02x126 - Hoop Nightmare

[bunniefuu]

- This has to do with sports?
- Yes.

I put the money to the team.
He runs the team.

It wasn't just,
I'm gonna give you the money

and you go do with it what you want.

- I wasn't paid anything.
- I fronted the money for the uniforms.

I didn't go to seven years

post-graduate school to discuss
a pair of socks.

I don't care.

[Narrator] This is Judy Justice.

Jason Gabriel is suing his former friend,
Lawrence Senior, Sr.,

for money he gave Lawrence to run
a boy's basketball team.

[Bailiff] Court come to order.
All rise.

Have a seat everyone.

Hello Judge. Case 2167.
Gabriel versus Senior.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

Mr. Gabriel, it's always exciting for me
when I find a case that I can't relate to

based upon my own personal experience.

- And this has to do with sports?
- Yes.

And those people who know me
know that I'm really an non-functioning

American when it comes to sports.
I understand baseball but nothing else.

However, I have a little bit of experience
with people.

So you have a son, that would be you.
Could you stand up for a moment?

Who's tall...
Now you can sit down.

And who likes to play basketball?

Yes, your honor.

And he's been playing basketball
for a long time.

Well, most sports stopped
at the start of the pandemic.

- And he was playing for a team?
- Yes, your honor.

I know that I'm gonna get fuzzy
on this eventually,

so far I'm holding up okay.

So he was playing for a team, the team
closed down as did most other things.

And the pandemic is sort of winding down
and sports are coming back.

And you wanted your son to play basketball

because this is your senior year
in high school?

No, I'm a freshman in college, your honor.

[Judy]
Last year. So this happened last year?

Yes, I was a senior...

So this happened last year
when he was a senior in high school.

And you wanted him to play
because he enjoyed it,

and because he thought somebody
would find him, a scout?

Mostly the enjoyment, but there's always
a chance for the scout.

Okay, and you know, you're his father
and fathers always think

that their sons are uber talented

and maybe can be one
of those quiet self-starters

who turns out to be the hero
on the basketball court.

I have a grandson who plays baseball

and he plays baseball pretty well,
plays in college.

His father follows him around
from one game to another

like it was a full-time job.

- I can relate to that.
- It is.

Well, your son wanted to play.
There was no team.

The defendant was a basketball coach
who you knew?

- Yes, your honor.
- Whose team was also...

Teams, those teams that he coached
were also defunct because of COVID.

- So far correct Mr. Senior?
- Yes ma'am.

So at some point you approached him
and said, I'd love to start up

this team again because I would like
my son to play ball.

He wants to play ball and nobody else
is doing it that I know of.

What would it take to restart a team
that could be part of a league

or play other teams, you know?

- Yeah, you're right.
- You know.

- Is that close?
- You're close.

- You're close.
- Close enough.

- Yes.
- Perfect.

So you talked about an amount.
Mr. Senior said,

"I can start the team up for $8,500."

Yes ma'am.

You who wanted desperately for your son
to play ball his senior year said,

"I'm gonna give you the money."

You gave him $8,500,
so far, correct?

- Uh, 8,200.
- It's 8,500, your honor.

I have the check right here
if you'd like it.

Okay, if you have the check cash it.
So it's $8,500.

The team only played one game
or one tournament?

No, it was actually four tournaments
in total for that season that we played.

And how many are you supposed to play?

We had planned on six in total.
One would be out of state or far away.

No, no, how many games were supposed
to be played by your son's team

being coached by the defendant?

So a tournament could have three games.

So, and that takes over the course
of a weekend... a Saturday and a Sunday.

So?

- A tournament could be three games.
- A tournament is three games?

Could be four as well
if you're, if you're successful.

Okay, so you were supposed
to have four tournaments?

We were supposed to have six tournaments
and we did have four.

- [Judy] Okay.
So you played most of the games?

- Yes.
- And then the team was disbanded?

Yes.

For whatever reason,
may or may not be relevant.

So how much money do you want back?

- You're suing him for $4,800.
- Right?

Well, you know, math is my second
non-strong suit.

[Jason]
Yep.

But if you paid him 85 and you played
two thirds or three quarters of the games

that you were supposed to play,

why do you think you would be entitled
to $4,800 back?

Because I also fronted the money
for the uniforms.

- [Judy] Well that was spent.
- And the graphics.

- [Judy] Well that was spent.
- In addition to the $8,500.

I understand,
but that was all spent.

The uniforms the players got.

- [Jason] Right.
- Right. And they kept them?

The players kept some,
and the defendant has the rest of them.

- [Judy] Okay. Do you want them back?
- I do not.

Well, he'll give 'em to you back if you
want them cause he's not using them.

How do I know that this is his team,
his organization? He'll...

- [Judy] Just a second.
- It's a non-profit company.

Okay.
Let's deal with this slowly.

We are dealing with the math first.

Do you have... Mr. Senior,
do you have any of the uniforms?

No Ma'am.
I never collected uniforms.

- [Judy] Did you have...
- He had sole possession.

- What?
- He had sole possession of the uniforms.

- So you don't have any uniforms?
- No, he's the one that handed them out.

Okay, did any of the players
give them back to you?

No.
None of them gave.

- [Judy] So you don't have any uniforms?
- No.

[Judy]
He doesn't have any uniforms.

But your honor, it didn't cost $85
to run the team.

- Which is, that's my, that's my...
- Just a second.

Not what we're talking about, sir.
Your $8,500 went to have six tournaments.

- You had four tournaments, right?
- Yes.

Whether or not you get your money back
is a whole other thing.

But the uniforms were purchased,
that you don't get back.

The advertising, graphics, were done,
that you don't get back.

Whether it's for four or six.

- That was his team's name on it.
- It doesn't matter.

What difference does it make?

Majority did not pay.

You have anything that requires
that they pay in a contract?

Uh, that would be Coach Larry
that he does.

And he passed out those to the kids.

No, he didn't put in $8,500, you did.

Jason Gabriel claims
his former friend, Lawrence Senior, Sr.,

owes him money after they started
a boy's basketball team.

Now, can you tell me why the tournaments
were cut short, sir?

There was a number of reasons,
your honor.

One of them was, uh, right from the start,

both me and my other son tried
to discourage Mr. Gianni

about forming a team
of that age group.

Okay.
I don't wanna get back into that, sir.

You took his money, you played four
out of the six tournaments.

How much were you paid to coach
out of this $8,500?

- I wasn't paid anything it's...
- [Judy] Did you?

It's more of an administrative cost.

What administrative cost?

Uh, scheduling tournaments, gyms, gas,

transporting kids that didn't have rides.

More than half the team
was not supported by their family.

At least one kid was homeless.

What? Was there an accounting
that you asked for sir?

Yes, and that's my, that's was my initial
response to coach Larry,

was yes, he told me $8,500
to start the team.

No, I'm asking you an accounting
at the end of the day?

I asked him where
the money went.

Like could he account for $8,500

in addition to $1,600
that other kids paid to play?

That's how I was gonna get my money back.

It wasn't just, "I'm gonna give you
the money

and you go do with it what you want."

He told me it was $8,500 to start the team
and I would get my money back.

Oh, from what source?

The kids pay to join the team.

Okay.
How many people were on the team?

We had as many as, uh, 14,
maybe 16, come through.

To try-outs, they didn't play.

I'm sorry.

- How you doing your honor?
- How am I doing?

I've been better.

You're his son?

Yeah, I actually run the program with him.

- Yes.
- Okay, good.

So how many young men
were playing basketball?

On the team that you're talking
about that's in question,

I believe there was as many as 10
to 12 that actually came.

The numbers vary because we're talking
about 18 year old children

that come and go as they please.

They don't really want to be there.


to their parents.

They are not 18 year old children.

When it comes to this then,
responsibility part. Yeah.

I don't know, I'm old I guess,
they're children to me still. Sorry.

What I want to know is,
did you have a contract with him?

- A written contract?
- I did not.

You just said, "Here's your $8,500,
and I'll get my money back

when the kids sign up and pay their dues."

How much do they pay each
to join the team?

Coach Larry, um, set that number
at $600 per player.

- Is that correct?
- Yes ma'am.

Can we tell you where that number
comes from?

Over the years, cause we've been doing
this for over 20 years,

the cost... the average cost to run a team
for a full season.

We averaged it out to be about $600
per kid.

Because on a 10 to 12 man roster,


[Judy]
How does he make money?

We don't make money.
I'm sorry.

- We Don't make...
- So you don't make any money.

You just do this for the love
of the sport.

He grew up in a basketball family.
He's played basketball all his life.

I have. I've been in a sports family.
My brother has and we just love sports.

So this is not a moneymaking operation?

Not at all.
We probably put in more money than we made

or put out in the program.
I'm sorry.

Go ahead sir.

Your honor, I coach uh,
high school football.

Actually, his son goes to the school
I coach.

So I was aware of him
and I also coach baseball.

So I just don't, you know, you're not
gonna make any money coaching new sports

if that's what everybody think.

Well, I'm just asking you.

No, no, I know that.

I'm just asking you
cause there is a suggestion here

that some of that money
was to pay you as coach.

And I just wanna know
whether that is in fact correct?

Whether any of this $8,500 went to you?

Not directly, no.
Some went to gas.

Indirectly to pay for gas and pick up...

It could be a car repair.
I only had one car at the time.

- [Judy] Okay. Mr. Gabriel...
- Me and my wife are retired.

Can you... Mr. Gabriel, can you tell me
if you have,

since you have no written contract.

You have no written contract requiring
anything.

You're just supposed to start up
a basketball team, which he did.

- I assume you played, is that right?
- Yes, your honor.

And you played in four
out of six tournaments.

Stand up next to your dad.

Did you play successfully?

I only played three
out of the four tournaments.

That's reasonable.

That's, is that normal that members...

I don't even know how many people
are on the basketball court at a time.

Five at a time.

- What?
- Five at each team at time.

- Five?
- So ten total, yes.

Well, if few had 10 to 12 kids, you what?

What? I don't know.

I just tried... I tried to expose it to you
before this case.

I tried to put it on tv.
I made the...

So if I can back up to 2019.

We met coach Larry in 2019.

I didn't just pick him out
of the blue net.

I didn't suggest that you picked him
out of the blue.

- Mr. Gabriel...
- My son played for him in the past.

Mr. Gabriel, you don't look like the man
that would give some stranger $8,500

to start up a team not knowing him.

- Correct.
- [Judy] Okay. I accept that.

I just don't understand that as a...
Are you a business person?

- I am.
- [Judy] What kind of business are you in?

I'm a contractor.

- Well, if you're a contractor.
- [Gabriel] Yes.

That I know.

- You have contracts?
- Absolutely.

The contractor has contracts.
And the contract that you...

- Do you build homes or you build?
- I remodel homes, yes.

Okay.

So the contracts that you do lay out
with specificity, what you're going to do,

what the materials costs are,
what the vig is, on it, you know,

within a certain amount, play.

But it lays out everything
that you're going to do.

You are turning over $8,500
to the defendant

and there is nothing in there
that suggests that with any specificity

what he has to do to comply.

He had to start a team, which he did.

- Right?
- Yes.

Had to start a team, which he did.
Where your son played.

- Yes.
- Which he did.

There were supposedly six tournaments out
of which four were successfully played.

And your son played in three of them,
right?

Yes, your honor.

So you should have been happy somebody
got a chance to see 'em if they...

Did anybody give you
a basketball scholarship?

I do play Division Three basketball
in Brooklyn.

Good for you.
There you go.

Did somebody find you
with one of these games?

- No.
- How were you recruited?

I did, um, multiple showcases in,
one in Connecticut in particular.

He's a good player, your honor.

He's a good player.

And so I was found through showcases
that I did by my own.

Okay.
But you played and that was good practice.

- It was good?
- Yes.

I don't know why it was disbanded
after four tournaments.

Do you?
Do you?

Yes, there was multiple players
who did not wanna play anymore

because they were verbally abused
by the coach and they just were fed up.

And then there was other players
that were let play for free

and people just thought that was unfair,
so...

What do you mean with "let play for free?"
What is it? Explain that to me.

That they were just let on the team
without paying.

Oh, so some people were disturbed
that some people paid to play

and some didn't?

Yes, your honor.

Do you have anything that requires
that they pay in a contract?

Uh, that would be coach Larry,
that he does.

And he passed out those to the kids.

No, I'm asking you for your...
he didn't put in $8,500, you did.

Here it says, "Used some fees
to catch up on my mortgage."

- I assume that's your home mortgage?
- Correct. After the season was over.

Well, you can't do that.
You can't do that, sir.

Do you understand?

[Narrator] Jason Gabriel is accusing
his former friend, Lawrence Senior, Sr.,

of owing him money after
their boys' basketball team ended.

- Go ahead sir.
- I put the money to the team.

He runs the team.
I can't tell him how to run his team.

No, would you have a contract sir,
that tells you what your $8,500

was to be used for and the expectation
that you were going to get that money

returned to you via fees that were paid
to each individual player?

That has to be it, and in the event
that they don't pay, who's gonna pay?

Well, I do have a text message
from the defendant saying,

"I did not use all the money.
It did not cost $8,500..."

- [Judy] Okay.
- "...And I will pay you back."

That's what I would like to see.

'Cause it was disbanded
for whatever reason, all your reasons

sir, are hearsay.

- What is your first name?
- Gianni.

Gianni, the reasons are hearsay.

Why people left?
They didn't like to be yelled at.

They didn't like some people.

That's all stuff that I can't process
as a jurist in my head.

All I know is this is a contract case.

So now he paid $8,500.

And did you, Mr. Senior, at some point say
the "$8,500 hasn't been all used up

and I'll give you back some of the money?"

- No, I didn't.
- Okay.

And this is also a text message saying
he used it for his mortgage

and that he agreed to pay me $400 a month
to pay back the...

Okay, coach, "Fees to catch up
on my mortgage."

"Used some fees to catch up
on my mortgage, at least $1,500.

And between operating costs
there is roughly $2,400 left."

- Correct.
- [Judy] Oh, that's what you wrote to him?

Yeah, and I was willing to give him
the money that the kids had paid up front.

No, no, no.
There is roughly not the money

that the kids paid up front, sir.

You say to him in your text,
after this was all over,

because I assume that this is all over
after the team was...

- Correct. Yeah.
- disbanded there is roughly $2,400 left.

"So I'm going to have to work out

sort of a payment arrangement
if you don't mind."

Which means you didn't have the money,

but it was left over
and you spent it on something else.

And it's here it says, "Used some fees
to catch up on my mortgage."

I assume that's your home mortgage?

Correct.
After the season was over.

Well, you can't do that.
You can't do that, sir.

Do you understand?

Okay.
Well, this acknowledges several things.

It acknowledges that he used $1,500
to catch up on his mortgage.

- Right?
- Mm-hmm.

And that according to you
and according to your son,

whether or not you took a fee
for yourself,

paying your home mortgage is a fee.

- Do you understand that, sir?
- I do.

[Judy]
All right. So...

- I sure do.
- You sure do.

So $1,500, did you pay him back
for $1,500?

No. It's at that point...

No. No.
The answer is no.

And you said even after the $1,500
that you used to pay your home mortgage,

there was still $2,400 left.

That's what you said in here.
That's a yes.

Yes, ma'am.

Well then you add 24 and 15 is 0, 0, 9...

- Is $3,900.
- Yes.

Even my rudimentary math suggest to me
that that is a merit number.

That's minimally what you owe him.

Your mortgage payment and the $2,400 left.

- You're suing him for $4,800.
- Right.

- This acknowledges 39.
- [Jason] Absolutely.

Prove to me anymore.

So I went back to, um, Mr. Senior
and I said, I didn't necessarily believe

that it costs $5,500 to run the team.

I said, "So therefore you owe me $5,000."

I said, "You need to either get a loan
and pay me back,"

or, he said, "I can't get a loan,
I can give you $400 a month.

[Judy] I'd like to see the exchange.

- I said, if you're gonna give me...
- I'd like to see the exchange.

Just cause you said, I think it's $5,000.

And this is where he says,
"I'd like to pay you back."

This doesn't say anything about $5,000.

And this is where I told him
that he misappropriated money

that was owed back to me.
And that was his response.

Just because you said it,
he doesn't acknowledge here in his answer

that it's $5,000.

Silence cannot be construed
as acknowledging $5,000.

Even the math doesn't fit in.

You played more than half the tournaments.
So...

Can we see how much the tournaments
cost then, please?

No, I'm not bothering.
That's nonsense.

Put something in a contract.

You're a contractor.
Have a contract.

- Right now he owes you $3,900.
- And not for the uniforms?

- [Judy] No.
- That has his team?

[Judy] No.
He says he doesn't have the uniforms.

- Okay.
- And I didn't go to seven years

post-graduate school to discuss
a basketball uniform.

A pair of shorts and a pair of socks.
I don't care.

The uniforms are $1,000.

Well, then somebody's overpaying
for a pair of shorts.

$3,900, judgment for the plaintiff.
Thank you very much. We're finished.

- Thank you.
- [Bailiff] Court is adjourned.

I think it was unfair.

I'm glad she ruled somewhat in my favor.

- Because he sponsored a team.
- And yes, did I do it for my son? I did.

But there was 11 other young men
that I did it for.

Fighting amongst each other,

poor discipline, and the lack of, uh,
financial support from the kids.

When you have a group of 18 year old young
men and you don't practice

and you don't kind of reel 'em in
and show them that you're the coach,

and that you run the team,
it can get a little hairy.

- It is what it is.
- I did what I did for these young men.

Sometimes it works out,
sometimes it doesn't.

Me and Jason are friends.
I don't think this will deter it.

Always have contracts.

Okay, so I know that when we got
the paperwork on this case

that you really tried hard to give me...

to give me a rudimentary lesson
in basketball.

I did. Those years managing in high school
really paid off today.

- So, I learned a lot.
- That's right. You managed.

I did a basketball team,
so I know a little bit about AAU.

A lot of the kids that played
at the school that I went to

had previously played
on AAU teams, so I kind of get...

- What's AAU?
- Oh, Amateur Athletic Union. AAU.

- I never would've figured that.
- Me neither.

So they played on a lot of AAU teams
before coming to high school.

So I know a little bit
about the structure.

And when I read it,
it's a nonprofit organization

that kids play in to get exposure,

hopefully to move up to the next level
of basketball.

But to me, I read it as he was sponsoring
the team for $8,500.

Sort of like how you see in little league.

You know, Johnny's Pizza
across the front of the...

Yeah, that wasn't, that wasn't...

But this seemed like a different type
of setup.

And to go through the coach directly,
I'm not sure the very specific structure

of who gets paid and who doesn't,
who sponsors and who doesn't.

But definitely paying your mortgage
out of an $8,500

that was meant to start a team seems
a little outside.

Yeah, well it's outside the box,
especially since both

he and his son said that they do
this without compensation.

Well, you don't have to take money
and put it in your pocket.

If you take money out of that account
and pay your personal mortgage,

that's getting paid.
It was not a difficult case.

And the text messages made
the whole thing a lot easier.

Now I know that there are five people
on a court for a basketball team.

Yeah.

[Narrator] Want Justice?