03x67 - Pomsky's Day in Court

[bunniefuu]

We were in an actual relationship
for five years.

He took the dog,
and you want the dog back.

Yes.

His anxieties were surrounded
by her grandson

because the fact that he would beat him.
He sprayed hairspray in the dog's eyes.

You don't make that up.

I don't think he over disciplined him.

This is not a tea party, madam.
This is when you have to listen.

[narrator]
This is Judy Justice.

[theme music]

Debra Barrile is suing her ex-boyfriend,
Osmond Brown, for harassment,

personal property, and her dog, Luka.

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

Have a seat, please.

-Hello, Judge!
-Hello, Kevin.

Case #3086, Barrile versus Brown.

-Thank you.
-You're welcome.

Miss Barrile, you and Mr. Brown,
according to you,

had a friends relationship
for about ten years.

Well, we were friends
for the past about five.

We were in an actual relationship
for five years.

[Judy]
Which five years?

The first five. From '13 to '18.

And you lived together.
And according to you, in 2018,

something happened and
that relationship changed.

However, according to Mr. Brown,
he continued to reside with you.

[Debra]
Yes, he lived on the couch.

Whatever. He continued to reside...
You continued to reside together.

We stayed very good friends, yes.

Very good friends.
You stayed together for ten years.

-Yes.
-And then, an incident occurred.

You separated. And now,
each of you have a claim

that the other has property
that belongs to them.

That's the long and short of this case.

One of the items, Mr. Brown,
I see that absolutely adorable dog.

Will the dog be just as happy
on the ground?

I don't know. I will try.

Okay. One of the things at issue
is that adorable little dog.

So, it is your claim
that the dog belongs to you.

That when you and Mr. Brown separated,
it was an acrimonious separation

and you were forced to sign a document
that gave him the dog.

He took the dog,
and you want the dog back.

You also want back from him
something called an oculus.

Sarah, could you pull up
what that looks like for me?

This is what it looks like.

Okay. An oculus is something
that you put over your eyes

and it takes you into another world.

-Is that what happens?
-Yes.

-It belongs to my grandson.
-Virtual reality.

[Judy]
Hold on. What?

Virtual reality, they call it.

-Do you use it?
-No.

Do young people, kids use it?
Is that what it's used for, Sarah?

-I think they're popular. Yeah.
-Popular?

Your other grandparents use it?

I don't think they'd be able
to figure it out.

No. I know these grandparents
don't use it.

Do you have an oculus?

My son has an oculus.

-And how old is he?
-Twelve.

-Twelve.
-Mm-hmm.

-Kevin, do you have an oculus?
-No, ma'am.

No.

Out of the audience there.
Raise your hand if you own an oculus.

One, two, three, four, five... six.

Okay. So, some people, adults...
not old adults, but adults...

do have these toys.
You don't use it.

-No, ma'am.
-[Judy] Okay.

And it is your claim
that in addition to the dog,

-Mr. Brown took the oculus...
-Yes.

-that belonged to your grandson.
-Right.

Mr. Brown said he was given the oculus
because your grandson broke his tablet.

And you want a little money
for some traveling

that she did that she promised
to pay you back for.

-Is that right?
-We, we...

-[Judy] Is that right?
-Yes.

-You want some money for traveling.
-Yes.

Okay. So, let's deal with the dog first

since that, to me,
is the most important issue.

By the way, Miss Barrile,
where's your grandson?

-Back in Buffalo.
-[Judy] Who is this?

[Debra]
His mother, my daughter.

-[Judy] She doesn't live with you.
-No.

-But the grandson lives with you.
-He did.

-He did when you were together.
-He stays with me...

He goes back and forth.

-And how old is he?
-Sixteen.

Okay. Because one of the things
Mr. Brown says

is that the 16-year-old
isn't very good with the dog.

[Debra]
Well, the dog, he's a chewer.

He chews... He's chewed up
a lot of my grandson's things.

Luka has chewed up your grandson's things.

Several of his headphones and earbuds.
He's chewed up our shoe laces.

He tries to discipline the dog.
I don't really discipline dogs.

So, you wouldn't necessarily,
as a dog owner,

discipline your dog the same way
your grandson has disciplined the dog.

Right.

Did he ever hit him?

I don't think he's hit him hard.

I mean, I think he may have tapped him
on the butt a couple times.

Maybe done his nose a couple times.

I don't know. He was very frustrated
that he was constantly chewing his stuff.

[Judy]
Okay. How old is this dog?

[Debra]
He will be two in April.

When you got him, you and Mr. Brown
were living together.

Yes.

I must tell you, Miss Barrile,
the dog looks very happy with Mr. Brown.

He was very happy with me, too.

He may have been. I'm sure he wasn't happy
when your grandson was disciplining him

different from the way most normal people
and adults would discipline a dog.

Because Mr. Brown is gonna tell
me about other instances of discipline

that he observed that your grandson
inflicted on the dog.

I'm not aware of any...

[Judy] But you're aware enough,
Miss Barrile,

to tell me that in your home,

the dog was disciplined in a way
that you would never discipline a puppy.

Because a dog that's not quite two
is still a young dog.

Some chew things and some don't.
All right.

What, if anything, did you observe
with regard to Miss Barrile's grandson

doing with the dog?

He sprayed hair spray in the dog's eyes
one day,

and told her that he thought
that it was his butt.

That's what he told her.

Why are you spraying his butt?
You don't know his face from his butt

that you're gonna spray him in the eyes?

[theme music]

[narrator] Debra Barrile
claims her ex-boyfriend, Osmond Brown,

owes for harassment, an oculus headset
and the return of her dog, Luka.

Osmond is countersuing Debra
for personal property and travel expenses.

Now, when was the dog purchased?

I got him on December 19th, 2022

as a birthday present for my other pomsky.
She's just like him and loves to play.

And I have an old shih tzu
that would not play with her.

And then, I came across a Facebook post
about a woman who was getting rid of a dog

that was swimming in her basement.
Well, he lived in the basement.

And when I contacted her, she said,
I'll send you some pictures.

And it was a couple pictures
of Luka sitting on some stairs.

And she said, oh, we went
down in the basement the other day,

and the basement was flooded
and he was swimming.

I said, swimming? And she said, yeah,
so we put him on the stairs.

And I said, I'll be over.

So, Osmond and I went to look at him and
he made my other pomsky a little nervous.

So, we went back, and Os kept saying,
you don't need another dog.

She doesn't need a friend, she's got toys.

I said, I have to do something
about this dog.

-[Judy] And Mr. Brown was with you?
-Yeah.

[Judy]
Okay. So, you went together.

To look. And he said, no.

So, I came home and I thought about it,
and I kept in touch with that woman.

And she said, if you don't take him,
he's probably just gonna go to a shelter.

I talked to Os again. I said,
I have to go get this dog.

I have to. He's living on stairs.
And so, I purchased him.

He was not happy about it,
but I purchased him.

-[Judy] For how much?
-Two hundred and forty dollars.

It started at $500 and
I told her I couldn't do it, so.

Mr. Brown, do you need a tissue?

Yes.

Thank you.

[Judy] Okay. Mr. Brown,
first, do you recall, sir,

going with Miss Barrile
to pick up the dog?

[Osmond]
Yes.

[Judy] Were you with Miss Barrile
when she purchased the dog?

Yeah, I bought the dog. I gave her the
money to purchase the dog.

[Judy]
Where did you get the money from?

-I worked, at that time.
-[Judy] Okay.

Does Miss Barrile work?

She worked periodically.
I got her two jobs

for a company that I worked with.
They were contractual for 90 days.

She did that twice.
And then, she worked for the census.

-Okay.
-[Osmond] Every ten years.

He would like to go and
say hello to her.

-[Osmond] Okay.
-[Debra coos]

Yeah, sweetheart.

Hi, sweetheart.

[Judy] Okay. So,
when you went to pick up the dog,

do you remember what month and year
that was?

Was that in December of 2022?

[Osmond]
Yes, it was December of 2022.

[Judy] And where did you
take the money from?

My bank account. I work.

Miss Barrile, who took out the money
to pay for the dog?

[Debra]
He lent me the money.

Okay. So, the answer is
Mr. Brown paid for the dog then.

At that day, yeah.

[Judy] Okay. Fine. And when
did you repay him for the money?

The following week.

[Judy] Do you
have any proof that you paid him back?

No, but he knows I did.

[Judy]
I didn't ask you what he knows.

I asked you whether or not...

We didn't do receipts back then.

Okay, enough. You want to
hold onto the dog for a second?

Thank you.

When you lived in the house
for these ten years,

how much was the rent in the house?

There wasn't really rent.
I pay a mortgage

with my retirement from the post office.

Okay. And how much did Mr. Brown
contribute towards that?

He had the gas and electric
in his name.

-[Judy] Okay. So, the gas...
-And it varied...

[Judy] Just a second.
The utilities were in his name.

[Debra] Yes. I paid the cable,
the phone bill for eight years.

-The mortgage.
-[Judy] Okay, there was a mortgage.

And did he contribute anything
toward the mortgage?

Not towards the mortgage, really.

But did he take money out of his bank
or write you a check

for anything other than the two utilities

that you said are in his name
that he pays?

Yes, he gave me different amounts.
At one time, it was three...

So, the answer is you actually lived in,
as he put it,

a domestic partnership
for those ten years.

Yes. It really was.

Okay. So then, let's be fair
and easy about it.

Now, Mr. Brown, what, if anything,
did you observe

with regard to Miss Barrile's grandson
doing with the dog?

By the way, the dog still
chewing up your house?

I'm gonna answer both questions,

but first, I'm gonna answer
the chewin' up things first.

The dog did have a problem chewing things
because he had anxieties.

His anxieties
were surrounded by her grandson

because of the fact
that he would beat him.

Oh, come on.

For the last five years,
I've been sleeping on the couch.

When her grandson comes,
he also sleeps on the couch.

But sometimes,
in the middle of the night...

he's always on his computer
doing something.

So, if he gets angry,
he takes his frustrations out on the dog.

The fact that I'm in the room sleeping,
and I let her know these things,

she don't really discipline him.
She just says, oh, this, or oh, that.

He sprayed hairspray in the dog's eyes
one day

and told her that he thought
that it was his butt.

That's what he told her.
He thought he was spraying his butt.

Why are you spraying his butt?
You don't know his face from his butt?

That's you're gonna spray him in his eyes?

What precipitated that?

I don't know. He's always
trying to do things to the dog.

[Judy]
Did you see it?

I heard the spray. I heard the pss-pss.
And I heard the dog...

doin' this here with his eyes.
So I know something happened.

You could smell it, you could see it.

Did you confront her grandson about it?

-[Osmond] Yes.
-What did you say to him?

I said, don't spray this dog in the eyes.
I even went and told her.

He's spraying the dog in the face... eyes.
He said he thought it was the dog's butt.

[Judy]
Did you hear him say that?

-Yeah, he told her that.
-Okay.

You don't make that up, madam.

He wouldn't've heard the spray.
He's in a...

[Judy] What I'm telling you is
he wouldn't have made up that story.

Miss Barrile, there are lots of stories
that you make up.

He's not that imaginative. [laughs]

There are a lot of ways you can say
you can abuse a dog,

but spraying the dog in the eyes
with spray,

and then, that remark that a 16-year-old
wiseguy might say.

You don't make that up.

I told him a good way to discipline an
animal, including a cat,

that's doing something bad,
is you get a spray bottle

and you fill it with water.

Yes. Look at me, don't look at him.

You get a spray bottle
and fill it with water. And?

And you can put it on a light mist
and you spray them.

[Judy] But this is not what he did.
He didn't spray the dog with water.

I believe that's what he did.

That's not what he said.

I wouldn't believe anything he says.

But now we're getting to the fact
that he did, in fact, spray the dog.

-[Debra] With water.
-Okay.

The dog is staying with him. Period.
End of discussion.

He paid for it, $240. And unless
you have proof that you took out $240

-that was paid for the dog...
-If he loves this dog so much,

why is he trying to sell it back to me
for $3,000 after I sold that house?

Let me tell you something.

I understand they're counterfeit,
you just explained that to me.

But if somebody comes over to you
in Washington Square Park

and goes like this...
Want a real Rolex?

I would suggest to you that you know...

I knew they were counterfeit
and I bought them for an ex.

And we were going through some jewelry
and he saw it.

And he said, these are nice Rolex.
They're not both his.

[theme music]

[narrator] Debra Barrile
is accusing her ex-boyfriend,

Osmond Brown, of harassment and
wrongfully keeping her dog, Luka.

Osmond is countersuing
for personal property and travel expenses.

By the way, can I see the piece of paper
that she signed giving you the dog?

Yes.

[Debra]
The top half was ripped off.

There was more writing
on the top half of that.

"I will let Osmond Brown take my dog, Luka

in order to get Osmond
to leave my home forever."

The top half says something
completely different that he ripped off.

I'd like to take a look
at what you're showing me.

This isn't this.

No, I don't have that.

[Judy]
Well, this isn't this.

That shows you that he's trying
to sell me the dog back.

If you want to buy it back,
you can buy it back.

-[Debra] For $240?
-Listen to me.

He's got the dog. "I will let him
take the dog if he agrees to leave."

That's what this document says.

Just for the day.

-That's not what this document says.
-Because he's ripped it.

Just a second.
You should've made a copy.

It's ripped on both sides. Okay. Now.

He wants the dog. He paid for the dog.

As long as your 16-year-old grandson
has access to your house,

which you say that he does,
the dog is staying with Mr. Brown.

It's his conscience as to whether or not
he wants to sell it or not.

Right now, the dog looks just fine,
and I'm not sending this dog back

to where there's a 16-year-old teenager
who gets frustrated

and takes out that frustration
on a dog

by over-disciplining the dog...

I don't think he over-disciplined...

This is not a tea party, madam.
This is a ruling.

-This is when you have to listen.
-Okay.

Kevin, get the dog and
bring it to Mr. Brown.

Come on, come on, come on. Come on.

There you go. Good boy.

Okay. Now, let's go to the oculus.
Mr. Brown,

-you have the oculus.
-Yes, ma'am.

[Judy] And you don't use it.
That's what you told me before.

-I don't use it. I...
-[Judy] Just a second.

-You don't use it.
-[Osmond] No, ma'am.

Okay. You're gonna give it
back to the grandson.

'Cause she doesn't use it.
It was the grandson's oculus.

-Okay?
-Okay.

Okay. Now, we have a counterclaim.
And your counterclaim is

that when you had this argument,
you left the house

and you left some things there.

Yes, ma'am.

The most important thing
in this collection,

'cause I'm not getting involved
in a collection of three sport jerseys

or two t-shirts.
I'm not getting involved with that.

But you say you left your watch there.
Where did you leave your watch?

It's in her bedroom.
I have three watches there.

One has a pink face, one has a blue face
and one that's a Rolex

that she gave me that the battery broke.

Okay. You don't mention any other watch
but a Rolex.

Yes, ma'am.

And the Rolex was given to you
by the Plaintiff?

-Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] For what?

We were in a relationship. Um...

Was it for a birthday
or a different event

-that you gave him the Rolex?
-I didn't give him a watch.

Oh, can I see the watches, please?
Whose watches were they?

I had bought them for an ex
in New York City

We had gone to the Statue of Liberty
and we were at Battery Park

and a man opened his raincoat and
asked me, did I want watches.

And these are the two... Just a second.
These are the two watches that you bought.

Yeah, lots of them.
Thirty dollars a piece.

But these are the two mens watches
that you bought?

-[Debra] Yes.
-Okay.

-[Debra] So, he...
-Shh, shh, shh!

Would you turn these mens watches
over to the Defendant, please?

No, they're not his.
I never gave them to him.

Just a second. I'm giving them to him.

No, you can't. There's two of them there.

I wanted him... He doesn't even know
which one it was.

-And they're counterfeit.
-Just a second.

I understand they're counterfeit.
You just explained that to me.

When somebody comes over to you
in Washington Square park

and goes like this...
Want a real Rolex?

I would suggest to you that you know...

I knew they were counterfeit
and I bought them for an ex.

And we were going through some jewelry
and he saw it.

-And he said, these are nice Rolex...
-Okay. Just...

They're not both his.

He's getting them both!
Both fake Rolexes.

He's getting both fake Rolexes
for which you paid $30.

Now, what other expenses
do you think she's responsible for?

So, we planned a trip to Atlanta with me
and her and her grandson and my mom.

-[Judy] When?
-We were supposed to go October 28th.

It was a non-refundable trip.
So, once I paid... I paid for it.

Once I paid for it,
she was supposed to pay her $850.

She never paid her $850
because when she got her money,

she threw me out of the house and
said she's not going on the trip.

That's when I told her
I need that $850 back.

Just a second.
You paid the $850 for what?

-To fly to Atlanta.
-[Judy] Oh, to fly.

-To fly, yes. Yes.
-To fly.

Okay. And that was
just on a vacation trip?

-Yes.
-[Judy] Okay.

-Did you go?
-Yes.

-[Judy] Who else did you go with?
-My mother.

-And you flew there.
-[Osmond] Yes.

And you knew she wasn't going
so what did you do with her tickets?

I couldn't do anything with her tickets.
I left everything there.

I told her on the phone she
could still go. It's still there for you.

She said, I don't want to be
in the same hotel...

[Judy]
She's not going. Okay.

You're taking the dog home.
I expect the oculus to be packed,

and take it to a post office, box it
and send it back to her grandson.

Now, you want it to go to your house?
The oculus, do you...

Yes. But how do I know
he's not gonna break it?

You know because
I'm telling him not to break it,

to put it in a box and send it back.
Do you understand?

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

-Don't break it.
-I won't.

[Judy]
Ah, he won't.

Okay, we're done. He gets the dog,
you get your oculus.

We're finished. Thank you.

[Bailiff]
This court is adjourned.

It's the dog that's worth money
and that's why he wants it.

Because he's greedy and ruthless.

The only way I felt
like I could help this dog

is if I got her to sign him over to me
so I could leave.

He's gonna turn around and sell the dog.

So there'll be a beautiful pomsky
for sale.

No, this dog is part of our family.
This dog is loved by two families now.

He has a bunch of kids that love him
and play with him,

either at my brother's house
or at my house.

Because I rescued that dog.
He did not want me to rescue that dog.

That dog had a terrible life
until I went and rescued him.

It's almost impossible

to separate these domestic partnerships

and property and what you spend.

You know, you have courts set up
for divorces.

-Yeah.
-But you don't for living together

-as almost marrieds.
-Yeah.

But the papers indicated
that he took the dog.

And there's no question; he didn't say
he was taking the dog for one day.

-Because she wanted him to leave,
-Mm-hmm.

and the condition was she would give him
the dog if he left the house "forever."

-Mm-hmm. Yeah.
-That was in the paper.

And her statement that I was
just giving him the dog for one day,

just doesn't fit with that.
And he paid for the dog.

-The dog looks very well taken care of.
-Yeah.

And she acknowledged that the grandson
did in fact abuse the dog.

-Sure.
-So it was a very easy decision.

And the oculus was actually
made easy by him.

When I said, do you use the oculus,
he said no.

Give it back to its owner.

Give it back to its owner.
Anyway.

Living together is never easy
when you have to dissect it

and divide it.

-At the end of the day.
-After the fact.

[narrator] Want justice?