,
you purchased tickets

from the defendant, sent her money.

She never sent the tickets?

She says you never sent her the money.

This is what the case is about.

How did you locate the tickets?

What do you mean by locate the tickets?

If I want tickets to...
I don't go to music festivals.

- Uh-hmm.
- [Judge Judy] I'm much too old

for music festivals.

But if I wanted theater tickets,

- I call the Box Office.
- [Jaclyn] Uh-hmm.

Ticket agent.

But I know that young people
do things differently today.

Their lives and their worlds
are all tied up in the internet.

[Jaclyn] Uh-hmm.

[Judge Judy] So just to educate myself.

[Jaclyn] Okay. So there's a lot
of ways to purchase tickets.

You can either go to the hosting
website which is the Rolling Loud.

You can also go
through third parties website.

And then the one I...

[Judge Judy] How do you get
to the third party website?

You can Google.

- You just go to the website.
- [Jaclyn] You can Google

and depending on what concert
you want to go to,

you can just type it in
and it will pull up, like, pricings.

And that way,
people who want to sell their tickets,

I'm able to see them
and I can pay for them

and then have them get sent to me.

Okay. Is that what you did
with the defendant?

[Jaclyn] No. What I did...
and I was gonna...

- So eliminate number one and number two.
- [Jaclyn] Yes.

So I went the route of joining

a private group via Facebook.

- And it was...
- And what's the name

- of the private group?
- Rolling Loud.

Okay. Rolling Loud?

Yes.

[Judge Judy] I'd just like to see
what that looks like if it still exists.

- Sure.
- [Jaclyn] It does.

- [Judge Judy] It does?
- [Jaclyn] Yes.

Just so that I understand it.

Yeah. No, that's fine.

[Judge Judy]
You can always learn something.

[Jaclyn] Yeah.

So it looks like there's a couple
different groups,

the one she's talking about
is a private group.

But it looks like a few of them
have been taken down since then,

since the event has already happened.

Right. That's what I thought.

But could I just take a look
and see what it looks like.

[Sarah] Sure.

So this is official Facebook page.

And then you can go
to who else is following this page,

that many people.

And they create their own private groups

in order to exchange tickets or sell them.

[Judge Judy] Okay. And is that
how you found the defendant?

- Yes.
- On what date?

I believe my first day
of talking with her was June 4th.

- I don't know...
- [Judge Judy] Speaking to her

- over the internet or...
- Over the internet

through Facebook, yes.

I responded to her Facebook post,

she had mentioned she had two VIP.

Do you have that Facebook post?

I don't have the Facebook post.

I just have the messages that me
and her exchanged.

- May I see it?
- [Jaclyn] Yes, you may.

[Judge Judy] Where do you live
by the way, Ms. O?

[Jaclyn] I stay
in Monterey Park, California.

- And you?
- Saint Louis, Missouri.

What was wrong with your car, Ms. Walker?

I was having transmission issues
or what I thought at the time...

- [Judge Judy] Just...
- ...was transmission issues.

How did that manifest itself?

[Rayven] Just...
it wasn't running properly.

How do you think I knew
you were having car trouble?

'Cause it was in the messages.

No, your messages are deleted.

- Okay.
- [Judge Judy] Hers aren't.

You can't delete her messages
but you deleted yours.

- Yes, ma'am.
- So how do you think

I know you had car trouble?

I'm not quite sure.

It might have been something that I wrote

in the Rolling Loud chat
that I was having car troubles

and that's why I was trying
to sell tickets.

- Oh.
- Then I'm not a hundred percent sure.

Oh. I'm only looking at text messages,

hers that you didn't delete

- but yours that you did delete.
- Uh-hmm.

I want you to dwell on that for a moment

before you give me
the next couple of answers.

How did I know

that you were having car trouble,

when you purposely deleted
all your messages to her?

I don't know.

[Judge Judy] I understand
that you don't know.

I want you to think about how I knew

you had car trouble with your car

when you don't say it in here?

- Think about that.
- Okay.

[Judge Judy]
I hope it makes you uncomfortable

for the next couple of minutes.

So, you were going to go with a friend

and each of you were paying
half of the money,

the two tickets worth $1,500

which the defendant
needed to pay for her car?

- Correct.
- [Judge Judy] Which wasn't working?

[Jaclyn] I... yeah.

You have proof to me that you sent her
the money for the tickets?

[Jaclyn] I sure do.

[Judge Judy] I'd like to see it.

So I made my payments via Cash App.

I also have her confirmation
of her sending me the money

and then I sent the whole...

- I see it in your texts to her.
- [Jaclyn] Okay.

- Uh-hmm.
- [Judge Judy] You got your money first

and you were waiting for your friends,

sent your friends,

she was at work,
she'd be home in 15 minutes.

Correct. Yes. [chuckles]

Okay. Now, I'm waiting for your story.

Make it a good one, Ms. Walker.

Make it one that this face
that knew you were having car trouble...

- [Rayven] So...
- ...is gonna believe and understand.

I met her through the Facebook group
like she mentioned.

We messaged for probably
about a week I will say,

just back and forth.

We talked about her sending me the money.

I am aware that her friend
was going to send me the other half.

We talked about the address that
I was supposed to send the tickets to,

all this other stuff.

She never sent me the money

and that's why nothing came of it.

[Judge Judy] Explain to me
why you deleted your text?

Because she was someone
that I wasn't talking to anymore,

there were just...

[theme music playing]

[Judge Judy] I want anybody

to raise their hand if they've ever

just deleted their portion
of a conversation

leaving only the dialogue
of the other person?

Look around.

[announcer] And later today.

Oh, well, there is a caveat here.

- May I say something, Your Honor?
- [Judge Judy] No, no, no.

- No, no, no.
- He wasn't truthful to me.

[Judge Judy] It's a... I... don't...

- [Julio] He didn't...
- You asked me if you can say something,

I said no.
What part of no didn't you understand?

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Jaclyn Okwumabua
claims ticket seller,

Rayven Walker, is responsible for the cost

of music festival tickets
she never received.

What I want to know is,

say to myself, "Self,

why would I go through the trouble

of just deleting my answers

to somebody's texts?

Why would I do that?"

We're gonna do a survey here, Ms. Walker.

- Okay.
- [Judge Judy] We have a gallery,

we have four people here.

I know this person intimately.

I know that she uses her machine

to communicate
with the majority of the world.

I don't know about Whitney that much,

she's a tad older,

but still uses the internet.

- Uh-hmm.
- [Judge Judy] Kevin,

I'm not so sure
how often he uses the internet.

[Kevin chuckles]

[Judge Judy] Feel he'd rather be
puttering around his house,

fixing things,

but maybe once in a while.

And I don't know about the people here
but I see a lot of young people.

I want anybody

to raise their hand
if they've ever just deleted

their portion of a conversation

that they've had with somebody,

just their portion of the conversation,

leaving only the dialog
of the other person,

has anybody ever done that?

Look around.

Not a soul.

Do you know why?

Can I explain why I did it?

You just told me why you did it.

You wanna read back to me,
Whitney, why she told me she did it?

Just not logical, right?

You mean, deleting the whole conversation?

Yeah. Delete the whole conversation maybe.

: So you asked her,
"Explain to me why you deleted your text?"

She said, "Because she was someone
that I wasn't talking to anymore."

That's exactly right.

Judgment for the plaintiff
in the amount of...

you sent $1,500?

Yes, I did.

Fifteen hundred...
and she sent you no tickets?

- She sent me no tickets.
- [Judge Judy] We're done.

Thank you very much.

[Kevin] Court is adjourned.

She didn't send me any money, so.

It sucks that I have to give her
something that I didn't receive.

Judge Judy, she saw the receipts
for herself, so.

My transactions for my Cash App,

there was nothing ever sent on that day.

There was nothing ever sent, period.

Unfortunately, you got to reap
what you sow at some point, right?

[Judge Judy] Did you ever buy anything
from a private person on the internet?

I personally have not.

I'll buy them direct from the website
as she was mentioning.

I've used those,
but never just on Facebook

or Craigslist or anything like that.

If you buy from private person,

what recourse do you have
if you don't get the merchandise

that you've agreed to?

[Sarah] Honestly,
that's why I don't do it.

I don't believe there really is one.

And I think that someone
who wants to get around the system

and potentially scam people,
that's the easiest way to do it.

I remember one case we had
years and years ago, Sarah.

Somebody advertising,

had a photo of the most current iPhone

- with a price.
- [Sarah] Uh-hmm.

[Judge Judy] And the plaintiff
sent the money for the phone

and in return,
got the photograph of the phone.

[Sarah] I've seen many stories like that.

[Judge Judy] And that was the case.

And she said that,
"Well, that's what I was selling.

It was a photograph of a phone."

I said, "This is a cautionary tale

to anybody who purchases things

- from unknown people..."
- [Sarah] Independent. Uh-hmm.

"...where you have no recourse."

- [Sarah] I agree.
- Okay.

Case number 1166.

David versus Paz, please step forward.

[announcer] Sherman Davis
is suing furniture stager,

Julio Paz, for storage fees
and the cost of furniture.

Mr. Davis, let me see
if I can briefly state

what I believe your cause of action is.

I believe your cause
of action is in contract.

Now, you own a property.

Some three years ago,
you asked the defendant

who was in the business of staging

with furniture properties for the purposes

of being either sold or rented.

You asked him to stage
an eight-room property,

and you signed a contract.

And the defendant did
in fact stage a property

that you wanted to rent.

- So far, correct?
- That's correct.

[Judge Judy] You have to say,
this is both video and audio.

So you can't...

- Yes.
- Yes. Good. What?

It's just a small misunderstanding there
in the sense that I sold it to him.

- I didn't stage it.
- Do you have a contract?

- Yeah. He...
- [Judge Judy] All right.

I'm surprised you don't have a copy
of this contract?

- You're in business.
- Oh, I have it right here.

[Judge Judy] So you have it on your phone?

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it would have been nice
if you printed it out so that you had it.

That would have been smart
because you're dealing with somebody

who is not a millennial,
who likes to see things,

that I can touch, that I can bang.

If it's in the phone, I don't have it.

In any event, you signed a contract,
you staged it, that was three years ago.

He says within three years,
you had an agreement,

and it's in the contract
that you would buy back the furniture

for which he paid $10,000...

- That's correct.
- ...from him for $3,500.

And he advised you
within that three-year period

that he wanted to exercise
that part of the contract

that says that you would buy back
the furniture for $3,500,

and you declined to do that.

And as an excuse for declining to do that,

I'm just telling you what his claim is,

you say that he moved the furniture

from where you had originally staged it,
someplace else.

And that was your reason
for not honoring the contract

to buy back the furniture.

- Do I have that right?
- Part of it.

What part is wrong?

That I never refused
not to buy the furniture from him.

On the contrary, I wanted to buy it.

It was a great situation for us
to buy it at the price we were buying it,

- only $3,600.
- So?

Well, when he finally contact me
about the house being back off the market

or that he had sold it that he would like
to exercise the option for me to buy it,

I said, "Sure. Give me a couple of days.

I'm doing a couple of stagings.

We'll come by, check it out.

If everything is in good condition,
we'll buy it all.

If not, we'll buy the pieces
that are still,

because it'd been three years."

So what happened, he goes,
"Well, uh, we..."

- Well, that's not what the contract says.
- "...don't have put it in the storage."

- That's not...
- [Julio] And I go, "In a storage?"

He goes, "Yeah, everything is in lockers."

And I say, "In lockers?"

I say, "How you expect me to inspect it

if you put it in lockers
and all the comforters

and everything in boxes,

you're gonna have to take it out
of the locker

and put it anywhere that we can inspect it

because I'm not going to buy
this lot blind

- like you're expecting me."
- Well, I have to see what the contract...

I have to see what the contract is.

Yeah. We have a list of the furniture
and the items.

- [Judge Judy] Just a second.
- Okay.

May I see it, please? May I...

- [Sherman] Yup.
- No, I wanna see the contract.

- [Sherman] Yes, that's the contract...
- Great.

[Sherman] ...with the list of furniture
that he provided.

Okay.

So let's go back just for a second.

You did this contract in 2018.

As it turned out according to what I read
in your complaint,

- your tenant didn't want the furniture?
- Correct.

- So you took out the furniture?
- Yes.

- [Judge Judy] And that was in 2018?
- Yes.

[Judge Judy] What did you do
with the furniture, Mr. Davis?

- So the plan is...
- [Judge Judy] And I don't wanna know

- what the plan was.
- [Sherman] Okay.

I wanna know,
he put the furniture in eight rooms.

You took the furniture out
because the tenant said,

"I don't want that.
I have my own furniture," whatever it is.

I wanna know in 2018,

'cause I read...I read everything.

And I pick up nuances.

What did you do with the furniture
in 2018?

My son's girlfriend warned me
that I shouldn't interrupt you

because you will get angry.

And I can't believe I'm doing it.

She put it on my notes.
Do not interrupt her.

I apologize.

Do not interrupt?

[intense music playing]

[announcer] Sherman Davis
claims furniture stager, Julio Paz,

broke their agreement

when he refused to buy back
staging furniture from Sherman.

Now, what did you do?

The original intent to the furniture...

I don't care what the intent was.

- Yeah.
- It went into a staged unit

for you to sell.

- That's what it was, paid...
- [Sherman] Yeah.

...$10,000 for it, the tenant didn't want
it.

I'm not gonna ask you
the question again...

- [Sherman] Okay.
- ...while you figure out

what you're going to say to me,

what you're going to say to me
is the truth.

- [Sherman] Yeah.
- What did you do

with the furniture in 2018?

- We moved the furniture out.
- [Judge Judy] To where?

To a storage unit.

Immediately from the apartment house,
the eight rooms,

you moved the furniture to a storage unit?

- Yes.
- What month and year?

The tenant moved into...
occupied our house

on December 21st, 2018.

Oh, my God.

I have, the lease agreement
states that they moved in

- on December 21st...
- [Judge Judy] Just a second.

When did you put the furniture in storage?

So, the furniture was put in storage

the week prior to when they moved in.

So 12/10/2018.

And it has remained in storage ever since?

- Yes.
- [Judge Judy] It has not been moved

from the original storage unit.

No, it's been there the whole...
entire time.

[Judge Judy] Okay.
So let's see what it says.

Oh, well, there is a caveat here.

- May I say something?
- [Judge Judy] No, no, no.

- No, no, no.
- [Julio] He wasn't truthful to me.

- I...don't...
- [Julio] He didn't...

You asked me if you can say something.

I said no.
What part of no didn't you understand?

- Okay, Your Honor.
- [Judge Judy] Maybe your wife

doesn't let you do that. I...not me.

She left me for that too many years ago,
Your Honor.

Yeah.

There's a reason.

I got a ADDH,
so it's hard for me to listen, sorry.

- Is the furniture still in storage?
- Yes.

Then how do you expect him
to satisfy a condition

of this agreement, Mr. Davis?

This was a simple contract agreement.

I was absolutely prepared
to rule in your favor.

Furniture should be
in good reasonable condition.

How do you expect him to view furniture

that has been packed in storage

to see if it's in good
and reasonable condition?

The furniture's there for him
to come out inspect it.

[Judge Judy] Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no,
that's not on him.

That's on you.

[Sherman]
The furniture was never used though.

- We just moved the furniture...
- [Judge Judy] Just a second.

- ...from the house to the storage unit.
- [Judge Judy] You're asking him

to believe that that's true.

He's allowed to see whether mice got
in the furniture

and storage in three years,

whether it's got mold and mildew
after three years,

it's your responsibility,

yours to lay it all out

so that he can come and look at it.

And then you fulfill that provision
of a contract.

He says he'll buy it back.

It has to be in good
and reasonable condition.

And I'm... I was willing to do that. But
he...

[Judge Judy] Well then,
I tell you what you do.

You arrange for all the furniture
to be unpacked in a location

where he can view it and see that
it is in good and reasonable condition,

not eaten by rats, has no mold,
has no mildew.

All eight rooms laid out.

And you do that within five days.

Okay.

[Julio] I'd love to buy it, Your Honor.

- [Judge Judy] Just a...just a...
- Furniture prices went up 40% right now.

- [Judge Judy] Just listen.
- So I get a great deal.

Love to buy it from you.

ADHD, Your Honor, I'm sorry. I apologize.

My bad.

My son's girlfriend warned me
that I shouldn't interrupt you

because her grandmother watched you
for many years and you will get angry.

And I can't believe I'm doing it
she put it on my notes,

"Do not interrupt her." I apologize.

- Well, she should've added...
- [Julio] Sorry...

[Judge Judy] ...do not interrupt her,

especially when it appears
to be you're winning.

She also told me...

Do not interrupt,

when it appears you get exactly
what you want.

So, these are the ground rules.

If you want him to buy back the furniture
within five days from today,

you arrange for the furniture
to come out of storage.

You give him 48 hours' notice

where the furniture
will be totally laid out.

You may have to rent a stage somewhere
for a day.

That's gonna cost you money,

but he doesn't have to buy
a pig in a poke.

And there's a condition precedent
in your contract

that the furniture has to be
in good condition.

Now, as far as I'm concerned,

once your tenant didn't want
the furniture,

instead of putting it in storage,

you're gonna make the money up
from the tenants anyway.

You say to him then, in December,

listen before I put it in storage,
you say you'd buy it back for $3,500.

I'm prepared to eat the loss
because I'm gonna make it up

in rent over the next 12 months.

Instead...you put it storage,
he's not responsible for your storage.

So, within five days from today,
on 48 hours' notice

you're going to lay out all the furniture.

If you don't do that,
you don't get your money.

And it's your furniture.
Do you understand?

- Yes. But what about the storage fees?
- [Judge Judy] Perfect.

He's not responsible
for your storage fees.

That's my ruling.

I'm abiding by the terms
of the written contract

that you signed with him.

- Do you understand?
- Okay.

Perfect. That's the ruling.

You'll get a copy of it. Goodbye.

Who was it,
your sister told you to be quiet?

- I'm sorry?
- [Judge Judy] Your sister!

No, it's my son's daughter,
uh, girlfriend...

[Judge Judy] I don't care.
I actually...I withdraw that question.

- I don't care.
- [Kevin] Court is...

- Your Honor...
- [Kevin] Court is adjourned.

When he actually contact me recently,

all he told me was the house was sold.

Now I wanna exercise my option
for you to buy it.

Well, it's a little frustrating,
because I did reach out to him.

And he actually blamed me
that the reason it was in storage

was because I didn't...
got back to him quick,

which was not true either.

About a year later,
and he declined to come

and pick up the furniture.

If I get the furniture,
it will be a good thing for me

because the furniture prices
are super high

because of the problem
with the shipping overseas.

I mean, it's very dated furniture.

It's furniture that's really undesirable.

I would love for him
to actually call me and I'll,

I definitely would buy it and...I need it.

Yeah, I'll follow...
I'll pursue what the judge said, so.

It makes my work so easy
when there's a contract.

[chuckles] It's interesting.

When I read that...
the complaint and answer, you read it.

- Uh-hmm.
- It looked pretty straightforward.

Yeah, it did.

I thought he really refused to abide
by a portion of the contract.

But it was really the plaintiff
that did not satisfy the condition

precedent to him
buying back the furniture.

Which was to be able to look at it.

- Yeah.
- It's not his obligation to display it.

- Uh-hmm.
- It's the plaintiff's obligation

to let him see
whether after three years...

- Uh-hmm.
- [Judge Judy] I didn't know

whether I would rely
on what happens to the furniture.

- Yeah, you never know.
- [Judge Judy] You don't.

So anyway, I think that that was...

- it made the resolution of it so easy.
- [Sarah] Uh-hmm.

People should pay attention to a contract,
read it.

- Abide by it.
- [Judge Judy] Right.

Makes your life in courts much easier.

[Sarah] Yeah.

[announcer] Want justice?


[theme music playing]