You met online?
Yes.
And that's when you asked her for money?
I didn't borrow it.
Show me!
Uh, because she offered to help me so I kind of got comfortable to ask.
"Got comfortable to ask"?
I don't give a rat's behind.
[narrator] This is Judy Justice.
♪
[narrator] Joy Peterson is suing her ex-boyfriend James Stewart
for travel costs and a loan.
[bailiff] Court come to order. All rise.
Have a seat please.
Hello, Judge.
Case 2102. Peterson versus Stewart.
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
[Judy] Mrs. Peterson, you and Mr. Stewart met online?
Yes.
You met Mr. Stewart and according to your complaint, a romance developed
and there are two things that you believe now
that the romance is over that he owes you.
One of them is a loan that you made to him for a $1,000.
Now Mr. Stewart does not deny that you gave him a $1,000. Correct?
No, ma'am.
Your defense is that it was a gift.
- Correct. - [Judy] And not made as a loan.
OK.
On what date did you and Ms. Peterson start to date?
Uh... we never dated.
We actually wasn't-- through no dating site.
Just uh, somehow coincidence we came through.
Did you see her?
I met her once in person.
[Judy] When?
When she paid for a hotel for my birthday.
Give me the date.
[James] January 30th.
- [Judy] Of this year? - Yes, ma'am.
So you met for the first time in January of 2022.
Tell me about the $1,000.
If you're playing with your papers you're not gonna hear where we're going.
- OK. - The $1,000 at that time I was--
I was-- been struggling with heart disease,
which I--I just got out the hospital for having a heart surgery last Friday.
So financially my dealership was a little bit under the burden,
so I asked her if she would help me.
And when did you ask her? Was that in January?
No ma'am, that--that's a couple months later.
[Judy] All right, so that would be in March?
- Yeah. - And the only time
that you ever met her was in January?
I met her once. Other than that, when she gave me the money.
Other than that it was just normally her texting me, "How you doing?
Do you want to meet up?"
- [Judy] OK. - Et cetera.
- [Judy] So you met personally twice? - [James] Correct.
And after January, you didn't see each other personally just by messages.
And that's when you asked her for money
and you were gonna tell me why in March you asked her for money.
I understand that you just recently came out of the hospital,
and while I'm happy to see you looking well and healthy
it's really irrelevant to this case.
- Yes, ma'am. - [Judy] OK.
So why did you ask her for a $1,000?
Because she offered to help me.
No, no, no. Nobody offers to help you
unless they know that you need help.
Well, it's in writing.
[Judy] No. Nobody offers to help you unless...
Yes, ma'am.
...you let them know that you need help.
I was kind of life-coaching her. We both was going back and forth.
We had an open line of communication so I kind of got comfortable to ask.
- So I see what you're saying. -"Got comfortable to ask"?
She already gave me money before that $1,000.
That's why I was comfortable.
Just a second. I'm talking about the loan.
Mm-hmm.
[Judy] I want you to tell me,
since you acknowledged that she gave you the money.
Tell me why you needed it.
Well, I needed it because I paid for the trip,
which was $2,180 which she gave me $2,000.
Plus $160 more for luggage.
Came to just shy of $2,400.
I don't understand what you're talking about.
Well, she's already came to me and gave me money
for us to take this little trip together.
What does that have to do with this $1,000?
That's not what I'm talking about. Are you--
Because she was supposed to come and reimburse some of the money.
'cause I paid already into the trip.
So I was asking her for money.
Am I crazy?
Did he start to talk about his business needing money?
He has a used car business.
- Yes. - [Judy] Really?
Before you come on a program like this you should really watch
so that you would know that one of my favorite sayings is,
"If you tell the truth you don't have to have a good memory
- especially if you're smart." - Mm-hmm.
Now, if you're not so smart,
[chuckles] within three minutes you tell two different stories.
That, Mr. Stewart, is a phrase that you should learn to live by.
If you tell the truth you don't need a good memory.
That's not correct, Your Honor.
Well, that's only because you wouldn't know the truth
because you have had been introduced to the truth.
He says, "The $1,000 at that time,
I was struggling with heart disease which I just got out of the hospital
for having a heart surgery last Friday.
So actually my dealership is a little bit under the burden.
- So I asked her if she would help me." - [Judy] That's right.
So you remember saying that?
- [James] Yes, ma'am. - OK.
so that's different from, "She was paying me back."
You just have to acknowledge that's different.
Yes, ma'am.
OK. And let me tell you what you swore to in your answer.
"She offered to help me catch up on my child support."
On a phone conversation. Yes.
I just asked you one simple question, sir.
You acknowledge she gave you a $1,000.
What was it for?
So now I have three reasons.
One, your car dealership was a little bit of a burden.
Two, she was returning your money to you,
and three, you were catching up on your child support.
Those are the three things that I have in front of me.
Yes, ma'am.
Is it door number one, door number two or door number three?
Whichever one you would like, ma'am.
So, so far it's a $1,000 for the Plaintiff.
Now whether it was for school
or whether it was for your children's support
she's not responsible for your children's support.
You are responsible for your children's support.
- Have you ever met his children? - No.
[Judy] She doesn't even know your children?
- No. - Do you have a child support order?
No. She asked me to marry her.
Just a sec-- I asked you a question.
- You're not her. - [James] Yes, ma'am.
Do you have children? The answer is...?
- Yes. I have children. - [Judy] Yes.
- Yes, ma'am. - [Judy] Yes.
♪
This is not a dance.
- No. I'm just saying-- - This is not a dance.
Yes, ma'am.
[Judy] You lead. I lead. You lead. I always lead.
- Yes, ma'am. - [narrator] Later...
[Judy] You had some trouble with your finances
and you had serious debt.
What kind of work do you do?
I am a credit collections agent.
Not a good thing when you're a credit collections agent.
[laughs]
♪
[narrator] Joy Peterson claims her ex-boyfriend James Stewart
owes for travel costs and loan.
Now the children do not live with you.
They're above age. Yes, ma'am.
When you swore in your answer that you had gotten behind
in your child support order, what child support order was that?
It's the last child 'cause I got behind 'cause I was out of work.
So they're above age
but I owe a little arrears.
OK. So that's the child support that you were behind.
Had you been noticed to come to court on those arrears?
I've never been in a contempt. No, ma'am.
I've always kept a good standings with 'em.
- [Judy] OK, but you're behind now? - Yes, ma'am.
[Judy] You were behind then in March?
- Yes, ma'am. - OK.
And you knew you were behind because...?
I was on bedrest for five months due to a knee surgery
- and some heart issues. - [Judy] OK.
Did you request that your child support order
that was on arrears only be stayed while you weren't working?
I got a new case worker wasn't willing to work with me at that time so...
[Judy] OK, so there was difficult--
Your caseworker was involved in this child support order?
- [James] Yes. - Uh... that sounds better.
And the child support order was in favor of the State?
I don't owe the State no money.
I paid all fees off with them.
I just owed the back child support
To the mother of the children?
- Yes. - [Judy] OK. $1,000.
Now I'm gonna come to you.
According to you, you gave the defendant
$2,000 to buy travel tickets for you?
Yes, Your Honor.
When?
[Joy] I gave him money in March.
At the same time that you gave him the $1,000?
No, ma'am.
That--that was in April.
Show me proof of that.
And I wanna see $2,000 taken off from someplace
for him to pay for these tickets.
And they were tickets for you to go from where you live, which is where?
Springfield, Ohio.
To Miami?
[Joy] Yes, ma'am.
[Judy] The $2,000 was in March.
What were you gonna do in March?
In March, I gave him the $2,000 of purchased tickets.
'Cause I asked him, "Can you get discounts for us to go to Miami?"
'Cause I was gonna have surgery.
So he told me, "Yes, sure."
So I gave him the $2,000 for that.
That's not true.
Then he said, "Well, that's gonna be more than that."
I said, "Well, that's all I have for the tickets
for me and my daughters.
He said he wanted to go.
So he was planning on going.
[Judy] Mr. Stewart?
Yes, ma'am.
[Judy] On what date did she give you the $2,000 to buy the tickets?
It was early March.
- She contin-- - Yeah, March-- looks like March 25th.
- She gave you $2,000? - [James] Yes.
[Judy] And when were you supposed to go to Miami?
We--we were supposed to go July 4th and she gave--
OK. Just a sec. You're supposed to go in July.
So you're talking about four months later?
Yeah, she canceled a trip.
[Judy] Oh... OK. When did she cancel the trip?
Uh, she canceled a trip about a month later.
So she canceled trip in April?
Yeah. And it was a third party. So it's non-refundable.
I don't know that at all.
- [James] Yes, ma'am. - Now just a second.
So you're gonna have to show me.
I didn't borrow it.
You borrowed the $1,000. I didn't say you borrowed this $2,000.
She gave you money for a specific purpose.
- Right? She went-- - Don't speak.
She gave you money for a specific purpose
to purchase airline tickets.
For us.
Which you-- I don't give a rat's behind for who.
She gave you money to purchase...
- As I did - ...airline tickets.
- As I did. - This is not a dance.
- No I'm just saying-- - This is not you lead. I lead you.
You lea-- I always lead.
Yes, ma'am. Absolutely.
- [Judy] I always lead. - [James] Yes, ma'am.
She gave you $2,000 to buy tickets
that you acknowledge.
The trip was canceled
three months before the trip.
Now you say they were non-refundable tickets.
Yes, ma'am.
Show me!
- [James mumbles] - [Judy] I just wanna see
where you tried to get either a refund or a credit.
- Three months-- Ah! - There's proof that I--
Don't... speak!
- You... - Mm-hmm.
...have to show me.
Because you just said the tickets were non-refundable tickets
and "I couldn't either get money back for them when she canceled it
or a credit."
And I said in all that paperwork, show me.
It's just public knowledge on their website.
I apologize. I do not have it.
[Judy] It's not public knowledge on any website.
Judgment for the Plaintiff in the amount of $3,000.
$1,000 loan. $2,000 for the tickets.
We are finished here. Thank you very much.
- Well, Your Honor-- - [Judy] Out!
- [bailiff] This court is adjourned. - Out!
She wanted to go on a vacation.
Taking advantage of me.
She was being a little aggressive.
Don't even look that way. [laughs]
Now. Hopefully we could just move on with our lives.
I think we should print that on cards to hand out to people as they leave here.
"If you tell the truth, you don't have to have a good memory."
[laughs] Yeah. That was pretty funny.
That defendant in the first 15 seconds told three different stories
about the same $1,000.
Reminded me of a toddler when you ask if they had cookies
and it's all over their mouth and they say,
"No I didn't have chocolate, I didn't have candy."
[laughs] 15 seconds. Three different stories.
- So if you tell the truth-- - You don't need a good memory.
[Sarah] Not at all.
Case 2158, Smith versus Crossley.
All parties, please step forward.
[narrator] Justin Smith is suing his ex-girlfriend Jessica Crossley
for an unpaid loan.
[Judy] Ms. Crossley, I'm gonna start with you.
You and Mr. Smith were in a romantic relationship for a period of time?
- Yes. - [Judy] From when to when?
I wanna say it was about a year before my son was born.
My son was born February 11th, 2019
and our relationship ended about...
four or five months after he was born.
And after you separated, according to what I read,
you sort of remained friends?
- Yes. - [Judy] Great.
You had some trouble with your finances
and you had serious debt.
What kind of work do you do?
I am a credit collections agent.
Not a good thing when you're a credit collections agent.
And this was after you had already been separated
for a long period of time and at some point
what I'm piecing together is,
you discussed your financial circumstances with Mr. Smith.
Yes.
And one of your options was to seek protection in bankruptcy.
Correct.
And Mr. Smith thought that that was a bad idea?
Yes.
So he suggested that you take out a loan, consolidate all this debt,
which was on, I assume, on credit cards with very high interest.
And since he had credit, he would take out the loan
and you would pay that loan off
which was manageable every month.
Is that generally what this is about?
- Yes. - [Judy] Yes.
♪
His behavior had started getting irrational, scary.
Started calling me a lot,
asking my whereabouts, texting me,
driving by my house on several occasions I saw.
I'm still not understanding why you stopped paying on the loan.
♪
[narrator] Justin Smith claims his ex-girlfriend Jessica Crossley
owes for an unpaid loan.
Mr. Smith did take out that loan.
Month and year?
March of 2022, this year.
[Judy] What were the payments each month starting in March or April?
Principle and interest.
He had told me that there was $500.
[Judy] Told you they were $500.
He took out that loan.
And am I correct, Ms. Crossley, that you paid off your credit card debt?
Yes.
And you paid off your debt with the loan that he took out?
Yes.
[Judy] And you did in fact create a situation
where the money because you were employed,
would come out directly from your bank account
to go to pay off the loan to his bank account?
Yes.
[Judy] And you did that in what month?
That was started, I believe, at the end of April
or beginning of May.
And how many such payments did you make?
Biweekly payments, I believe I made about six.
Thereby acknowledging that this was a loan.
At some point you stopped making the payments.
What month did you stop making the payments?
In July of this year.
- [Judy] Why? - [Jessica] So...
I had started seeing my current boyfriend.
This is not a social show, just tell me why.
So I had to take a day off of work
to file for an Order of Protection.
Why did you have to take a day off from work
to file for an Order of Protection?
Because I was, uh, advised to by a police officer I spoke to.
- OK. And I assume against him? - [Jessica] Yes.
[Judy] OK. Give me the incident.
OK. So in July when I started seeing my current boyfriend,
Justin had expressed that he wanted us
to get back together
and I had told him no that was not going to happen.
And then his behavior had started getting
irrational, scary.
started calling me a lot, asking my whereabouts,
texting me, driving by my house on several occasions I saw.
And then there was an incident on July 19th
where I had allowed his mother to take my son to a play,
um, and she was supposed to drop him off back to me.
And instead of dropping him back off to me
she had dropped him off with his father at his work.
And then I got a call from Justin yelling saying, "Where are you?
What are you doing right now?"
And I'm like, "Well, I'm on my way back home.
Your mom's supposed to drop off Braden."
He's like, "I have Braden, I'll meet you at your house."
So I said OK.
We got to outside my house and then he pulled up next to me
and then started screaming out of the car like,
"Where were you? What were you doing?"
I was like, "I was spending time with Anthony, my boyfriend."
And he's like,
"I'm taking Braden, I'm not gonna give him back to you.
And my son's crying in the backseat.
And I said, "No, you came back to me. It is my day to have him."
And he drove away.
He later called me and said I can meet them at Dairy Queen.
So I met them there.
I got out of the car, I went up to my son
and as I was getting him in the car, Justin had walked up to my car
and started yelling and swearing at me.
And as me and my son started driving off he threw a milkshake at my car
which scared me and my son very much.
[Judy] OK, good.
And you filed for an Order of Protection you had a trial
- on the Order of Protection? - Yes.
[Judy] And the judge dismissed your Order of Protection?
- Yes. - [Judy] After the trial?
- Yes, ma'am. - OK.
I'm still not understanding why you stopped paying on the loan.
So when I had lost my job...
You lost your job when?
The next day. The incident happened on the 19th
I had to take the 20th off to file for the Order of Protection.
The 21st, I was let go.
Oh, that had nothing to do with you being let go.
Nothing. I just wanna know why you stopped paying on the loan.
You stopped paying on the loan because you lost your job.
Are you working now?
Yes. I just started working.
[Judy] Well, did you start paying him back?
- Uh, no. - Why?
So also in July when all these incidents happened
Justin had stopped paying for daycare,
which was our agreed-upon child support payment.
We don't have a court order for child support
but he had been paying all of daycare.
I cover all of his other financial--
So that was an agreement that you had that he would pay for daycare?
[Jessica] Yes.
[Judy] OK. And he stopped paying in July?
Yes. He's started only paying half of daycare.
OK. So well, let's go back. He started paying for half?
[Jessica] Yes.
How much was he supposed to pay per month?
$560 would-- was the full amount of daycare each month.
OK. And he had been paying that in July he cut it down to...?
To $270, I believe.
- Eighty. - Eighty.
OK. So he wasn't completely not paying he was paying part of it.
- [Jessica] Correct. - Tell me why you cut the payments in half.
Of course, you have a counterclaim for that.
Yeah. So, um, in July we started a custody case
for full custody of our son.
You're talking in July. Who started the custody case?
I did, Your Honor.
[Judy] OK. Did you retain a lawyer?
- [Justin] I did. - [Judy] Is that case still ongoing?
- It is. - [Judy] Well then,
I'm not entertaining anything about the daycare
because you have that case in family court
the court there will make a determination as far as future child support
and whether or not this daycare should have been paid.
So you have no reason for not paying the loan?
I was planning on filing bankruptcy.
[Judy] OK, but you didn't-- you didn't file for bankruptcy.
You did the smart thing. How much is left on the loan?
It's in excess of $12 or $11,000.
What interest rate is on that loan by the way?
Uh, 36% I believe.
Current balance as of November, 30th, $12,631.
[Judy] How is the 30% loan better than her credit cards?
She had some loans in excess of 800%.
[Judy] From whom?
Or over 500%.
Uh, these were online lenders.
Oh, wow. OK.
You have a counterclaim, harassment, daycare costs is out.
Lost wages 'cause you say you had to take a day off to file a protective order
and you were fired.
Nonsense. Harassment.
Let's hear it.
And don't go back to anything that you told the judge
during the hearing that you had where he dismissed your application
for an Order of Protection.
OK, well, that Order of Protection--
- [Judy] OK. - [Justin] That--that was--
[Judy] Just shh!
Well, if that's the testimony, it's already been adjudicated.
A judge using the same measure of proof
that I would use dismissed your case.
So I'm not re-litigating that case.
Judgment for the Plaintiff in the amount of $10,000.
- Thank you. - Thank you, Your Honor.
[bailiff] This court is adjourned.
Well, I believe he was angry that I started a relationship with somebody.
I think the restraining order was part of her defense
as to why she didn't want to pay me back anymore.
I was ready to file bankruptcy and he had offered to take it out for me.
You know, at the end of the day, um,
the--the loan is still agreed upon and still needs to be repaid.
I think that that's a good lesson
that you can't use the court systems and restraining orders
to get out of a loan that you have really no excuse
for not paying except for you lost your job.
And I just think it's tricky.
I think that a lot of defendants come in here
and think that they can just say,
"I didn't have the money and so I don't have to pay it."
But that's not the case.
It was most interesting to me is these 800% or 500%
or a 100% interest bearing loans.
- [Sarah] I know, it's something. - Where did that come from?
It's something I've seen recently in the past couple years.
It seems like every online shopping venue now
has some form of loan payment or loan offering
or "Sign up for our loan program."
And I'd never seen that before.
And if you don't read the fine print, you could get stuck
in just like the defendant here, with a lot of those high interest loans.
[Judy] Yeah.
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