01x119 - Cat/Dog Fight Caught on Tape/Online Dating Gone Wrong

[bunniefuu]

Her dogs attacked your cat?

You were not there.

I mean...

And I assume you took pictures of the cat?

No.

We have a video, though, of the attack.

[screaming]

Tell me what happened.

[breathes deeply]

[announcer] This is Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Heather Galdamez
is suing dog owner Mailani Gomez

for vet bills after her cat
was injured by Mailani's dogs.

[Kevin] Court comes to order. All rise.

[Judge Judy] Be seated, please.

Hello, Judge.

Case 1054, Galdamez versus Gomez.

Thank you.

- [Kevin] You're welcome.
- [Judge Judy] Ms. Galdamez,

it is your claim that the defendant's
dogs attacked your cat?

The defendant has a quite different story.

I read your papers and it appears to me

that, based upon what I read,

you were not present
when this incident occurred.

- That is true.
- When did it occur?

[Heather] It happened
on the night of April 19th,

it was on a Thursday.

It was around at 9:30 at night.

What kind of cat do you have?

- I have a tabby cat.
- [Judge Judy] How old is the cat?

- She's 16.
- [Judge Judy] Indoor or outdoor cat?

- [Heather] Indoor, both, outdoor.
- [Judge Judy] Indoor and outdoor?

Well, now she's strictly an indoor cat.

[Judge Judy]
But she was an indoor-outdoor?

- Yeah, indoor-outdoor.
- [Judge Judy] It looks,

based upon your complaint,
that the cat wasn't in your custody

when this incident occurred.
Explain that to me.

So we just...me and my husband
just moved to Sacramento area.

So we were doing that whole check,

so the cat's always lived
with my mom since I was a teenager,

so I was in the process
of moving the cat with me

in Sacramento and then this occurred.

- So the cat was with your mother?
- Correct.

[Judge Judy] Okay. So you were not there

and I see that there were no witnesses.

So you have to present evidence to me

that demonstrates
that the defendant's dogs,

- you have three dogs according to you?
- Three, yes. Uh-hmm.

[Judge Judy] That the defendant's dogs
were responsible

for what you claim was a cat attack.

And the burden of proof
is on you, not on her.

- Okay.
- [Judge Judy] So I'm ready.

[Heather] Okay.
So there was an incident with my cat.

- Yes.
- [Heather] I left my residence

in the Sacramento area,

came back to my mom's house
to get the attention to my cat,

and then I took her
to the nearest vet clinic,

they took her in right away.

I said that...I was told...

[Judge Judy] Oh, you can't tell me
what you were told.

You can't tell me
what anybody said to you.

- I'll look at the vet's notes.
- Okay.

- [Judge Judy] If you have them.
- Yeah. I have the...

- [Judge Judy] You have them?
- ...vet notes.

So this is pretty much
everything that they did.

No, don't, just give me the vet notes.

- [Heather] Yeah, that's all the...
- Okay.

[Heather] They're in there.

[Judge Judy] Well, the report from the vet

is certainly fulsome and indicates

that the cat was in fact bitten.

And I assume you took pictures of the cat.

[Heather] No,
we have a video, though, of the attack.

- I would like to see that.
- [Heather] Okay.

Since that would probably be
your only evidence.

- Yes.
- [Judge Judy] So clearly based on this,

the cat was attacked.

And you say you have a video
that demonstrates

that it was the defendant's dog

- who attacked your cat?
- Yes.

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

[dog barks]

[indistinct screaming]

[dog barking]

Well, there appeared to be
two people walking three dogs.

- Was that you and someone else?
- Yes, me and my sister.

[Judge Judy] And it clearly shows
that the dogs were on a leash.

- [Heather] I mean...
- No, no, in fact, that's what it shows.

[Heather] I mean, it looks like...

I mean, she clearly lost
control of the dogs.

[Judge Judy] Okay.
Ms. Gomez, do you wanna tell me,

since there is some evidence

and you acknowledge
that you and your sister

were walking three dogs
and the three dogs were all leashed?

All leashed a hundred percent
all the time. Uh-hmm.

[Judge Judy] And it does appear
that the cat came out of the bushes?

Yes. Right there, the neighbor's house.

[Judge Judy] That's what it looks like.

The cat came out of the bushes,
right, in the middle of the three dogs.

- Uh-hmm.
- [Judge Judy] That's what it looks like.

- That's what it looks like to you?
- [Heather] It does, yeah.

- [Judge Judy] Well.
- Exactly what happened.

- [Judge Judy] And then...
- But she also didn't lead her dog's leash

a hundred percent all the time.

Because her dogs attacked
a neighbor back in 2017

and I also got the police report
for that as well.

- [Judge Judy] Who cares?
- Okay.

[Judge Judy]
That all could have been true.

But on this night,

her dogs were all leashed

and your cat jumped out
of the bushes right in the middle.

Who knows what happened?
She's gonna tell me

- her version of what happened.
- [Heather] Okay.

[Judge Judy] And while
you don't see it very clearly here,

it's certainly...I see
that the cat jumped out

to where the dogs were walking quietly.

That's part of the risk that you take
when you have an indoor-outdoor cat.

If her dogs weren't leashed,
I would...may feel differently,

but she's gonna tell me
what happened. Go ahead.

[Mailani]
So I always walk down this street.

- It's right across...
- [Judge Judy] No, don't tell me always.

- Okay.
- [Judge Judy] On April 19th...

- On April 19...
- [Judge Judy] You and your sister

- were walking your three dogs.
- Yes.

[Judge Judy] What kind of dogs were they?

I have a husky, which is Kovu.
He's eight years old.

I have a Mastiff-Anatolian shepherd mix.
She's four years old.

And I have a Rottweiler mix
that's also four years old.

I've got them
since they were three months old.

- [Judge Judy] All of them?
- All of them puppies.

Uh-hmm. Separate times, but yeah.

[Judge Judy] You and your sister
live together?

- Yes.
- At what time did this occur?

[Mailani] It's probably 9:30, 10:00.

[Judge Judy] How long
had you been out walking?

[Mailani] We had just started,

so that was actually
two houses down from my house.

Um, so we had
just started our walk that night.

Tell me what happened.

If you wanna keep your cat safe,
keep your cat in your house.

- I mean, the...
- [Judge Judy] Well, I mean, would it be

the game warden's fault
if a possum got your cat?

- Yeah.
- No.

It would be your fault.

[announcer] And later today.

All of the texts say that you sent...

"Let me be your knight
in shining armor,

I love you," but there was never
any mention of a loan.

Until...

"I love you

and thank you for helping."

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Heather Galdamez claims
dog owner Mailani Gomez

is responsible for vet bills

after her cat
was attacked by Mailani's dogs.

- Tell me what happened.
- [Mailani] Uh, so we were walking down

and, yes, what appears at first
we weren't sure was a cat.

Um, we have a lot of raccoons
and a lot of possums in the area,

so we just saw an animal jump out,

uh, my dogs freaked out, we freaked out.

Then we saw it was a cat,
so it was a cat-and-dog fight altercation.

We tried our best to split them up, um...

[Judge Judy] Now look here.

Tell me, the cat jumped out?

[Mailani] Yes,
off the bush that was right there.

- [Judge Judy] Okay.
- Onto the sidewalk

where we were walking straight.

- And I know it all happened very fast.
- [Mailani] Uh-hmm.

Are you prepared to tell me
exactly what happened

- or did it all happen too quickly?
- [Mailani] Yes.

So the cat came out and then I remember

that the first he was
with my polar husky, and then...

[Judge Judy] When you say
first he was with my...

Like, first it got to my...first my husky
and him were going at it first.

When you say going at it,
you have to describe more fully to me.

[Mailani] Okay. It jumped on it.
It jumped on my husky.

And then, um,
the others saw that this is an animal

and they came in to try
and, you know, get into him.

And then eventually
I was able to pull my husky

towards the end and I tied him

to go ahead and help my sister
get the other two

and that's when the cat
ran underneath the car

and stayed there, did not come out.

I stood, waited about 20 minutes.

Um, all the neighbors came out
but not the owner of the cat.

And I was confused
because I thought the cat...

well, it belonged to the house
that it was in front of,

turns out that's not even the house
and the house is across the street,

again, late at night.

And so I thought...
I thought I was talking to the owner,

- come...turns out it's not the owner.
- [Judge Judy] Okay. Okay.

- You want her to pay the vet bills?
- Yes.

[Judge Judy] She's not going to.

- You don't have a case.
- I don't have a case?

- [Judge Judy] No.
- Why is that?

[Judge Judy] She had three leashed dogs.

Based upon what I saw,

your cat precipitated
whatever fight occurred

by jumping out of the bushes
onto where they were walking.

Your cat was not only not in your control,

you weren't even
in the same county as your cat.

You don't know where it was
or what it was doing.

You have no proof that...
just because your cat was injured,

- doesn't mean she's responsible.
- [Heather] Well, I mean, it was her dogs.

- So what?
- [Heather] I understand that she leashed

her animals but if my dog attacked
somebody, I would pay...

[Judge Judy]
No, no, we're not talking...not...

we're not talking about dogs.

We're talking about your cat

that was totally out of your control

that jumped in the middle of dogs

and they started a cat-and-dog fight.

And she had her dogs,

but your cat was the precipitant,

jumped right in the middle of those dogs.

They're animals.

If you wanna keep your cat safe,
keep your cat in your house.

- I mean, the...
- [Judge Judy] Well, I mean, would it be

the game warden's fault
if a possum got your cat?

- Yeah.
- [Judge Judy] No.

It would be your fault.

It would be your fault.

- It's not her fault.
- But it's her dogs.

- So what?
- [Heather] So...I mean...

[Judge Judy] It...the cat fight started
because of your cat.

- So, I mean, if this is...
- [Judge Judy] No, this is not

a back-and-forth, madam.
I just answered you.

- [Heather] Okay.
- The fight was precipitated

by your cat that was under
no one's control.

These are animals.

You let the cat out, you...
or your mother let the cat out

because you say that you...
"Well, that's the cat's natural instinct,

it likes to be outside."

People can't do that with dogs.

Because there are laws about it.

Somehow legislators
aren't smart enough for bad cats

because cats can cause
just as much damage as a dog.

Yeah, but my cat didn't cause damage.

[Judge Judy] Just a second.
I don't know that.

I can tell that your cat
precipitated this fight.

And she's not responsible
for your vet bills.

And now you're smart enough
to keep your cat indoors,

your 16-year-old cat,

which was an indoor-outdoor cat

because of you and your mother.

If you wanna keep a cat safe and protected

from cars that are speeding too fast,

if you wanna keep an animal safe,
then you keep it under your control.

If you wanna lose control
of what happens to your animal,

you let your animal roam around
without any supervision.

Your case is dismissed. We're finished.

- Okay.
- [Kevin] Court is adjourned.

It actually went exactly
how I expected it.

I...I'm not surprised at all.

I'm not happy with the decision.

I think Mailani's a horrible pet owner.

I think it's funny that somehow

Heather thinks I'm a horrible pet owner.

It is pretty risky but my cat's
lived there for the past 12 years.

Oh, it was definitely scary.

Uh, my dogs aren't around cats
so it was totally unpredictable

how they were gonna react.

She's fine now but, um, you know,
she's definitely slowed down

and she's, she's not going outside
anytime soon.

You know, I'm just glad that this went
exactly how I hoped it would.

I'm just glad it's done.

You know, I really gave that plaintiff
a lot of latitude

because really the burden was on her
to demonstrate to me

that through no fault of her cats,
these dogs attacked the cat.

And certainly the defendant
wasn't identifiable

in the evidence that she presented.

So she really had no case.

But even looking at the video,
it was clear to me

the defendant and her sister
were following the rules.

They were walking their dogs,
they were leashed, they seemed calm.

And I do think that people
who have domesticated cats

but they allow to be indoor-outdoor cats
assume a certain amount of risk

when they let their cat roam free outside.

And it's not the fault
of a car that hits it

when it's running across the street,
and it's not the fault of dog owners

whose dogs are leashed
and doing the right thing

if your cat jumps in the middle
of three dogs

and they get into a cat-and-dog fight.

I know she doesn't understand that

but now she's...at least she learned
her lesson.

The cat's indoors all the time, so.

That was a good lesson.

Case number 1056,
Steinberg versus McIntire.

All parties, please step forward.

[announcer] Thomas Steinberg is suing
former girlfriend Lindsay McIntire

for unpaid loans.

You met the defendant on a dating app?

That is correct.

[Judge Judy] That's the way people
meet each other today.

- Correct.
- So you scroll through pictures,

is that what happened?

Scroll through web profiles,
pictures of them,

read what they're about,
decide whether you wanna message them,

and I made the first message to her
and she responded.

[Judge Judy] And when was that?

December 2020.

It was right at the end of the year.

[Judge Judy] And when was it that you met
the defendant for the first time?

- [Thomas] March 2020.
- [Judge Judy] Where?

We decided, because we've been talking
back and forth every day

through phone calls and text messages
and sending each other pictures,

I decided for a first date.

I felt comfortable with her
coming to meet me

at my residence in Moorpark, California.

What do you mean, you'd be
more comfortable her coming to you?

That's certainly less chivalrous
than you going to her.

Right. I would not feel comfortable
going to somebody else's house

but I felt comfortable saying,
"You can come down my way to me

and stay at my place and we can have
our first in-person meeting that way."

[Judge Judy] How far away
do you live from each other?

[Thomas] Hour and forty-five minutes
to two hours.

[Judge Judy] It's more convenient for you.

Correct.

[Judge Judy] Do you have siblings?

No siblings.

I figured.

You're his mother?

Tell him to stay off dating apps
for a while.

[laughs] I will.

[Judge Judy] Tell him to find
something else to do with his time.

Tell him to watch streaming programs.

[laughter]

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Thomas Steinberg claims
his former girlfriend

Lindsay McIntire
refuses to pay back several loans.

So she came down in March
and she stayed at your house in March.

- Correct.
- [Judge Judy] It is your claim, sir,

that at some point she complained to you

that her car was being repossessed,
and you loaned her some money.

That is correct.

[Judge Judy]
And that's what you're doing here today.

Her response is that you were merely
being chivalrous.

She never asked you to get her car
out of impound

where it had been taken
after it was repossessed.

You did that on your own.

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

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

How did you find out
she was having trouble with her car

and what month?

- It was in April of 2021.
- [Judge Judy] Okay.

Now by April of 2021
you had seen her at least once?

Correct. I remember two or three visits
before the car got repossessed.

[Judge Judy] Okay.
So you had your first visit in March.

- [Thomas] Uh-hmm.
- She came down to your house.

Did you ever go to her house?

The only time I went to her house
was to pick her up

to handle the matters of the car,
but I never physically went in her house.

So what you're telling me,
she came to your house

- for two or three times?
- Correct.

And each of the times
that she came to your house

I assume that you had dinner
and had intimate relations.

- [Thomas] Yes.
- [Judge Judy] And then in...

you're going to tell me,
in April something happened?

- Yes ma'am.
- Why don't you tell me?

[Thomas] Her car was repossessed.

I got a text message and a phone call.

Do you have the text message?

I have the evidence here, Your Honor.

[Judge Judy]
No, no, that's a whole bunch of stuff.

A text would be in your phone.

- [Thomas] Yes, ma'am.
- Get it.

From there, down.

[Judge Judy]
How much money did he give you

prior to your car being repossessed?

I believe like a hundred dollars.

Think hard.

I'm not sure, Your Honor.

[Judge Judy] How much did you give her
before this in money

because these text messages
clearly indicate

that there was other money
that you gave her before this?

Correct. And the cash advance I gave her
was around $500.

[Judge Judy]
Well, all of the texts preliminarily

say exactly what she says in her answer
that you said to her,

"Oh, my God, that's so terrible,

I know you need your car,
let me be your knight in shining armor,

I love you, and I wanna help you,
and let me do this for you."

And she says no and you say,
"No, I wanna do this for you.

I'll call Toyota and I'll take
a cash advance from my credit union,"

but there was never any mention of a loan

until...

"I love you
and thank you for helping me,

but I will be paying back this loan.

I can pay it back in two months."
That's what you say.

So, did you?

- [Lindsay] No, I did not.
- Why not?

Because we were going to work on it
together as a couple, there was...

[Judge Judy]
No, no, there was no couple here.

This was you saying,
"Thank you so much for helping me.

I will pay you back this loan."

- That's what you say to him.
- Okay. There were other discussions

not on text message between he and I,

that if we were to stay together,
we would work together

- on paying off the loan as a couple.
- But you didn't stay together,

- you left him.
- [Lindsay] Yes, I did.

Well, so then you...then you have a loan.

[laughs]

If there was a later discussion
that you want me to believe,

which may have been possible,
that if you stay together as a couple,

you would together pay back this loan,
and it wouldn't be a problem.

But then you say,
"Thomas helped me retrieve my vehicle.

He became too attached.

I started to feel smothered.

In May, I decided to break things off.

He was moving too fast
and smothering me in the process."

Well, then you have to pay him back
this $2,500.

- Okay.
- [laughs]

[Lindsay] That's fine.

Okay. It was $2,500 that you took out,

how much did you give her of the $2,500?

Your Honor, the first time
I got the loan out, it was $2,500,

then two days later
I refinanced the loan at the credit union

and gave her an additional 2,500
to bring it up to $5,000.

- Is that what happened? Really?
- [Judge Judy] Why?

- [Thomas] Why?
- [Judge Judy] Yeah.

Because she needed money
to get to her job in Arizona

and additional money for expenses

- since she was out of work...
- Show me, show me, here.

While he's looking for that, Ms. McIntire,
so you've already been embarrassed once,

let's not do it more than once.

Did he give you any other money
other than this $2,500?

- Yes.
- When?

Shortly after we went and got my car back.

[Judge Judy] How much money
did he give you in addition to the 2,500?

- [Lindsay] Two thousand.
- [Judge Judy] And?

But do you wanna hear
the total amount of the loan

and why else he got it out?

- Or...
- Right now, I have $4,500.

- He's only suing for 4,800, so.
- Okay.

The 2,500, I already know was a loan
because you said it's a loan,

"I'm gonna pay you back in two months."

Yeah,
because he wouldn't take no for an answer.

- [Judge Judy] No, no, no.
- So that's fine.

Well, that's all right.
That's what you said.

- [Lindsay] Yeah.
- And then you just filled that in with me

a moment ago and said something like,
"We said if we stay together..."

We would work on it together
and pay it off.

- [Judge Judy] Then you broke up with him.
- Yes, I did.

Okay.
So now you have to pay back the loan.

- [Lindsay] That's fine.
- So I want you to tell me

what the other $2,000 was for

and what were the conditions
on that money being given to you?

That, again, I would work
and we would pay it off together.

- [Judge Judy] Okay.
- Because he took an $11,000 loan out

for his medical bills and for the car.

How much did he give you?

Forty-five hundred dollars altogether.

Yes, ma'am.

Judgment for the plaintiff, $4,500.
Listen...you're his mother?

Tell him to stay off dating apps
for a while.

[laughs] I will.

Tell him to find something else
to do with his time.

Tell him to watch streaming programs.

[laughs] Thank you.

[Kevin] Court is adjourned.

The decision went well.

She got what was coming to her
to pay me back

because you can't just take money
and not pay someone back.

That's the principle of life.

He took out a loan a lot larger
than what he wants to talk about.

That is true, I did take out more money.

That was for my expenses, not for her,


Things that we did together
that we were going to pay off together.

When we broke up and she wouldn't send
her first payment in.

I won't do it ever again.

I'm gonna stay off the dating apps
and not lend someone money again,

because it doesn't work out well.

So I'm interested, you know,
the case is pretty straightforward.

She acknowledged that it was a loan.

But I remember
when these dating apps started,

you know, you had Christian dating,

J dating for Jewish people
to meet each other.

There was an app for people over 50,

people over 50 turned out
to be actually people over 80.

So there were lots of surprises
at the other side of the door.

Did you ever meet anybody on a dating app?

I have not. I...

[Judge Judy]
But have you looked on dating apps?

- Sure.
- I think that you really

- have to be so careful.
- Uh-hmm.

What do your friends do
in order to be careful?

[Sarah] There's a lot of things.

You...I think you have to speak
for a prolonged period of time,

- sort of like that plaintiff.
- What about meeting?

If it were me,
I wouldn't go to someone's home

on the first meeting in person.

Is there a...some common sense rule
about that,

- you're supposed to go to a public place?
- For some people.

- [Judge Judy] For some people.
- For some people.

- [Judge Judy] Okay.
- I just think it's safer,

you know, you don't know these people.

You can pretend to be anybody
on the internet,

which for women especially
can be a dangerous situation, so.

Let a friend know where you're going,
meet in a public place.

I think you have to be careful.

I'm glad he got his money back.

Yeah.

[announcer] Have you been cheated?



[theme music playing]