Small Talk: Judge's Chambers

[funky-rat]

24 minutes ago, AngelaHunter said:

I am left speechless. My mother always told us, "Beggars can't be choosers."

You're nicer than I am. She took it - it's now her problem, so bugger off. She sounds just like an entitled JJ litigant, thinking strangers should look out for her interests. Truly amazing. 🤬

Yep.  Like I said, I even offered her gas money to bring the recliner back because my new one was damaged, and I had nothing to sit on (except the new couch, but my husband and cats had taken that over).  I also said she could bring it back and put it in the dumpster where we live.  Dead silence.  They had other furniture when they showed up - a grill, another recliner, and some other stuff they had under moving blankets.  We believe they pick stuff up for free, and then flip it for money.  I don't believe there was some friend in desperate need.

[Brattinella]

Our local Goodwill will gladly pick up donations like couches and cars.  They can do wonderful things with very little.

[CrazyInAlabama]

There are also women's shelters (our local one is House of Ruth), that take furniture, and household items, and help people outfit their house.     Our local Habitat for Humanity group have finished 128 houses, at least it was 128 as of a few months ago.     

On the caretaker subject, some states do pay relatives to work as caregivers for their relatives.  Not all states do it, but some do.   

[funky-rat]

12 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

There are also women's shelters (our local one is House of Ruth), that take furniture, and household items, and help people outfit their house.     Our local Habitat for Humanity group have finished 128 houses, at least it was 128 as of a few months ago.     

On the caretaker subject, some states do pay relatives to work as caregivers for their relatives.  Not all states do it, but some do.   

There is a charity place a few towns over that used to take all kinds of furniture, until someone sued them because there was an exposed staple on a couch they gave someone, their kid got cut, and a lawsuit ensued.  People have to ruin everything.

[SRTouch]

As you know, I've been deprived of JJ since July 4th when my local provider started feuding with DirecTV for more money 😢😢😢

well, I as I was getting ready to hit the sack just now I was flipping through channels....

hip hip hooray 🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊 instead of the screen telling me they're aware I'm not getting the channel, oh so sorry, yada yada..... I see The Tonight Show - yep, looks like I once again get the local NBC station, which happens to be where I get my JJ fix....

Edited August 30, 2019 by SRTouch

[CrazyInAlabama]

I'm so happy for you SRTouch!

[AngelaHunter]

Yesterday's scammer case reminded me of this site:

Ladies? If you're perusing a dating site and see lonely John Hamm there lookin' for love, keep scrolling:

[funky-rat]

Someone was trying to scam a friend of mine.  He knew better and was having a little fun. The guy was asking for money for his "church".  My friend asked him to send proof that he had a church.  They sent a photo of the Vatican, with a photo shopped sign out front. Badly photoshopped - like done in MS Paint bad.  The scammers share stuff - other people had been sent the same photo in other scams, he found out.  There are people called Scam Baiters that do some awesome stuff with scammers, including getting them to spend their own money, and take photos of themselves holding signs with ridiculous stuff written on them.

I mentioned it before, but Mr. Funky's Uncle's widow (the blood relative was his uncle) fell for one and I never mentioned it again to her, but hoped she didn't get taken for much.  The guy claimed to be an art dealer from England, and he would send her gifts (likely purchased with stolen credit cards).  Then he started saying that he was going to come visit her, and asking her to buy sexy lingerie, and buy herself jewelry and send him the receipts.  She really wasn't in the right frame of mind, and he really preyed on her.  He would call her at 4am to talk to her, so she would be groggy.  Then, conveniently, his art company sent him to Nigeria to buy African Art for a client.

I told her that I hoped he was legit, but if he e-mailed her saying he was stuck there, robbed, or any other manner of "I can't get out", and he wanted her to send money, to not do it.  I also suggested she may want to start returning the items she bought before it was too late to do so, since he may not make it there, at least for some time, and she shouldn't be stuck with all of those bills since he may not be able to reimburse her.  I tried hard to spin it positively, but with a cautionary twist.  He sent photos of himself to her, which she framed and hung on the wall.  Google reverse image showed he was popular with scammers, and was likely some guy that had nothing to do with the scam.  He had a deep tan, and England doesn't lend itself well to deep tans (it was obvious he tanned - you could tell it wasn't his natural complexion).  The guy wasn't some GQ model chilseled body good-looking guy, and was older (since his Aunt was older) but still handsome.

I inquired about a car on Craigslist once.  The response made it clear that it was a scam (person was in the military, I had to pay customs and import fees by wiring them, they'd send me a check and I should wire them part of it back - all red flags.

I think I mentioned here before that the company I work for was wrapped up in a scam.  We mailed a check to a supplier of ours in Texas.  It never arrived.  We put a stop payment, and issued a new one.  Then we started getting phone calls.  People were getting checks with our corporate info on them.  Almost all had them sent because they were selling a car, or renting a room/apartment on Craigslist.  The checks were FedEx'd to them, but the return address was a wide array of businesses.  They would fax us copies of the check, and they were not our checks.  We never issued them.  They would come with letters with the standard scam stuff-  the check is for more, just cash it and wire me the difference/keep the difference for your trouble (it varied).  We closed our bank account (huge undertaking) and got so used to saying "Don't cash the check.  It's a scam.  Mail it to us marked VOID, or turn in to your local police". 

Then the "YOU OWE ME MONEY FOR YOUR BOUNCED CHECK!!!" calls started.  I was amazed at just how many people fell for it, and were out thousands of dollars.  And they would want us to make it right, and we were under zero obligation to do so.  I also would get calls from both banks and check cashing places where people were trying to cash it, and they saw the massive red flags.   The check cashing place ran some report and saw the account had been closed.  One time, it was the same person who kept going from place to place, trying to cash this check.  They all turned her down and told her it was a scam, but she kept trying.

Eventually, it eased off, as word must have gotten back to the scammers the account was closed.  But apparently the account number was on a list of accounts that was passed around or sold, because it happend twice more, but both times it was on a much smaller scale, and it eventually died down.  We never lost any money because the first few people were smart and didn't cash the checks, so we got it stopped in a timely manner, but the people who fell for it lost a lot of money.  The only one I felt bad for was the woman who had a son who was missing.  Scammers sent her a check with a note saying it was to help in her efforts to find her son.  We had gotten a message from her on our coporate FB page thanking us, and we all wondered what it was, but just ignored it, as we thought it was a mistake, or perhaps one of our sales reps did something for her (they're spread across the US).  Nope.  She cashed the check because she didn't have any red flags come up.  We felt bad, but we never authorized a donation to her.  She was incredibly kind about it, and thankfully hadn't spent any of the money.  Scammers can rot in hell.  We don't know how our account was compromised, other than it had to be related to that check.  We believe it was stolen out of the mail by someone who then sold the acccount number.

Edited September 10, 2019 by funky-rat

[AngelaHunter]

Scam baiters are awesome. I think the best is: https://forum.419eater.com/forum/index.php

I took a crack at it once and turned an advance fee fraud into a love scam. Mr. Usman Bello was smitten with me and vowed to dump his wife and 5 kids for me since, "She is bitch anyway."  I told Usman to send me a pic of him holding a sign with my name on it so I would know he was genuine. He sent this: (no, not photoshopped at all)

[Florinaldo]

I was reading today about the announced resignation of the UK Commons Speaker and his decision not to run again as an MP.

I though how great it would be for him to get a sideline job as an infrequent substitute for Byrd. Just imagine him opening episodes with his now world-famous "Ââwwddeurrrr!!" and freely targeting annoying litigants with colorful putdowns similar to the ones he wielded in the House against the most obstreperous MPS and Ministers. He would certainly be more lively than Byrd, but JJ would probably resent having to share the spotlight,

[DoctorK]

40 minutes ago, Florinaldo said:

He would certainly be more lively than Byrd

Maybe but I love grumpy old Byrd and of all the court show bailiffs he is the one that I want to protect me.  I agree with you about most of the other bailiffs we see on these shows.

Edited September 13, 2019 by DoctorK

[zillabreeze]

53 minutes ago, DoctorK said:

Maybe but I love grumpy old Byrd and of all the court show bailiffs he is the one that I want to protect me.  I agree with you about most of the other bailiffs we see on these shows.

Byrd is cool, but us girls like Douglas over on TPC...he's awfully purty and does those hot little pirouettes back and forth to the bench/lecturns.  I'd love to see him use those big ol' biceps to toss a litigant out!

[Florinaldo]

11 hours ago, DoctorK said:

I love grumpy old Byrd

He can be enjoyable but variety adds spice. And John Bercow can certainly be as grumpy as Byrd, only in a more colourful way. He would certainly wake up the courtroom in a way that does not seem to be in Byrd's nature. But that will never happen of course.

10 hours ago, zillabreeze said:

us girls like Douglas over on TPC

I am sure some boys also find him easy on the eyes.  😉

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

Quote

Someone was trying to scam a friend of mine.  He knew better and was having a little fun. The guy was asking for money for his "church".  My friend asked him to send proof that he had a church. 

Hello again friends. A few months ago, I received a text from my "pastor", a lovely old Irish priest in his late 70s asking me by name if I would do him a favor a buy an Itunes gift card to give to a cancer patient in the hospital and he would pay me back. (of course, the scammer asks the purchaser to scrape off and reveal the number and text it back so he can "reimburse me"). They had to make an announcement throughout all the churches in the archdiocese that no, the priests were not asking for any gift cards through text (apparently there was a rash of "priests" asking for Itunes and Amazon gift cards for "cancer patients in the hospital". 

So yesterday, I get a text from our NEW priest asking for me to purchase an Ebay gift card for another "cancer patient in the hospital" (and of course, he will pay me back). 

Imagine if scammers used their brains and efforts for legit things instead of trying to scam people. 

[AuntiePam]

Looking for legal advice!  Yeah, I know, it's worth what I'm paying for it. /smile/

My husband gave his son a truck a little over a month ago.  Old truck, we didn't need it, we'll be saving $$ on insurance.  Husband signed and dated the title.  Son hasn't registered the truck yet, or added it to his insurance.  Husband wants to drop the insurance. 

Is that a good idea?  Aren't we still liable until the kid registers the truck? 

Because if just signing over a title removes liability, wouldn't people do that whenever they had an accident and didn't have insurance? 

I suggested that he ask our carrier before he drops the coverage, but he thinks he knows what he's doing.

Does he?

(Son lives in another state, and he and his wife both work, so I'm thinking the delay in registering is because one of them will have to take off work to do it.)

[CrazyInAlabama]

Don't drop the insurance until the truck is titled and registered in his name.   You are liable for everything with that vehicle until it's no longer in your name.   This is exactly what JJ explains to every defendant that never paid a vehicle off, or registered it or insured it.   

I don't care how busy they are, this needs to get done immediately.   It won't take that long to register the truck, so I don't care what their excuses are.    They need to get whatever emissions or inspections need to be done, insurance, register/title it, and get a new plate.     

If they get in an accident, or someone hits them, or it gets stolen and abandoned, then the police will call you.   If they get traffic tickets they are yours.    Plus, are they both named drivers on the insurance policy you have?   Does your insurance company even operate in the state where the truck is now?   

As much as we would all love seeing someone on JJ from here, this is not the right way to do it.  

I think you already knew this, just don't tell hubby you went to the law school of JJ, and People's Court, or he won't believe you. 

(Personally I'm rather proud of being a graduate of the Law & Order, L.A. Law, and JJ school of law).   

Edited October 4, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama

[Brattinella]

He should call them and say the title is lost.  Get it retitled in his name, and get the truck back. 

[AuntiePam]

Son isn't on our insurance.  He's 35, been on his own for years, has at least one other vehicle.

My husband is positive that signing the title over is all he needed to do.  He's sold cars before and dropped coverage immediately.  Our carrier has never asked if the new owner had registered any of those vehicles.

I hope I've sown enough doubt that he'll keep the coverage going until son gets his shit together.  It's just liability, so it's about $30 a month.  What's funny is that son's wife is an insurance broker.  Surely she knows how important this is!

[badhaggis]

If you fill out a sold notice with mvd you can cancel the insurance. Otherwise you might be facing fines for an uninsured vehicle. It is always a good idea to fill one out after the sale of any vehicle. I had a customer years ago that was being threatened with huge fines for a vehicle that he had sold over a year before that had been involved in an accident and abandoned in a different state. He sold it with the plates on it. 

[AuntiePam]

Family crisis averted.  Son says he has Minnesota plates and insurance.  Yay!

Googling brought up a Release of Liability form, which we will use the next time we sell a vehicle. 

[funky-rat]

Lordy.

I've mentioned before how my workplace got caught in one of those fraudulent check things, where they mailed checks to people advertising on Craigslist, etc, with the old "cash the check and wire me the difference" thing.

Most people heeded our advice when we said to not cash them.  Some did not, and expected us to make it right.  Nope.

Today, someone called.  We thought "Not again".  Turns out they just received a check dated 2012 (when we had this mess).  It apparently got hung up in a mail machine somewhere.  They wanted to know if they could cash it.  For starters, checks are usually only good for anywhere from 3 to 6 months after the date on the check.  Second, it's fraud.

My manager is telling this woman over and over again the check is no good.  She explains that our bank account was stolen, and it was closed in 2011 or 2012, and this check is no good.  She also says it's well past the date it can be cashed.

The woman says "But it's good now, right?  I can cash it now, right?" - I am crapping you negative (to steal a line from a favorite movie of mine).

My manager, tired of being nice, finally says "Look:  Why would we send you $1800?  We have no reason to send you $1800 just because.  If we did that, we'd be out of business fast". 

I half expect her to still try to cash it.  She will be sorry, if she does.

[Chalby]

Are there any forums on the Judge Judy shows, going by year or episodes? I watched a couple of shows from November of 2016, and I am dying to read what others think, but I do not know how to find specific episodes.

[CrazyInAlabama]

Try Googling the subject, and Judge Judy, and Primetimer.  Sometimes you get the information on it.   However, sometimes it's awfully hard to find.     I think the 2016's are way back in the 160-later pages.  

[augmentedfourth]

My job assignment on Monday ticked almost every square on the Judge Judy Bingo card. To quote Stefon from SNL, it had everything! It was a hearing involving complaints made against a contractor and what, if any, repercussions he should face. It was just the last day of testimony, but damn, they were going down the JJ list:

The contractor claimed the client kept wanting to add on extras and swore she'd pay him at the end. Of course, this was never put in writing because he "trusted her." (PUT EVERYTHING IN WRITING, FOOLS.)

He also claimed that she stole the original contract out of his van and modified it, like adding things and crossing things out. He was eager to point out the lines that weren't his handwriting.

However! When presented with the booklet of laws (some of which he was in violation of), he couldn't read from it because he forgot his glasses and simply couldn't read anything. (Despite reading the contract five minutes earlier.)

My personal favorite: When asked about any other documents he had, he answered, "Oh, they're at home in my filing cabinet." It took every ounce of willpower I had not to scream "WHERE DID YOU THINK YOU WERE COMING TODAY?!?" I forget when this case actually started, but I know it goes back to at least August, because that was the last time I did a piece of it. THIS IS YOUR JOB ON THE LINE, MY DUDE. BRING YOUR DOCUMENTS.

He also claims that when he went to collect the rest of the money he felt was owed to him, the client hit him in the face, chipping his tooth. I believe there was actually a police report and an order of protection, but I did not personally see either of them.

The guy's wife was called as a witness as she was there when the hit allegedly happened, and she kept answering with "uh-huh" and no one called her out on it. (All together now: UH-HUH IS NOT AN ANSWER.)

There was some fuckery involving photographs. But at least there were photographs.

The transcript is over 100 pages long and will take me forever to edit (especially since my headers are going wonky and I need to call tech support tomorrow), but at least it was somewhat entertaining.

[tiftgirl]

Has anyone seen/heard from @SRTouch lately?  

[SRTouch]

On 4/20/2020 at 8:32 PM, tiftgirl said:

Has anyone seen/heard from @SRTouch lately?  

I'm fine - just stepped back from court tv for awhile....... recently retired (again) and am doing some projects that I've been putting off. This week - going to replace the old, 10yo deck....... maybe. Went to buy lumber last week and there were lines outside both Home Depot and Lowe's of people standing 6 ft apart waiting to get inside. Sure, I could order online and have it delivered, but I'm old fashioned - picky - cheap - enough that I like to pick through the pile of lumber looking for best boards.

Edited April 22, 2020 by SRTouch

[tiftgirl]

2 hours ago, SRTouch said:

I'm fine - just stepped back from court tv for awhile

Thanks for the reply!  Glad to know all is well and congrats on the re-retirement.

I hadn't seen a post from you in a while and just want to make sure all was ok.

What I thought I was going to do it not, who knows, but, these days I get concerned when familiar posters seem to be mia for a while. 🙂

[SandyToes]

On 9/10/2019 at 10:15 AM, AngelaHunter said:

Mr. Usman Bello was smitten with me and vowed to dump his wife and 5 kids for me since, "She is bitch anyway." 

I can see why you would be considering this amazing offer.  What a catch!  Looks like he might have teeth, so that's a plus. How'd Mr. Hunter take the news?

[Ashforth]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at age 87. She did so much for women as a lawyer, and for the country as a Supreme Court Justice. RIP, Notorious RBG, and thank you. 😢

[Back Atcha]

On 8/1/2019 at 12:36 PM, AngelaHunter said:

I am left speechless. My mother always told us, "Beggars can't be choosers."

Guess those days are long gone.   Are all of today's "beggars" merely in temporary situations and they certainly can't accept someone else's stuff?  Maybe one must be a "certain age" to not only have HEARD but understand and accept that old proverb.

[SRTouch]

Well, dang! Second day in row I'm missing JJ. Keep forgetting that my antenna recorder only has 1 tuner. If I'm watching something I get a message popped up on screen that I need to change channel - if i don't respond the scheduled program is not recorded. Today I didn't respond - so no re ording. And, yesterday, well yesterday we had yahoos storming the Capitol.

Edited January 8, 2021 by SRTouch

[CrazyInAlabama]

Where I used to live was on the Alabama / Georgia border, near Muscogee County, and Harris County, GA.      Alabama and Georgia both had rules about kids going in another county school district, with tuition required.   There was actually people who used a Georgia address, and they lived in Alabama.   A friend was renting a house in Georgia, and the landlady comes charging up, to pick up her mail from the tenant.    And mentions that if anyone comes to the house, and wants to know if the owner's kids live there they do. 

  The landlady lived near where I did in Alabama, and when they moved there, they were supposed to change to local schools.   However, she wanted her kids in Georgia schools.    The house my friend rented was Muscogee County, and one child still went to her old school, but the other kid went to Harris County.   So the mother was dropping the kids off and picking them up from Georgia schools, with a car with Alabama plates.    I guess the landlady ticked someone, or multiple someone's off, and the school authorities were told that the family lived in Alabama, and had for several years by this time.    Plus, since they had lived in Muscogee county, the kid in Harris County had always been going to school in that county illegally.     When you get caught, then you have to immediately take the kid out of school, and move them to the right county or other state, and you have to pay tuition for the kid for the amount of time since you moved, or were illegally using the local address.    The mother was liable for two kids tuition, for several years.    Even if she had lived in Georgia, the one kid going to the other county schools would have to apply for one of the few transfer slots, or pay tuition, but out of state was absolutely illegal. 

Also, in a time of no evictions, and some states that are very tenant friendly, never let someone have mail sent to your address.   That is one way to establish that you are a tenant.    Actually, I wouldn't let a lot of people I know even spend the night, or they could try to stay.   

 I actually know someone who had a former neighbor move to a beautiful home to retire, he had a slow moving cancer, but knew he was terminal.    Then, his former neighbors started visiting, and staying for a week or more at a time, to 'help' him, which was actually part of their plan.   The man died, and his heirs had a hard time getting rid of the former neighbors, and had to spend a lot on attorneys to get the squatters out of the house.   The heirs are lucky that the dad had a good will, and Arizona isn't squatter friendly.     Other states would have been on the squatters/tenants side, and the heirs would either have lost the house, or had to pay the squatters to leave. 

Edited June 18, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[DoctorK]

3 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

 The man died, and his heirs had a hard time getting rid of the former neighbors, and had to spend a lot on attorneys to get the squatters out of the house.   

Situations like this make me non-optimistic about our civilization.

[Spunkygal]

On 11/15/2019 at 6:50 PM, Chalby said:

Are there any forums on the Judge Judy shows, going by year or episodes? I watched a couple of shows from November of 2016, and I am dying to read what others think, but I do not know how to find specific episodes.

I’m super late to reply, but if you still need to find discussion on episodes from November 2016, I believe they may begin at page 217. Just keep reading until you find the one you’re interested in.