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You hired the defendant
to remodel your bathroom.

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We found out he robbed a bank.

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-[Patricia] Did he steal from you?
-Yes.

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He stole things from you, or are you
saying he stole from you in this job here?

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-In the job, yes.
-[Patricia] Come on.

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You see, you knew that's not
where I was going with this.

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You're starting to annoy me.

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[announcer]
Today on Tribunal Justice.

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[theme music playing]

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[announcer]This case was filed
in Summerville, South Carolina.

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Your Honors,
this is case number 1141a and 41b

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in the matter of
M/L Scott versus Makosiej

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and Mems versus Makosiej .

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Parties have been sworn in.
You may be seated.

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All right, Mr. and Mrs. Scott, you hired
the defendant to remodel your bathroom

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and you allowed him
to use your credit card,

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in order to purchase the materials
needed for that job.

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You're claiming that the defendant
made unauthorized purchases

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with the card for $748.

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That was the total.

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That he failed to finish the job
and that he did such shoddy work

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that you had to hire another contractor
to come in,

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rip out what he did in your shower
and redo it,

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and you're suing in total for $6,954.

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Now, Mr. Makosiej, you say
that you owe the plaintiffs nothing.

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According to your answer,
you worked for over two months

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and that you remodeled their bathroom
exactly as they asked you to,

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that the plaintiffs were happy
with the results

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and after the final payment was made,

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that's when Mr. Scott said to you,

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"Yeah, you know, I've been going over
these hardware receipts

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and it looks like
that you bought materials

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that weren't necessary for the job."

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You, on the other hand, say
that they were necessary for the job,

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but that they would have continued use
beyond the job.

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I think one of the examples
you made was, you know,

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if you bought a box of nails
or screws,

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and they come in 100 in a box,

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you will only use 20 or 30 on the job,
the remainder you were taking with you.

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And that's what your issue was.

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Well, Your Honor,
I would just like to interject.

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The very first time
he went to the hardware store,

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he purchased kneepads,
almost to the tune of $100.

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I would think that those
should be something

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that would be reasonable and customary
in a contractor's tool kit.

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-[Adam] Okay.
-[Lisa] There was a pattern.

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Fifteen out of the 16 times
that he went to the hardware store,

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there were things identified
on there that--

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[Adam] You thought
should've been in his toolbox.

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-Should've been in his toolbox.
-[Adam] And so,

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according to the answer again, sir,
that you are adamant

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that you only purchased items
that were needed for the remodel,

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but you agreed to the plaintiff's request

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because what the plaintiff said was,
"Listen, it was unreasonable."

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And you said, "I want to do what's right.
I like you people,

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and what are you looking for?"

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And what they said was, "We want you to do
a little side job around,

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right, and we'll call it even."

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And you said,
"Yeah, listen, I did a big job.

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I'm sorry you were upset about these
little knick-knack things

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that you are objecting to
that should have been in my toolbox,

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but I'll do the job." Is that right?

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Yes.

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[Adam] So when you contacted
the defendant to do the job,

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he came,
he went through it with you,

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provided you with a detailed estimate
and said he can get started immediately,

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and that he wouldn't be doing
other jobs while he's working your job,

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because you know what that means.

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Means he comes one day,
he's gone for ten, right?

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The first day that he was supposed
to be there for a full day,

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I was supposed to meet him at Home Depot.

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We had agreed to meet at 10:30,
I believe it was.

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It wasn't until almost 7:00 that evening.
And I have texts, they're in the record.

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"Oh, I'll be there, I'll be there."

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[Adam] Okay, okay. So just let me stop
and let me just dispel you

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of this idea that you have in your head

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that that's something I should take
against this guy right here.

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Because what you're saying is that,
"You know, he was late,

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he didn't show up
when he was supposed to."

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And you had a choice.

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You're the one
who controls, at this point,

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whether or not he's going to continue
working on the job,

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or whether or not you're going to make
a demand for your money back

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and go somewhere else
because you think that he's shady.

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And despite what you just described

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as him showing up late
or not showing up at all for a day or so,

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then you allowed him
to continue on the job,

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from what was a $6,700 estimate,
to almost a $15,000 estimate.

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So it couldn't have been so bad, right,

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that you said, "I don't trust this guy,
he's shady, you know, he's a scammer."

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So the number one estimate
that he provided

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was for $6,700, correct?

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-Yes.
-Correct.

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[Adam] And that was for a demo bathroom,
subfloor repair,

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new shower enclosure, and a bunch
of other things including tile.

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Explain to me, when you were going
through that list, what you wanted done,

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and you got to the shower,
what did you tell him?

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-Well--
-Because you had problems with it, right?

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-We had issues with our shower, correct.
-[Adam] Right.

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The house is 20 years old.
It was pulling away from the wall.

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We told him we wanted that
completely demoed, removed.

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We had a Jacuzzi tub
in the middle of the bathroom,

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that we wanted that removed as well,

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and that we wanted storage area
built in there.

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What did he tell you about what may occur
once he gets into the demo?

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When he looked at it, he said,
"I can see there may be some floor sag."

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And that's when he had mentioned that--
He said there may be some joist work,

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and he said, "I'm going to put that
into my contract bid."

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And he put in a $500 amount.

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[Adam]
No, that's not true.

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What he said was, "Due to the indication
of floor sinking in front of shower pan,

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extent of work to be completed
is not known.

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This will be discussed in detail
after demo of shower and floor,

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but will most likely consist
of repairing or replacing

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any floor joists and plywood
that is rotted or otherwise damaged.

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This price is subject to change."
That's what he put in,

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-and he put a $500 asterisk.
-Correct. Correct.

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-Yeah.
-[Adam] So you knew,

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instead of him saying nothing

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and only then getting,
after the demo is done,

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what I refer to as an, "Oh, by the way,
this is what I found."

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That's what unscrupulous contractors do.

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But what he did
was give it to you straight up front.

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This looks like it might be
a bigger problem and if it is,

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then we're going to have to talk about
how bad of a problem,

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because I don't know, until you, what,

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-get into the walls, right?
-Right.

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-And you knew that, right?
-[Lisa] We acknowledged that

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and as soon as we had the floor
and we're looking down at the ground...

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[Adam] Oh, yeah, so let's get up...
-...everything was--

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...photo number four.

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That's the demo, right? So after the demo,
that's the way it looked.

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[Lisa]
That is correct, Your Honor.

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[Adam] And what we see here
is a completely rotted-out subfloor.

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-Correct?
-Correct.

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And what we can also see here is the drain
in the middle, right?

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-[Lisa] Correct.
-[Malcolm] Correct.

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[Adam] And what we also see
is the majority of the water damage

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being in the back right, here,
and going around this way by the wall.

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-Correct.
-[Adam] Okay.

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Let's now please get
photograph number one.

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Okay, so this is after the full demo.

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So the subfloor is off,

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and you can now see all
of the floor joists completely rotted out.

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There's been years of water damage
in that area, right?

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[Brian] Correct, they were no longer
connected to the rim joist.

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[Adam] Right, and so they were,
they were pulling apart

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from the other joist, is that correct?

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-Yes.
-[Adam] Okay.

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You see what the floor is looking like
and he submits the final estimate

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and I'm interested in what you agreed to
as far as the final price.

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-We agreed to the 65--
-[Lisa] We agreed to 65.

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It was the 6500,

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but it was a whole lot of other things
that were associated with that,

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and so the final amount was 14,950.

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Okay, you know what, I'm going to
pass this over to Judge Acker.

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I'm sure she has lots of questions.

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[announcer]
Coming up on Tribunal Justice.

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This is where I think they really start
to get annoyed with you.

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I mean,
they submitted evidence... [laughs]

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I originally thought it was funny,
but, you know...

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-Well, I mean--
-[Tanya] You submitted some evidence

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of Brian's car spotted.

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You found out
he was lying about his location.

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What were you all doing
taking pictures of his car?

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[theme music playing]

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[announcer] Malcolm and Lisa Scott claim
their former repairman, Brian Makosiej,

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owes for unauthorized charges

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and the cost to repair
Brian's shoddy work on their bathroom.

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Brian says he could have fixed the issues,

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but Malcolm and Lisa sent him
a no-trespass order.

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[Tanya] I think that the issue
that the plaintiffs are having

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is that when you, like, accumulate
all of these little things,

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you know, the estimate changed

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and then you're asking him for a ballpark
and it's so hard to get a ballpark.

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And then when you add up all those
little expenses, it's almost $800.

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I mean, that's real money.

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So you started to get
your back up a little bit.

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According to the plaintiffs,
they were going to call it even

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if you did some extra work outside
of the original scope of the project

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-and you agreed to do that, correct?
-Correct-- He--

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He specifically said he didn't want
money back, he just wanted...

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[Tanya]
No, they wanted you to do some work.

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00:09:03,500 --> 00:09:04,367
[Brian]
...us to do more work at their house.

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-They wanted you to do some work.
-[Brian] Correct.

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And this is where I think
things start to break down

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-because you never came back to do that.
-[Brian] Correct.

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And why not?

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I was swamped with work.
We were in a car accident.

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We had a couple of health issues.
I had my daughter's college graduation.

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-So, we just...
-[Tanya] They became less important.

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Rightly or wrongly,

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00:09:22,834 --> 00:09:26,300
because this is where I think
they really start to get annoyed with you.

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I mean,
they submitted evidence... [laughs]

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I originally thought it was funny, but...

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00:09:32,033 --> 00:09:33,900
-you know, you submitted some evidence...
-Well, I mean--

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...of, like, Brian's car spotted.

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00:09:37,033 --> 00:09:39,767
You found out
he was lying about his location.

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00:09:39,834 --> 00:09:42,000
What were you all doing
taking pictures of his car?

200
00:09:42,066 --> 00:09:45,100
-Well, it's interesting...
-Because he was down the road

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00:09:45,165 --> 00:09:47,900
at a job that he had bragged
to me about getting.

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That same day he was supposed to be
at my house, finishing,

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00:09:51,165 --> 00:09:54,934
and honestly,
I wasn't going to spy for his car.

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I have a friend who lives two houses down
from where his vehicle was.

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[Tanya] And your friend was, like,
"Your contractor is down the street."

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00:10:00,266 --> 00:10:04,300
Well, no, about three days, his wife had,
I think it was either an MRI,

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00:10:04,367 --> 00:10:07,767
or tore her Achilles tendon,
but he couldn't be there.

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00:10:07,834 --> 00:10:10,467
But that was a pattern, Your Honor.

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It was a pattern where
you felt like he was blowing you off

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00:10:13,967 --> 00:10:16,066
because, see, what really gets me, sir,

211
00:10:16,133 --> 00:10:20,867
is after you acknowledge
that you were going to do something

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00:10:20,934 --> 00:10:24,233
to remedy what they see as an overcharge.

213
00:10:24,300 --> 00:10:27,433
So once you look at all these
little things that have added up

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00:10:27,500 --> 00:10:31,133
and you say to them, you know what--
And they're even at this point

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00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,467
being really accommodating to you.

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They're like, "You don't even have
to give us that money back,

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00:10:35,900 --> 00:10:37,300
just finish up the work."

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00:10:37,367 --> 00:10:40,567
And you say, "Okay,"
and then in May, you don't come back.

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00:10:40,633 --> 00:10:43,734
In June, you don't come back.
In July, you don't come back.

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What else are they supposed to do
except sue you in court?

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00:10:47,834 --> 00:10:50,433
They were pretty good clients.

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00:10:50,500 --> 00:10:54,300
Yeah, we were almost family
when we were finished with their job.

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[Tanya]
And maybe you took them for granted.

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00:10:56,500 --> 00:11:01,233
Because, you know, I think
that when people hire folks to do work

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00:11:01,300 --> 00:11:04,433
and the people who do the work say they're
gonna do something and they don't do it,

226
00:11:04,500 --> 00:11:08,600
then, you know, it doesn't make anybody
an evil person, nobody died,

227
00:11:08,667 --> 00:11:12,467
but they didn't get what they paid for
and they didn't get what you represented

228
00:11:12,533 --> 00:11:14,133
you were going to give them, so...

229
00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:16,934
-May I add some color to this?
-Could I just speak for a moment?

230
00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:19,967
Quite frankly,
we did not give him the business

231
00:11:20,033 --> 00:11:21,266
because he had the lowest quote.

232
00:11:21,333 --> 00:11:22,967
He did not have the lowest quote.

233
00:11:23,033 --> 00:11:26,300
He represented himself
as coming to South Carolina

234
00:11:26,367 --> 00:11:29,400
to start a new life,
to form a family business.

235
00:11:29,467 --> 00:11:32,700
I saw that you actually submitted an ad.

236
00:11:32,767 --> 00:11:34,934
"My son and I do home remodeling.

237
00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:38,600
We won't take on anything
that we know we can't do."

238
00:11:38,667 --> 00:11:41,567
So you let them down, I mean,
you let them down to some extent.

239
00:11:41,633 --> 00:11:43,867
You-- When people are saying,
"Can you come back?

240
00:11:43,934 --> 00:11:45,667
Can you come back?
Can you come back?"

241
00:11:45,734 --> 00:11:48,533
and you've got college graduation.

242
00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:53,467
But the exigencies of your life
don't necessarily override

243
00:11:53,533 --> 00:11:57,300
the obligations and the representations
that you made to them.

244
00:11:57,367 --> 00:12:02,400
Now, for the $5,000 that you're seeking
for the cost of the new contractor...

245
00:12:02,467 --> 00:12:03,633
-[Lisa] Yes.
-...where are the things that you claim

246
00:12:03,700 --> 00:12:07,000
the new contractor had to fix?
What was broken?

247
00:12:07,066 --> 00:12:09,633
I believe that there's video
that's been submitted.

248
00:12:09,700 --> 00:12:12,700
Can we play the video that the plaintiff's
referring to, please?

249
00:12:14,533 --> 00:12:17,433
[Malcolm on video] I've never been
down here right after the shower itself,

250
00:12:17,500 --> 00:12:20,667
has been taken by me.
Look at the moisture on that sucker.

251
00:12:20,734 --> 00:12:23,333
[Brian on video]
Oh, I never saw this problem.

252
00:12:25,266 --> 00:12:26,333
[Tanya]
What is this?

253
00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:28,066
[Malcolm] This is the shower
that was ripped out.

254
00:12:28,133 --> 00:12:29,133
-[Lisa] This the-- Yes.
-[Tanya] After?

255
00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,100
-[Lisa] This is after he built it...
-[Tanya] After his work.

256
00:12:31,166 --> 00:12:33,165
...it had to all be ripped up.

257
00:12:33,233 --> 00:12:36,133
-[Tanya] Why'd they have to rip it up?
-[Malcolm] It's all wet underneath.

258
00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:38,033
[Lisa]
It's all wet. Under our house.

259
00:12:38,100 --> 00:12:40,300
-Leaking through our house.
-[Tanya] Oh, my goodness.

260
00:12:40,367 --> 00:12:43,133
When did you discover
that you were having this leakage?

261
00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,567
-How long after he finished the work?
-July 30th, we discovered this.

262
00:12:46,633 --> 00:12:51,500
What that video shows is them
pulling up the tile,

263
00:12:51,567 --> 00:12:53,767
along with the Kerdi shower pan,

264
00:12:53,834 --> 00:12:56,233
and all the product in between, okay?

265
00:12:56,300 --> 00:12:58,233
That was all waterproofed.

266
00:12:58,300 --> 00:13:01,367
The waterproofing
was on top of the shower pan.

267
00:13:01,433 --> 00:13:04,333
-It was flood-tested to hold water.
-Apparently not.

268
00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:08,233
What happens sometimes
is you do get settling

269
00:13:08,300 --> 00:13:10,700
when you replace an entire subfloor.

270
00:13:10,767 --> 00:13:15,600
South Carolina construction guidelines
state that they prefer you to wait

271
00:13:15,667 --> 00:13:21,233
minimum of 30 to 60 days to fix any grout
or tiles cracking.

272
00:13:21,300 --> 00:13:22,567
Let me respond to that, because--

273
00:13:22,633 --> 00:13:24,633
And then I'm going to pass the case
to Judge DiMango.

274
00:13:24,700 --> 00:13:28,867
I think that you're offering this
to explain why it looked like that.

275
00:13:28,934 --> 00:13:32,734
But listen, if after two months you hadn't
come back to do the extra work

276
00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:34,500
that you already said
you were gonna do,

277
00:13:34,567 --> 00:13:37,433
I don't think it's fair to say to them,
"Well, just wait,

278
00:13:37,500 --> 00:13:40,934
don't take anything up,
let the leaks settle as they will,

279
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:42,433
and then I'll be back in August."

280
00:13:42,500 --> 00:13:45,900
I think that you'd already been a little
disrespectful of your commitment to them.

281
00:13:45,967 --> 00:13:46,834
Judge?

282
00:13:46,900 --> 00:13:50,667
I always put a smile on
when I hear contractor cases

283
00:13:50,734 --> 00:13:52,133
because I have to tell you,

284
00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,867
every plaintiff suing a contractor
says the same thing,

285
00:13:55,934 --> 00:13:59,066
and every contractor answers
with the same reply.

286
00:13:59,133 --> 00:14:02,767
And I think if you had to put
a photograph of a person

287
00:14:02,834 --> 00:14:07,133
underneath "Procrastinator,
delays, blah blah blah,"

288
00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:10,867
it would be a contractor's picture
because that's what they do.

289
00:14:10,934 --> 00:14:12,400
-[Lisa] Right.
-[Patricia] Now, does that make it right?

290
00:14:12,467 --> 00:14:14,333
No, it doesn't, but actually--
I don't know.

291
00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,200
Have you had this other gentleman
come in and do the work for you yet?

292
00:14:17,266 --> 00:14:18,667
-Yes, ma'am. We had water...
-Yes, we did.

293
00:14:18,734 --> 00:14:20,300
...pouring through.

294
00:14:20,367 --> 00:14:22,734
Why do you have so much water
leaking in your house?

295
00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,433
Well, I can tell you why it was leaking
in this particular case,

296
00:14:25,500 --> 00:14:28,633
because the new floor man
had actually educated me on that.

297
00:14:28,700 --> 00:14:31,900
One is that he'd used
a red seal around all the walls.

298
00:14:31,967 --> 00:14:34,066
[Patricia] I saw that,
that was the photographs from

299
00:14:34,133 --> 00:14:36,500
-the defendant or your new contractor?
-[Malcolm] Correct.

300
00:14:36,567 --> 00:14:39,333
This is from the defendant and he said
he had put the waterproofing

301
00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:40,700
all the way down on the floor.

302
00:14:40,767 --> 00:14:42,133
-[Patricia] Yeah.
-[Lisa] I don't see that.

303
00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:44,233
And that's what he told us
he was gonna do.

304
00:14:44,300 --> 00:14:46,700
Sir, did you tell them that
you were gonna cover the whole floor?

305
00:14:46,767 --> 00:14:48,834
Because that's what you
kind of testified to in here.

306
00:14:48,900 --> 00:14:51,567
-Yes, we waterproofed the shower pan.
-No.

307
00:14:51,633 --> 00:14:54,700
-[Brian] That the tile went on top of.
-Wouldn't it be that nice red paint

308
00:14:54,767 --> 00:14:55,834
that would've been on it?

309
00:14:55,900 --> 00:14:57,633
-I don't see that on the whole floor.
-[Makosiej] Yeah, it was after--

310
00:14:57,700 --> 00:14:59,867
It was after that,
we didn't get a picture of that.

311
00:14:59,934 --> 00:15:02,734
[Patricia] Well, I think you would have
taken a completed picture then,

312
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:03,967
one where you stopped.

313
00:15:04,033 --> 00:15:05,900
[Brian] Well, what do I have to gain
by not doing it?

314
00:15:05,967 --> 00:15:07,467
-It takes two minutes to do it.
-[Patricia] Oh, you know what,

315
00:15:07,533 --> 00:15:10,734
if I could answer those questions,
I'd probably be a multi-millionaire.

316
00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:12,734
I don't know why people don't do...

317
00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:14,300
As meticulously we did everything else,

318
00:15:14,367 --> 00:15:16,333
why would I not waterproof
the shower pan...

319
00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:17,900
-[Patricia] I don't know.
-...and flood-test it?

320
00:15:17,967 --> 00:15:18,834
All it takes is one little crack.

321
00:15:18,900 --> 00:15:20,133
I can't answer the question
you're asking me

322
00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:21,934
-because I don't do your work.
-[Brian] All right.

323
00:15:23,300 --> 00:15:25,767
[announcer]
Coming up on Tribunal Justice.

324
00:15:25,834 --> 00:15:28,667
We found out he'd been arrested
for robbing a bank.

325
00:15:28,734 --> 00:15:31,100
This is a man I just had in my home.

326
00:15:31,166 --> 00:15:32,266
Did he steal from you?

327
00:15:32,333 --> 00:15:34,433
-Yes.
-He went and took your jewelry?

328
00:15:34,500 --> 00:15:35,600
-He stole things from you?
-[Lisa] No.

329
00:15:35,667 --> 00:15:37,734
Or are you saying
he stole from you in this job here?

330
00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:38,667
In the job, yes.

331
00:15:38,734 --> 00:15:41,967
Come on. You see, you knew that's not
where I was going with this.

332
00:15:46,734 --> 00:15:49,834
[theme music playing]

333
00:15:49,967 --> 00:15:52,133
Now, the problem is

334
00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:56,100
that when you become picayune,
you know, you lose credibility.

335
00:15:56,165 --> 00:15:58,233
And I looked through the list,
and I have to be honest with you,

336
00:15:58,300 --> 00:16:00,533
I almost laughed
when you picked out the kneepads.

337
00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:01,867
'Cause I started looking through the list

338
00:16:01,934 --> 00:16:03,600
and I started getting
a little crazy with it

339
00:16:03,667 --> 00:16:06,734
and then I just kind of said, "Kneepads?
Why doesn't he have kneepads?"

340
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:08,467
So I know what your position is.

341
00:16:08,533 --> 00:16:11,900
Your position is, "He was building
his business inventory

342
00:16:11,967 --> 00:16:13,000
-on our dime."
-Yes.

343
00:16:13,066 --> 00:16:14,400
[Patricia]
That's what your position is.

344
00:16:14,467 --> 00:16:17,600
Now, you're just coming here
from another state.

345
00:16:17,667 --> 00:16:19,433
You are only here a month.

346
00:16:19,500 --> 00:16:21,700
How did you get to South Carolina?

347
00:16:21,767 --> 00:16:24,033
My in-laws had moved down
about ten years ago,

348
00:16:24,100 --> 00:16:25,400
and they were trying
to get us to move down.

349
00:16:25,467 --> 00:16:27,467
[Patricia] Did you drive, did you fly?
What did you do?

350
00:16:27,533 --> 00:16:28,533
Oh, we drove.

351
00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,200
You drove one car? You drove a truck?
How'd you get down there?

352
00:16:31,266 --> 00:16:33,600
-I think we took two trucks.
-[Patricia] What do you mean, "you think"?

353
00:16:33,667 --> 00:16:36,567
You don't know who's in the car with you?
How'd you get there?

354
00:16:36,633 --> 00:16:38,934
Come on, see,
now when you play like that...

355
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,934
It's like when they're telling you,
what are you going to do with 900 screws?

356
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:43,000
How did you get there?

357
00:16:43,066 --> 00:16:45,165
-Because I think you know where I'm going.
-We drove.

358
00:16:45,233 --> 00:16:46,233
You didn't start a business.

359
00:16:46,300 --> 00:16:48,300
You didn't bring anything with you.
That's their point.

360
00:16:48,367 --> 00:16:52,834
So basically you were buying your things
to use in your business.

361
00:16:52,900 --> 00:16:55,100
-Well, we had been here a year already.
-[Patricia] Yeah, now!

362
00:16:55,165 --> 00:16:57,767
But that's not when you put that ad in
and they called you.

363
00:16:57,834 --> 00:16:59,200
You were there a month.

364
00:16:59,266 --> 00:17:02,066
But the truth is, you should have had
some of these things.

365
00:17:02,133 --> 00:17:06,032
It's $100, but they don't want to pay
for it, they shouldn't have to pay for it.

366
00:17:06,099 --> 00:17:08,400
-[Malcolm] Your Honor...
-[Lisa] Your Honor, I found out

367
00:17:08,467 --> 00:17:10,700
he misrepresented his name to us.

368
00:17:10,767 --> 00:17:12,867
He told us his name was Brian Joseph.

369
00:17:12,934 --> 00:17:17,532
Then when he's in his car accident,
he sends me the insurance report

370
00:17:17,599 --> 00:17:20,800
and a copy of his doctor's note
with his last name.

371
00:17:20,867 --> 00:17:22,000
[Patricia]
Is this all after the incident?

372
00:17:22,066 --> 00:17:23,066
-Yes.
-This is after

373
00:17:23,133 --> 00:17:25,032
when we're still trying to get him back

374
00:17:25,099 --> 00:17:26,767
-into our house to finish work.
-[Patricia] But it's after, okay, okay.

375
00:17:26,834 --> 00:17:27,700
-[Lisa] And we found out--
-[Patricia] Go on.

376
00:17:27,767 --> 00:17:29,767
We found out he robbed a bank.

377
00:17:29,834 --> 00:17:33,867
We found out he had been arrested
in New York, where he lived,

378
00:17:33,934 --> 00:17:34,967
for robbing a bank.

379
00:17:35,033 --> 00:17:37,333
This is a man I've just had in my home.

380
00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:39,266
-Walking through my bedroom.
-First of all, I--

381
00:17:39,333 --> 00:17:40,967
I will ask him about that,
but I don't think,

382
00:17:41,033 --> 00:17:44,033
you know, people come over and they knock
on your door and they say, "By the way,

383
00:17:44,100 --> 00:17:48,100
I'm Jim Smith, aka Tom Jones,
and I'm a bank robber."

384
00:17:48,166 --> 00:17:50,633
-So can I come in and stay there?"
-[Lisa] Right, but they don't give a name?

385
00:17:50,700 --> 00:17:53,767
[Patricia] He's not gonna tell you that.
Did he steal from you?

386
00:17:53,834 --> 00:17:56,433
Yes. [laughing] He stole from us.

387
00:17:56,500 --> 00:17:58,133
He went and took your jewelry?

388
00:17:58,200 --> 00:17:59,400
-[Patricia] He stole things from you...
-No, no.

389
00:17:59,467 --> 00:18:00,967
...or you're saying
he stole from you in this job here?

390
00:18:01,033 --> 00:18:02,734
-In the job, yeah.
-Come on,

391
00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:05,300
you see, you knew that's not
where I was going with this.

392
00:18:05,367 --> 00:18:06,600
-Why do you need to do that?
-[Lisa] No.

393
00:18:06,667 --> 00:18:08,600
[Patricia]
You're starting to annoy me.

394
00:18:08,667 --> 00:18:09,900
So back to you.

395
00:18:09,967 --> 00:18:12,767
-I don't know if you have a felony record.
-No.

396
00:18:12,834 --> 00:18:14,767
But I don't have any evidence of it
one way or another,

397
00:18:14,834 --> 00:18:15,700
nor have I looked for it.

398
00:18:15,767 --> 00:18:17,000
-Can I explain?
-[Patricia] You wanna explain?

399
00:18:17,066 --> 00:18:18,600
Yeah, I'd like to hear something, go on.

400
00:18:18,667 --> 00:18:20,700
I had an addiction problem
back in New York...

401
00:18:20,767 --> 00:18:22,600
-[Patricia] Okay.
-...that culminated with me

402
00:18:22,667 --> 00:18:25,300
walking into a bank
and handing them a note.

403
00:18:25,367 --> 00:18:28,567
I had hit rock bottom.
It was the worst point in my life.

404
00:18:28,633 --> 00:18:30,700
-Um...
-How long ago was this, sir?

405
00:18:30,767 --> 00:18:33,266
-Uh, about six years ago.
-[Patricia] Okay.

406
00:18:33,333 --> 00:18:37,967
I've been clean ever since and it just--
It got real difficult in New York

407
00:18:38,033 --> 00:18:40,433
-to continue getting work.
-Mm-hmm.

408
00:18:40,500 --> 00:18:43,000
So moving down here where the in-laws were

409
00:18:43,066 --> 00:18:45,233
seemed like a good place
to get a fresh start.

410
00:18:45,300 --> 00:18:46,734
I don't disagree with you on that

411
00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,333
and I'm going to say
that based on my perception

412
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:52,834
and having spent 40 years
doing criminal cases,

413
00:18:52,900 --> 00:18:55,834
I don't get the sense--
Who's laughing at 40 years?

414
00:18:55,900 --> 00:18:58,166
-[laughter]
-She started when she was five.

415
00:18:58,233 --> 00:19:00,533
-She was a prodigy.
-Thank you!

416
00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:01,934
[laughter continues]

417
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,700
[Patricia]You seem like you've done well
by yourself and you're on a good path.

418
00:19:05,767 --> 00:19:07,834
So the bottom line is,

419
00:19:07,900 --> 00:19:11,433
I don't know whether this issue here
pre-existed the house

420
00:19:11,500 --> 00:19:14,133
or what the deal was with that,
but clearly,

421
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:16,967
it seems that there was some issue

422
00:19:17,033 --> 00:19:19,734
-with the bottom, underneath the shower.
-The shower pan.

423
00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:23,500
So, just in looking back at what
you're asking for here,

424
00:19:23,567 --> 00:19:26,900
you are purchasing tools
without our consent.

425
00:19:26,967 --> 00:19:28,667
I mean, he's not gonna call you for ev--

426
00:19:28,734 --> 00:19:32,066
"You know what, I need a Phillips head,
I only have a flathead screwdriver."

427
00:19:32,133 --> 00:19:33,633
-He's not gonna call you for all of that.
-Mm-hmm.

428
00:19:33,700 --> 00:19:35,633
[Patricia] And it's not like you're
talking thousands and thousands,

429
00:19:35,700 --> 00:19:38,333
you're talking $748 for things that,

430
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:41,500
though he might not have
used in their entirety or totality,

431
00:19:41,567 --> 00:19:42,700
he did use on the job.

432
00:19:42,767 --> 00:19:45,367
I'm just putting it out there,
this is how my thinking is.

433
00:19:45,433 --> 00:19:48,834
Can I just ask why it went from 400,
in the texts that we had

434
00:19:48,900 --> 00:19:51,867
up until the point
that they filed the suit, to 750?

435
00:19:51,934 --> 00:19:55,333
If you initially, in the texts as you did,
requested 400 some odd dollars,

436
00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:57,734
-why would you now...
-Because we hadn't been through

437
00:19:57,800 --> 00:19:59,300
-all the receipts.
-[Patricia] They went through it...

438
00:19:59,367 --> 00:20:01,033
-[Malcolm] We went through every receipt.
-...with a fine-tooth comb.

439
00:20:01,100 --> 00:20:02,100
You don't get that yet?

440
00:20:02,166 --> 00:20:03,500
[laughter]

441
00:20:03,567 --> 00:20:06,266
Now, you're talking about
the non-completion of the work.

442
00:20:06,333 --> 00:20:08,066
Is that what you're saying
that it would have cost

443
00:20:08,133 --> 00:20:10,500
for the new guy to rip up the floor
and do it back?

444
00:20:10,567 --> 00:20:11,533
What's the 1,000 for?

445
00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:15,533
The 1,000 was, he never took
the old glass from the original shower.

446
00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:19,200
He had agreed to remove that glass that
had been sitting out on our back shower.

447
00:20:19,266 --> 00:20:22,533
Every day I would say, "Brian,
we need that gone, we need that gone."

448
00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,000
Just to stop the requests,
why didn't you do it?

449
00:20:25,066 --> 00:20:27,500
I don't know, we were just trying
to finish the work at that point

450
00:20:27,567 --> 00:20:30,333
[Patricia]
And the new guy at $5200,

451
00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:32,133
-he took everything apart?
-No.

452
00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:34,934
No, the 5200 includes the 2200

453
00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:40,367
we paid to the new contractor, plus what
we had paid to Brian for the shower floor.

454
00:20:40,433 --> 00:20:41,300
[Patricia]
I don't have any other questions.

455
00:20:41,367 --> 00:20:42,233
[Adam] I do.

456
00:20:42,300 --> 00:20:44,934
So, just so we're clear then,
the contract with the new contractor

457
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,233
-was in fact only $2,200.
-Yes, sir, yes.

458
00:20:48,300 --> 00:20:50,133
[Adam] Okay, I wanna go back
to that video, please,

459
00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:52,000
because that was pretty important.

460
00:20:52,066 --> 00:20:53,767
This video that was taken,

461
00:20:53,834 --> 00:20:56,400
you knew that you were going to hire
the guy who you brought.

462
00:20:56,467 --> 00:20:58,033
We had not made a decision at that point.

463
00:20:58,100 --> 00:20:59,033
[Adam]
But you knew it was gonna get done.

464
00:20:59,100 --> 00:21:02,166
Yes, I mean, it had been two months
and nothing came back from Brian.

465
00:21:02,233 --> 00:21:04,867
You know, when you look at the finances,
we paid him $1,000

466
00:21:04,934 --> 00:21:07,367
to get rid of all that demolition stuff,

467
00:21:07,433 --> 00:21:10,834
and part of that is that, okay,
I'm ending up buying his contracting back,

468
00:21:10,900 --> 00:21:13,166
yet I paid $1,000 for that to go.

469
00:21:13,233 --> 00:21:15,400
You gave him a no-trespass order.

470
00:21:15,467 --> 00:21:16,734
You went to the police.

471
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,633
You got an order that prohibited him
from coming back on your property, right?

472
00:21:20,700 --> 00:21:22,900
Okay, so then in your complaint though,

473
00:21:22,967 --> 00:21:27,133
what you say is, "August 1st, Brian
texted us that he was on muscle relaxers,

474
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,400
so he couldn't come.
We no longer wanted him in the house.

475
00:21:30,467 --> 00:21:33,266
This forced us to hire a new contractor

476
00:21:33,333 --> 00:21:35,400
that we not only had
to pay to finish the job,

477
00:21:35,467 --> 00:21:37,767
but also pay to redo what he already did."

478
00:21:37,834 --> 00:21:38,834
So that's what you said.

479
00:21:38,900 --> 00:21:42,800
In your complaint, you want us to believe
that he has this criminal record

480
00:21:42,867 --> 00:21:45,266
that you didn't know about,
you found out about it,

481
00:21:45,333 --> 00:21:48,200
and now you're so concerned
that he's taking these muscle relaxers,

482
00:21:48,266 --> 00:21:51,500
you can't trust him anymore,
and that is what-- Hold on.

483
00:21:51,567 --> 00:21:54,500
"This forced us to hire a new contractor."

484
00:21:54,567 --> 00:21:55,967
-[Lisa] It was--
-So we can already agree

485
00:21:56,033 --> 00:21:59,033
that what you put in your complaint
was inaccurate.

486
00:21:59,834 --> 00:22:02,166
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487
00:22:02,233 --> 00:22:03,800
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488
00:22:03,867 --> 00:22:07,333
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489
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490
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