02x50 - From Flip to Flop

[bunniefuu]

- You're a videographer.
- Yes, Your Honor.

Are you telling me you've never seen
any of those videos?

That's correct, Your Honor.

You had them and you didn't look at them.

Tell me what you think his work is worth.

It's worthless to me.

[narrator]
This is Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

[narrator] Rosa Brooks
is suing videographer

Garrett Maney,
for unfinished video services.

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

Thank you, have a seat.

Hello, Judge. Case #2089,
Brooks versus Maney.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

Miss Brooks, you are a realtor.

Yes.

[Judy] And you also decided
to go into the business

of buying houses, fixing them up
and flipping them.

That's correct, Your Honor.

When did you decide to do that?

I started my company in 2017.

[Judy] Was that just the real estate
company or was that the company

that bought houses and renovated them
and sold them? Which one?

That was my company that I started
for flipping houses.

Do you have a partner in that business?

No, it's just myself.

[Judy] From 2017 until now, how many
houses have you sold and flipped?

This will have been my third one.

The house that we're talking about now?

Yes.

[Judy]
And when did you purchase that house?

I purchased it in March of 2020.

[Judy]
How much did you pay for it?

Two hundred thousand.

This is what the case is about.
For that house, just that house,

you commissioned Mr. Maney...

Yes, ma'am, Your Honor.

And you're a videographer.

Yes, Your Honor. Photographer
and videographer.

[Judy] ...to video,
for the purposes of advertising,

the project from start to finish.
What it looked like when you purchased it

and sort of, ongoing
throughout the process,

taking video of what you did
to change, cosmetically,

the inside and/or the outside
of the house.

And you had an agreed price with him
which you paid.

How much was that?

One thousand, nine hundred
and nineteen dollars.

[Judy] And it is your claim that since
Mr. Maney did not finish the project,

did not take the end product
of what the house looked like

when it was finished. You acknowledge
he did come at other times,

and took video of what the house
looked like at the beginning

and the middle. Is that correct?

That's correct, Your Honor.

But didn't do the video of the end,
that you want your entire $1,919 back.

Yes, Your Honor.

Whatever he says, Mr. Maney says that you
were difficult, that it was impossible.

The job was supposed to take four months,
it took almost a year.

He didn't sign on for that, which may be.
But more important...

Is there a video? Do you have
a video of what he took?

Do you have a video of what you gave her?

I have, in my Google drive,
a ton of video of what I've taken,

but at the end, I have evidence
showing we had scheduled

for me to come in and do that final video.
Everything was on point.

Then, she tells me here, it's gonna be...

[Judy] No, just a second.
I'm gonna let you have an opportunity...

Sorry, Your Honor.

[Judy] ...to tell me what your defense is
to this case, if you need one.

I just want to see some video
of what you took.

Doesn't anybody have that here?

I mean, if three quarters of the project
was completed with video,

and the only thing, according to you,
that he didn't do was the end,

that's what you just told me. Correct?

Yes.

Okay. So, did he give you the video
that was done?

I got nothing, Your Honor.

Your Honor, she has had access
to the Google drive

with all of the video components in there.
I cannot complete the final edits

to put everything together
until she completed things on her part,

which was never done.

You mean, completing things on her part
meant completing the house.

Completing the house, talking points...

Okay, but video is completing the house.

That's part of it.

[Judy] And the other one is audio,
where she tells you what's been done.

[Garrett]
Yes, Your Honor.

I'm just thinking out loud...
Why didn't you do that yourself?

Your Honor, I never had a video to be able
to go and do my talking point...

No, I'm saying, did you have access
to what he had done

up until that time?
That's either a yes or a no.

Did you have video capability of seeing
what video he had shot?

No, Your Honor.

Okay. Do you have some evidence to show me
that the Plaintiff had access

to the video that you had shot
of three quarters

of the project being completed?

I believe I have something in here about
uploading stuff into the Google drive,

which, if she didn't have access
to that Google drive,

then how did she upload
the final walk-through video

that I do have evidence of,
that is not professional,

that I was unable to complete
due to her lack of commitment...

Just a second. You have video of what?

There is video evidence of the final
walk-through that was done

by somebody on a phone camera,
because she cancelled on me

last minute when we
were supposed to do it.

Just a second. Where did you
get that evidence from?

She uploaded it into the Google drive
that had all the videos she had access to,

- obviously, if she put it in there.
- [Judy] Ohh. Okay.

So, what you're saying is, Miss Brooks
added a video of a final walk-through

that was done by whom?

My son.

By her son. And she added that
final walk-through to the Google drive

and therefore, you were able to get it.
And she tacked that

onto the work that you did complete.
Is that what you're telling me?

All of the rest of the videos
are in that same Google drive, yes.

- Which she had access to the entire time.
- [Judy] I got it.

Now, I'd like to see the video.

[Garrett]
Which is not professional quality.

Ssh!

What did you do with that, Miss Brooks?

Your Honor, he...

What did you do with it?

Nothing.

At first, you told me that you didn't
have access, that you never saw them.

Then, they were available to you and
your son to be able to look at them.

You say you never looked at them.
I actually find that unbelievable.

Miss Brooks, I find it unbelievable that
you had them and you didn't look at them.

[theme music playing]

[narrator] Rosa Brooks
claims videographer, Garrett Maney,

did not finish her home renovation video.

You didn't send it to him. There's
no question, you didn't send it to him.

- He requested...
- Just... You did not send it to him.

No, I didn't personally.
No, my son sent it to him.

[Judy]
How do I know that?

He requested it from my son
because he asked me to,

but I did not know how to forward it to
him on the format that he was requiring.

I also have tried to meet with Mr. Maney
to have him upload, or transfer,

all of the video that I videotaped of,
when he couldn't make it,

to his office, so that he can upload it
onto his computer so he can edit it.

He never gave me an edited copy
of anything.

Just a second. Miss Brooks,
is what you're telling me,

you have never seen any video
of the three quarters of the job

that you acknowledge that he did.

Are you telling me you've never seen
any of those videos?

I've never seen any of those videos,
Your Honor,

only when he was recording it
at the property.

Mr. Maney, you wanted
to show me something.

Yes, Your Honor. Well, there is...

[Judy]
At the beginning, when we started...

...a few things here.

First of all, you have
on your Google drive,

Yes, Your Honor.

[Judy]
...all of the video that you took.

- Yes, Your Honor.
- [Judy] And you currently have it.

[Garrett]
Yes, Your Honor.

Is there any way that I can see any of it?

Absolutely.

I also have another video that shows
real estate videographer work

that I've done for other clients...

I'm not interested in that.

You should also be able to see,
on the Google drive,

- who has access to it.
- Oh.

I removed the access when this case
came up, because I didn't want...

At this point,
I don't trust the Plaintiff,

so I removed her access so that
she couldn't go and delete the videos

and try to claim that
she never had access.

[Judy]
Had access to them. Got it.

Give the phone to Sarah, please, Kevin.

There it is, "flip videos."
That's all of the different files

with all of the different videos.

And there may be something that you can
push in there

to see when people had access at one
point.

'cause I had access for herself
as well as her son.

And she has, prior,
uploaded videos into there, herself.

There's more than 30 videos in here,
and it does...

I see the two little people
on Google drive,

which usually indicates that it's shared
with more than one person.

Is it currently shared with anybody
other than the Defendant?

He said he took her off the shared access.

Rosa Brooks does have access
to all of the videos.

[Judy]
She does?

Your Honor, can I explain why
he set up that folder?

Because I also took video myself,
to upload onto that.

He showed me how to do that.

He told me that you also did,
but he said that this file

also includes the video footage
that he took.

Yes, but it was never edited
so I can do voice overs.

Just a second. I asked you
a specific question, Miss Brooks.

I said, did you ever see any of the video
that he took?

Your answer was... no.

It was no.

- Correct?
- Correct.

Well, the fact that you didn't look at it,
I don't believe.

I find no validity to why, if you had it,
and you were coming to court today,

and you were dissatisfied,
why you wouldn't look at it.

You had your son have access to it,
and I don't know how old your son is,

who took the end video.
I'm gonna look at some of it.

But it's clear to me
that Mr. Maney performed

a substantial amount of work for you.
Clearly $1,900 worth of work.

Clearly. So, what happened at the end,

that caused you to have your son do
an end-look at what the place looked like,

I don't know why. But Mr. Maney said
that he has an email from you

that I'm gonna look at now.
That would sort of be dispositive

of what happened at the end run
of this case,

- while Sarah... Could you give me...
- Sure.

- ...just one look at his...
- Sure.

So, he has all of these different files
for different sections of the home,

driveway, fireplace...
and if you click on them,

these are all of the videos taken
for flooring. And if you click on this,

it's a video of them doing flooring and
you can see who has access.

- to the clips. Her son, the Plaintiff,
- Jeffrey and Rosa.

and the owner is the Defendant.

- [Garrett] Mm-hmm.
- [Judy] Okay, got it.

And there's probably over 50 videos
in the file.

So, that you and your son
had access to these videos

over an extended period of time.
The fact that you didn't look at it,

- that's not my problem.
- Your Honor, my son

- did that video late, towards the end...
- I don't care.

What I'm telling you is,
you had access to the videos.

At first, you told me
you didn't have access,

that you never saw them.
Then, they were available to you

and your son to be able to look at them.
You say you never looked at them.

I actually find that unbelievable,
Miss Brooks.

I find it unbelievable that you had them
and you didn't look at them.

I didn't feel it was a need
to look at them, Your Honor.

I was anticipating going up
to Mr. Maney's office,

so once he edited, I could
do the voice-overs on them.

- There was no real purpose...
- [Judy] Miss Brooks,

I don't believe that you
didn't look at them, madam.

This was a $200,000 investment
that you made,

and this was a project, the first time
that your business had done it.

I don't believe that you
didn't look at them.

He set up that folder for me
to put my...

How much did you...
How much did you...

How much did you...
You're trying to talk over me.

- That's not happening.
- I'm not trying to.

You sold the house
in what month and year?

The house sold, closed, on January 2022.

And what did you sell it for?

Five hundred and fifty-five thousand.

So, you made $350,000.

No, Your Honor, $270,000
went into the house.

- Renovations...
- [Judy] Just a second. You sold it

for $350,000 more than you paid for it.

Your Honor, I used hard money,
and there's lots of fees...

Just a second. I don't know
you're arguing with me.

You bought it for $200,000,
you sold it for $550,000.

- Yes.
- My math is not great,

but that's a difference of $350,000.
That's all I said to you.

I said, you bought it for $200,000,
you sold it,

and the difference between
the purchase price and the sale price

was $350,000.

Yes, that's correct, Your Honor.

So, even if you made,
in those few short months, $150,000,

you didn't do the physical labor
on the house,

you had workmen do
the physical labor on the house.

I did some of it, Your Honor.

Well, you made a handsome profit.

I want you to tell me what you think
his work is worth.

[theme music playing]

[narrator] Rosa Brooks
has accused videographer,

Garrett Maney, of not completing
her home renovation video.

Now, you sold it in January of 2022.

That's correct.

- [Judy] That's when it closed.
- Yes.

- [Judy] When did it go into contract?
Early in the project,

Your Honor. It was pretty much
the third month after I purchased it.

So, I purchased it in March.

It was under contract around July of 2020.

Well, there was a lot of back and forth
and a little bit of cancellation

on your part back in December.
You needed a little wiggle room.

Looks like Monday would be a better day.
First, it was Friday.

So, there was lots of back and forth
on the end-game video.

Yes, Your Honor. He also...

He also what?

He also cancelled as well. He has the...

- [Judy] That's all right, but...
- Yeah, back and forth,

we both had cancellations.

I understand that, but this was
for the final piece,

which is what you're complaining about.
The final piece.

Your Honor, he was not responding to me,
at some point,

when I tried to contact him to
get the opportunity to go to his office

to give him the rest of the footage
that he needed, that he requested.

That he was difficult about because
I wasn't able to forward it to him

- in the format that he needed it for.
- Mm-hmm.

I offered to come up to his office so that
he can transfer from my phone...

I'm gonna ask you a question, Miss Brooks.
I just want to see what I'm dealing with.

Yes.

How many files of video did he have? He.

Oh, I can't, I can't tell on this phone.

- You told me 30.
- There's at least 30.

I had tons of video myself, in there,
that I uploaded,

that he taught me
to put into those folders.

A lot of those videos are my videos.

I don't... I don't care.
It was on the same thing

that you could've looked at
and told me that you didn't.

Which I don't believe.
So, I want you to understand that.

He was involved, there were 30 files.
I want you to tell me,

how much do you think that,
on a time basis,

Mr. Maney is entitled to.
You paid him $1,919.

He did, clearly, countless hours
of videoing your project.

At the end, it turned south.
And the videos were available to you.

I want you to give me a figure
of what you think is fair. Fair.

I don't have a figure that I think is fair
because, first of all,

he spent ten minutes on each visit,
first of all, to do his filming.

[Judy]
Where does he live?

He lives, like, the next town
over from me.

Just a second. So, he has to get there.
I just want you to think, Miss Brooks.

I want you to think of what you personally
did to make a profit of $350,000.

Your Honor, I didn't profit that amount.

I'm telling you, that's the difference...
You may have spent money

in renovating the property,
but that's the difference

between what you purchased it for
and what you sold it for, $350,000.

So, the sweat of your brow, your work,
your work ethic,

is worth something, so even if you made,
in those few short months,

$150,000, you didn't do the physical labor
on the house,

you had workmen do the physical labor
on the house.

- I did some of it, Your Honor.
- [Judy] Maybe,

but you made a handsome profit.
I want you to tell me

what you think Mr. Maney's work
was worth to you.

Because I am... I'm telling you right now,
I am viewing this case

as if you and your son had access
to three quarters of the finished product.

So, I want you to tell me what you think
his work is worth.

Your Honor, it's worthless to me,
that I didn't get the video.

I had a website that I needed the video
for once the job was completed.

That's unfortunate, you should have had
your son do it.

Since you can't give me a figure,
I'm dismissing your case.

We're done, thank you.

[bailiff]
Court is adjourned.

First of all, I paid him for something
that I never got anything for.

They had access to the files
the whole time.

And as far as him saying
he uploaded some videos...

The only reason I wasn't able
to get the final video...

Yes, they were uploaded, but I never
got a chance to really review them.

...is 'cause she cancelled on me, like,


I was not anticipating on reviewing
anything that was not edited.

It was her lack of, uh,
putting together a commitment.

Not to pay for anything up front
until the project is finished.

You just can't make everybody happy,
but...

Don't trust anybody.

This is the only client that I've ever had
that was not happy.

That says something.

I love Google drive. They leave a record,
you can see who started the file,

who shared the file, who has access to it,
who had revoked access.

So, I could see, as soon as I logged in,
he was very organized.

He had different areas
of the house labeled,

individual videos of flooring progress.
All of those were owned by him.

shared with the Plaintiff
to be able to view them.

So, I don't understand
why people lie about things

that are so easily to be fact-checked.

And did it make sense to you,
that if you had this project going

and it was the first time that you were
memorializing one of your flipped houses,

although she had two before, that it was
something that she was interested in.

I know for myself on Google drive,
you get emails when things get uploaded.

I would've been checking...

It doesn't make sense
that she didn't look at them.

No, not at all. There were some videos
that she potentially did add

to the Google drive, so, I did see
some of those.

Well, that's so interesting,
because in order to be able to do that,

- You have to have access.
- Right.

Didn't make sense.
Not only didn't it make sense,

but she had an end video. And clearly,
from the emails back and forth,

she would make a date and then say,
you know, her buyers

aren't exactly ready, she needs
a little more wiggle room,

could you make it this... Anyway,
I found it sort of un-business-like.

To not say, somebody did work.

Clearly, spent hours videotaping for her.
So, if you didn't get your final video,

but three quarters of it was finished and
could easily be edited by anybody.

Mm-hmm.

To find the work he did worthless...

I feel like there was a little bit
of buyer's remorse for the video

because she was intending to use
this video to maybe attempt to sell it.

I presume it was to try and sell the home.
Or her business as a flipper.

Her business as a flipper.

I feel like she found a buyer
for the house and said,

the video's not really worth anything
to me anymore,

and just didn't want to pay him.

She had paid him, she wanted it back.

- Yeah.
- [Judy] It was crazy.

[narrator] Have you been cheated?