This girl smokes meth and the father of my child smokes meth.
You smoke meth
-and I didn't say you smoked… -Girl, you're a liar.
-…in a message. -Girl, you're a liar.
-So, therefore… -[Acker] We're going to stop.
I don't know if you think that the notion is to come here and act out
like we're doing one of those ratchet talk shows.
We are not.
[narrator] Today on Tribunal Justice…
This case was filed in San Diego, California.
Your Honor, this is case number 1029A and 1029B.
The first one in the case of Hinton versus Jefferson.
Second, Jefferson versus Hinton.
Parties have been sworn in, you may be seated.
-[Acker] Thank you, Byrd. -You're welcome.
Ms. Hinton, you are the plaintiff seeking $5,000
from the defendant in case A.
One thousand dollars is the return of a loan
-that you say she won't pay back. -Yeah.
What you tell us is that your child's father's partner
was seeking a restraining order against you.
And the defendant was supposed to testify on your behalf.
She did not.
Your friendship ended and you sought the money back.
And you also allege that she contacted your child's father
against whom you have a restraining order,
gave him your address, put your life in danger.
So your $5,000 claim again is $1,000 for repayment of the loan,
and $4,000 for the emotional stress
that you say was occasioned by the other conduct.
Now, Ms. Jefferson, your defense is that you were absolutely going to pay
the plaintiff back that $1,000,
but she, herself, engaged in her own pattern
of harassing and abusive conduct.
With respect to your failure to testify in the hearing,
you say she wanted you to perjure yourself.
And that because you did not perjure yourself
-she became incredibly angry with you... -Mm-hm.
...and engaged in a horrible campaign of abuse and slander.
So you say you don't owe her any money
because at this point,
she has upped the ante so much with a pattern of abusive conduct
that you, in fact, claim that you're owed $2,000 for slander.
You claim that she made false CPS allegations against you,
but your defense with respect to those allegations, ma'am,
is that you were simply acting to defend yourself
against her pattern of bad and abusive behavior.
Now, ladies,
before I continue with this,
we're gonna have some ground rules.
You are only going to look at the bench.
You will not look at or engage with one another.
I can feel the tension mounting in the room.
We know a lot about what's happened.
The antics that have taken place outside of this courtroom
will not take place here.
-Are we clear about that? -Yes, ma'am.
-Are we clear? -Yes.
Thank you, both.
We're going to start with case A
because once upon a time, Ms. Hinton, you were friends with the defendant
-and you loaned her the $1,000... -Yes.
...so her boyfriend could travel to his father's funeral.
-Yes. Yes, ma'am. -Is that correct?
How did you give it to her? Did you write her a check?
-[Hinton] Cash. -[Acker] When?
It was, I wanna say the last week of March.
She had just spent the last of her funds on a Disney cruise,
so her man wouldn't spend it.
Then she came back broke and she called me
-and stated that… Oh! -I don't need the extra commentary.
-All I said was "when". -I don't remember the date.
It was the last week of March.
[Acker] Do you recall receiving the money
-around the end of March? -Yes, I do.
And I had just taken my kids on a Disney cruise.
I don't care about the Disney cruise.
I'm going to encourage you both to simply…
-I did not come back broke. -[Acker] I'm going to encourage you both
to respond only to my questions,
-not to one another. -[Jefferson] Okay.
So, I also understand that the friendship fell apart shortly thereafter, Ms. Hinton,
because the defendant didn't testify in a hearing
that involved your child's father's partner.
-Correct? -Correct.
-And that woman's name was Nancy. Correct? -Correct.
And Nancy was seeking a restraining order against you?
She had a fraudulent one against me.
What was it that the defendant was going to do?
The defendant was aware of the party, who she was,
and I was attempting to, uh, what's the proper word?
-I was trying to, uh… -You were trying to defend yourself
-against the restraining order. -I was filing one against her as well.
And I needed her as a witness
because she has came to me and told me things
-about this girl harassment… -Not true.
-[Acker] I'm gonna stop you right there. -Not true.
When was the hearing scheduled?
-The hearing was April, the 8th. -[Acker] The hearing was April, the 8th?
Before the hearing you get the $1,000 from the plaintiff
so your boyfriend can travel to the funeral.
And then there is some understanding between the two of you
about your testifying at this hearing?
No. There was no understanding about me testifying…
[Acker] Had the plaintiff ever discussed the hearing?
She asked me to. I did not agree to do that.
-[Acker] What did she ask you to do? -She asked me to lie in court
and say that her child's father's, um, girlfriend does, um, drugs.
That is not true.
-[Acker] I'm gonna stop. Let's stop... -No, ma'am.
...because I'm gonna direct your attention
to a text message dated March 8th
where you say, "Tell them she smokes meth."
Was that in reference to Nancy?
Yes, she does. Can I state this?
I have evidence from her where she's stating
this girl smokes meth and the father of my child smokes meth.
-She knows this. Everybody knows this. -You smoke meth.
-I didn't say... -[Acker] Okay.
-...that you smoke meth... -Girl, you a liar. You a liar.
We are going to stop.
So what we've established thus far
is that you loaned the defendant $1,000.
She was supposed to testify in court
because there's another set of text messages,
I believe, the date of the court hearing,
and I believe that's March 30th,
where you tell the defendant,
"Friend, I got court with Nancy today, can you still call in?
I need you, please, to give a statement.
I really need a witness, friend."
Now, Ms. Jefferson, was there ever an occasion
-where you witnessed Nancy smoking meth? -No. No.
So was it your impression
that the plaintiff wanted you to lie about Nancy?
I didn't know the details of what was going on.
If you even see here,
I never even responded because I don't do that drama.
[Acker] So why didn't you simply respond back
and say, hey, I really don't know what you're talking about
and I don't wanna be a part of this drama?
And the reason I ask you that,
is because it's just a few weeks before you took the $1,000.
-[Jefferson] Uh-huh. -So what I'm trying to figure out
is whether or not there was an agreement to get this money, to get false testimony,
-or what the understanding was. -No.
Because while you say, now,
that you didn't want to be involved in the drama,
you were certainly willing to entertain it when you could get $1,000
-from this plaintiff. -I wasn't willing to entertain it…
-You were willing to entertain it… -Nothing was answered back
because I was not willing to entertain it. That's what I'm saying.
I know what it looks like,
but there's no response here because this-- I wasn't gonna do this.
She's trying to encourage me.
If I need to go to court to testify on my truth,
then I need to be able to--
No one has to coach me to do that.
-That's what I'm saying… -I understand.
-Okay.
Judge DiMango.
Do you have any proof of the death of your boyfriend's father dying?
-Do you have any proof of that? -No.
You don't have anything to show that he died,
that there was a wake, that there were services you had to fly to?
-You don't have any proof of that? -No. I-- I took the $,1000.
[DiMango] Yes, but I think the issue here we're trying to decide--
We get it, you took the 1,000.
We get it that on some occasions you said you would pay her back
and on other occasions you said you would not.
-The reason… -I attempted to pay her back.
-No. -I had not said I would.
I attempted to pay her back at least two times.
-I wanted that to be known. -[DiMango] Did you come here
just 'cause you wanna hang out your dirty laundry
or did you come here to resolve this case?
-I didn't want to see her today. -Why don't you not talk
-until you're being spoken to. -[Jefferson] Okay.
-That would make everybody's life easier. -All righty.
[DiMango] So my question to you is
there's possibility that maybe you took this $1,000
because you had agreed to testify, falsely,
and that she got angry because she gave you this money
and you didn't follow through with your part of the deal.
Can I say something?
Let me hear it. Is it gonna be nice?
Yes, it is. It's important to what she said.
Remind you, these court dates was way after,
but it was not, oh, I'm gonna give you this money to testify.
I have text messages here
with her discussing this girl smoking meth, even the father of my child.
-I'm not for sure… -[DiMango] I saw that.
-We saw that. But you guys… -I never asked this woman to lie for me.
She was aware of these things and the thing was
she continues... It's like I said…
Okay. Are you happy that you've been heard now?
-No, I'm not. You won't let me finish. -Are you happy you said it?
What else is there for you to say?
I read the crap that you guys put online.
-Where is it coming from that I… -The situation…
-Stop. -[Hinton] …that's going on today,
that happened that day. That situation has happened on more than one occasion.
Where she had promised to-- I have two jobs.
[DiMango] I'm gonna stop you.
'Cause you just go on and on. You just wanna fight with each other.
I could read these messages. You'd be ashamed of yourselves.
You won't let me finish my sentence.
-You'd both be ashamed. -I'm not ashamed.
I just wanna finish my sentence.
I got your position. I think what you both don't understand
is that, unlike the both of you, who do not listen,
-we are listening. -Okay.
We are trying to sort through a mess.
-A big mess. -A big mess.
And I'm gonna stop right now because the bottom line is
you have just said to us you gave her $1,000 in cash,
other than you saying it, that's what we have.
You're saying you wanted to pay her back.
-Do you agree? -Yes.
What's the final thing? You wanna pay her back or you don't?
[Jefferson] Um, I don't.
She has been making a lot of statements about CPS. Calling CPS.
[DiMango] That's a separate case.
Right now, this case, for me, is about the $1,000.
I'm resting on the evidence that you've presented.
-Defame me. -Judge Levy.
Ms. Hinton, you wanted to finish a sentence,
let's finish that sentence.
As I was stating, sir,
this incident at hand with her not showing up at court,
she's done this on many occasions.
I'm not just all done because she didn't show up.
We spoke over the phone. She verbally agreed to come up
and show up, or whatever, in court.
There was other situations, like where I work two jobs, sir,
she would promise to pick up my child to transport my child.
Her, as a friend, would tell me things, like,
well, I'll help you.
I asked her, when you pick up your kids, can you pick up mine
-and take my daughter to my son. -[Levy] You guys were friends.
Hold on. So, what we have you now, Ms. Hinton, saying,
is that because of the friendship you felt comfortable
asking her to pick up your kids,
-watch your kids. Right? -She wouldn't watch them.
All I needed help was for her pick her up from childcare
and drop her off to my 15-year-old son.
[Levy] Is that true?
That she would contact you to pick up her daughter at school?
All the time. She needs to do her own thing.
Let me ask you a question. How long have you known each other?
I originally met her at Father Joel's in a shelter about 2018.
[Levy] Now, Ms. Jefferson,
you would agree that it was a friendly enough relationship
that you felt comfortable asking her for $1,000?
Yes.
And it was $1,000 that you needed
so your boyfriend was able to go to New York
so he could attend his father's funeral.
Mm-hm.
[Hinton] There's a big piece of time missing out, sir.
Because this man could've came to ask me for the money himself.
[Levy] The point is you knew she wasn't gonna pay you back right away.
-She told me tax time. -Tax time?
Ms. Jefferson, that's what you said?
-That you had every intention of repaying? -Mm-hm.
Now, May 5th, 2022, defendant exhibit one.
You say in a text to the plaintiff,
"Nobody is trying to do you dirty.
No one said they would not give you your money.
-[Jefferson] Mm-hm. -If you would like your money, no problem.
The agreement was when I filed my taxes and received them, you will get paid.
You can't up and change the agreement now
-just because you're upset." -Yes.
What did you mean by that?
Because I didn't show up in court
and ignored everything that she was talking about,
she took it upon herself to just say, hey, um, go ahead and just pay me back.
And I'm like, "We have an agreement."
-[Levy] I got you. On April 4th... -So…
...you said to the plaintiff,
"We're too busy messing up other people's lives
instead of making your life better."
That's why the plaintiff was mad,
"'Cause I didn't wanna help you… your baby's daddy's life up.'"
-[Jefferson] Yes. -That was on April 4th.
I've never seen somebody so unaccomplished…
[Levy] Forget about "unaccomplished". What does that mean?
-…be all in somebody's business. -Forget about…
-That's not the purpose of that… -You need to mind…
-All right. You know what? -I'm sorry.
I'm gonna pass it over to Judge Acker. Thank you.
-Can I make one more statement? -[Acker] No, you really can't.
We are doing our very best to adjudicate your cases
in a way that does honor to our professions.
I don't know if you think that the notion is to come here and act out
like we're doing one of those ratchet talk shows.
We are not.
So whether or not we can make any sense of this mess
that you all have brought here, that's on the two of you.
So right now, I'm going to turn to your case,
which is your $2,000 claim against her
for five months of slandering and harassment.
[narrator] Coming up on Tribunal Justice…
-Take a breath. -[cries, inhales]
-How was it false when… -[Levy] Okay, Byrd.
Byrd, she's gone.
-I'm asking a question, sir… -She's gone. I didn't ask you a question.
-But I was asking you a question… -I didn't ask you a question.
You're gone. Your case is dismissed.
-How? Because I asked a question? -Yup.
[narrator] Ebony Jefferson is suing her former friend, Shante Hinton,
for slander and harassment.
Shante claims her online posts were in self-defense
after Ebony started the drama
and owes her nothing.
Right now, I'm going to turn to your case,
which is your $2,000 claim against her
for five months of slandering and harassment.
We've established some of the basic facts.
There was $1,000 that went to you.
There was an agreement, not an agreement,
some disappointment by you that she didn't testify in court.
You say that she wanted you to lie in court.
You say it was not a lie.
You simply wanted her to respond or to repeat in court
what you'd heard earlier.
According to you, Ms. Jefferson,
from your refusal to participate in that court proceeding,
the plaintiff then engaged in this campaign
of slander and harassment.
Including making, what you claim, were false CPS reports against you.
What evidence do you have
that Ms. Hinton made a false CPS report against you?
So, she states it in various text messages.
-Here's one right here. -Byrd, could you get that, please?
And you've now handed me this exhibit, a text message.
One of them, "CPS will be in touch with you very soon.
They're not happy with your actions.
They got your message and they know you stay hiding.
You got 24 hours to fight me.
If you don't, I'ma file charges on you for harassment.
Same way I called CPS on you, Ebony.
Same way I reported you to food stamps.
Same way I reported you Section 8, Ebony.
Same way I reported uh, engaging in inappropriate conduct."
Do you recall when you received this message?
-If it was after you received the money? -Yes.
Do you recall how soon after?
-[scoffs] Three weeks. -Were you ever contacted by CPS?
Yes.
-Did they make any findings? -No.
I did have to email, um, her threatening statement,
so that they would have it on record.
I don't have a record of that today.
Ms. Hinton, did you report Ms. Johnson to CPS?
-No, I did not. But can I make a comment… -No, you can't make any comments.
-…the San Diego PD… -You cannot make any comments.
Am I speaking-- Do you understand me?
-Do you understand me? -Yes, ma'am. I've answered your question.
No, well, then I'll ask another.
Why were you threatening to report her to CPS?
Domestic violence in front of her children,
which the police has also called as well.
I've called.
-Then there was the time… -When did you witness… Excuse me.
-Domestic violence… -Excuse me.
-I'm telling you, the domestic violence… -Excuse me.
When?
Um, it was one day I was at her house. What month was that?
I don't remember the exact month,
-but one day I was over… -No, I want a month and a day and a year.
-I don't know the exact month… -So, wait. Hold up.
You witnessed so much domestic violence that you had to make a report.
But it was so horrible, you don't remember the day.
You don't remember the month.
And she's such a horrific person,
-you said, "I'm gonna give you $1,000…" -I never said she's a horrible person...
"…so can lie in court."
-[Hinton] …that's not what happened… -I got it. Judge.
Why does me have to give her $1,000 to help her boyfriend go home
for his daddy's funeral?
I just buried my daddy seven months ago.
-Ma'am. Ma'am. -He was my friend.
-I was helping him out. -Calm down. Listen to me.
-I was helping him out. -Are you listening?
And what does a domestic violence situation
-have to do with $1,000? -Ma'am.
-You can't even put the two together. -Ma'am. Miss. Miss.
Her being beat on, abused on in front of her children
has nothing to do with $1,000.
-[DiMango] You need to stop. -Yes, ma'am.
[DiMango] I'm here, sitting back
and I'm listening to a colleague of mine seriously trying to get information
from both of you to do the right thing.
And what has become abundantly clear to me
is that both of you are incapable of acting appropriately in this forum.
And I refuse to entertain anything either one of you have to say.
I'm done with both of you.
-Judge Levy. I have nothing to say. -But y'all asking questions...
[Levy] Ms. Hinton, if you continue, we're gonna remove you from the courtroom
-and there goes your case. -I apologize, sir.
The next word you speak,
which was not a response to a question,
you're leaving. Understood?
-Yes, sir. -Thank you.
Now, Ms. Jefferson, in your complaint on case B,
you're looking for $2,000, based upon, what you claim,
were these series of text messages, public postings.
She talked about your hygiene, the upkeep of your home,
-and your appearance. -Mm-hm.
I know those things probably hurt very much,
but I'm gonna tell you, I'm not interested in those.
-What I am interested in is the CPS case. -Okay.
Because if it was in fact a false CPS claim,
you're gonna get your money.
So if we can figure out, based upon the information you provide,
that the, now the defendant,
filed false CPS claims against you,
and how that affected you--
Yup, I know.
-Take a breath. -[sobbing]
-[Hinton] How was it false when… -[Levy] Okay, Byrd.
Byrd, she's gone.
-I'm asking a question, sir. -She's gone.
I didn't ask you a question.
-But I was asking you a question. -I didn't ask you a question.
You're gone. Your case is dismissed.
[Byrd] This way.
-How? 'Cause I asked a question? -Yup!
-Well, San Diego PD called… -That's all right.
Have a nice day.
[Hinton] I wasn't allowed to ask the question?
[Jefferson] All right. [exhales]
-I'm ready. -[Levy] Okay.
-Were you contacted by CPS? -Yes.
They showed up at my house.
What was it that they said to you?
[Jefferson] They were saying that there were allegations
of domestic violence in my household
-and, um, molestation of children. -Okay. And did you ask them
who filed the charge?
-Yes. -And what did they say?
-They were not allowed to tell me. -Okay.
If you would've told me that they told you that Ms. Hinton here told you,
I'd have walked out and dismissed your case.
'Cause we know that people who report to CPS
-those names are not disclosed. -Yes.
So I appreciate your honesty right there.
How was it that they furthered their investigation?
They came into my home,
they sat down, they talked to myself and my children.
-How old are your children? -Three, 4, and 6.
Okay. Did they look in your fridge and your cupboards?
-Yes. -Mm-hm.
Very invasive in my personal space.
-You understand why they did that, right? -Yes.
'Cause they don't know
there was someone who made those charges against you
who was absolutely out of her mind.
They have the responsibility to make sure your kids are safe.
-Yes. -Right.
Did there come a time when you were advised
that the case was either founded or unfounded?
Yes. I asked the lady, the CPS worker,
are you closing this case, what's going on?
She told me to send her the messages from Ms. Hinton.
And they stopped contacting me.
I assumed that what I had sent them was enough
for them to not further any type of investigation.
When was that last communication you had with them? Approximately when?
A couple of months ago.
Have you received anything in the mail
indicating that your case is being referred to family court
for some type of abuse or neglect petition?
-No. -Okay. You might wanna look into that.
'Cause you should've got that if they're gonna dismiss the case.
The burden of proof in a criminal case, proof beyond a reasonable doubt,
that's not where we are.
This case preponderant to the evidence.
For CPS to make a finding against you
it's the lowest burden. Some credible evidence.
[Jefferson] Mm-hm.
You don't want that on your record, especially if it's nonsense.
-Do you follow me? -Yes.
As a result of the investigation by CPS,
you said that you were at risk of possibly losing your job.
And that it caused you tremendous stress. What do you do?
So I work in human resources in, um, in a therapist's office.
All right. Do you support yourself and your three children alone
or do you have extra help?
I support myself and my three children alone.
Okay.
-Is there a witness that we have here? -Yes.
And who is that?
It's her kid's father and his girlfriend.
Do you see anything that the girlfriend, Nancy, could provide
that would assist in determining whether or not
the CPS charges were false or not, or the effect it had on you?
-Or it's gonna be background information? -Yes.
Yes. I believe it's gonna be both
because I know that she's called them on her as well.
So I think it will support my claim for harassment.
And the fact that she did it to another woman as well.
[Levy] I'm gonna take judicial notice of the fact
that Ms. Hinton here absolutely called CPS and the police on other people.
So we don't need Nancy for that, okay?
-Okay. -[DiMango] Can I ask one question?
Yeah, please.
Have you ever called the police on your boyfriend inside your home?
I have called the police on my boyfriend before.
Why would you have called the police?
Because every couple has arguments.
He doesn't live in my home, so when I'd like for him to leave,
I'd like for him to respect my home and leave.
So sometimes he may not wanna do that,
-he wants to talk about it… -So you're in an argument basically
-and you call the police to come. -Yes.
You know, just respect the fact
that I don't want any type of arguments in front of my kids.
So when I ask you to leave, I need you to go.
[DiMango] Thank you. That was the only question.
-Couple more questions, okay? -Mm-hm.
Despite what she had to say,
in addition to picking up her child,
the one-year-old from daycare,
did she ever allow you to watch her child at your home?
Yes, I watched her child for free for months.
Always went and picked up her kids.
-[sobbing] -And not only picked up her kids…
Hold on. We got it. We got it, Ms. Jefferson.
-Not only picked up her kids-- -It's nothing but drama...
I know.
And it's, it's too much.
Ms. Jefferson, there are some people in this world
who are just sociopaths.
Ms. Hinton's a sociopath.
I've seen it. Twenty-five years' worth of them.
Because, let's face it,
if, in fact, you were as bad as Ms. Hinton said you were,
domestic violence in your home,
getting beat on, drugs,
all these things,
would she allow you to care for her one-year-old at your house?
No.
I think we're good.
Thank you.
We're gonna retire to deliberate at this time.
[Byrd] Court stands in recess, parties are excused.
[narrator] Coming up on Tribunal Justice…
Try to eliminate some of this toxicity from your life.
You shouldn't be in any proceeding engaging with people like this.
It's beneath you.
Let's start with Ms. Hinton's case against Ms. Jefferson.
The $1,000 loan.
Somewhere in those text messages, Patricia,
there was a message from Ms. Jefferson back to Ms. Hinton
complaining about the fact that the plaintiff was harassing them
for repayment while the partner was grieving.
I was teasing out the idea
of whether or not this $1,000 was in payment to secure false testimony.
I'm not sure of that.
But I didn't see any evidence of the terms of repayment.
I don't know what the terms of repayment were.
And I did find the plaintiff's conduct to be so egregious
that I'm not prepared to award her this money.
Certainly not any emotional distress damages.
But my inclination is to dismiss case A in its entirety.
My inclination is to do absolutely the same thing.
I don't see that there was a meeting of the minds
with regard to a contractual obligation.
I'm gonna lend you this, you'll pay me back when.
She does throw out there in some messages about the tax returns,
but then she goes and kind of steps back from that as well.
So I really don't feel that the plaintiff met her burden
with regard to the obligation for repayment.
And, in any event,
the emotional distress, I think, both in life and in this courtroom,
is caused by the plaintiff.
There is no way she should be rewarded for any of her behavior.
So my inclination, as well,
would be to dismiss her entire complaint.
I threw her out of the courtroom. I made my position clear.
You dismissed her right in there.
I dismissed-- Yeah, my position hasn't changed.
Okay. Good.
So case B, Ms. Jefferson's complaint
against Ms. Hinton based on the false claims.
Ms. Hinton admitted she called CPS
and then, I think, tried to suggest that
Ms. Jefferson had engaged in a pattern of abuse
and or had entertained the abuse of her children
for all these many years.
Yet, and still she couldn't give us any months or dates
or any further details. I'm troubled by it.
[DiMango] So, the whole thing with the child abuse,
which is where I'm in a bind,
is that when you make a child abuse report it needs to be a good-faith allegation.
Now, do I think that Ms. Hinton acted
because she had the children's interests at heart?
I think Ms. Hinton acts only for her own benefit out of spite.
And all of this has to do with the boyfriend that she no longer has.
So my feeling here is that this was really done out of spite.
However, I did ask Ms. Jefferson
whether or not she'd ever called the police
with regard to fights that she and her boyfriend had had
in front of the children.
And her position I didn't find credible,
was that, well, I don't like to argue in front of my children,
and so, therefore I called the police to stop that.
So, though I don't agree with Ms. Hinton's behavior,
because I think that she does everything out of spite,
I do think that she does know that there were police reports filed
because of abuse which was occurring in front of the children.
So my inclination right now is
not to award anybody any money on this case.
[Acker] Just one point, and then,
-sorry, Adam, I'll let you get in. -No, please.
But there's one-- I'm trying to find that message,
which I found so offensive, where Ms. Hinton is actually bragging
-about making all of these reports. -Yes.
-That's where she says… -And to me, and that's where, I think,
that when you escalate a situation
and bring in law enforcement or CPS maliciously,
then you're upping the ante in a way that's beyond just the nasty name-calling.
[DiMango] Let me ask you this.
If it's happening, does it really matter that she's a mean, miserable low-life?
I think it's-- Beyond her being a low-life,
I think that she didn't have a good-faith basis for it.
But the police have been called for fights.
This is just my feeling. I don't wanna give anybody any money on these facts.
-Where are you, Adam? -Like I said,
I don't think anything that comes out of Ms. Hinton's mouth is the truth.
But for the text messages, quite frankly,
we would never really know what the truth is.
The communications made it clear to me
that Ms. Hinton filed a malicious and false CPS case
against Ms. Jefferson.
Putting aside the facts for a moment,
there's really nothing worse that you can do,
for a whole series of reasons,
than file a false claim against a mother regarding her children.
Once CPS gets involved in a case,
you feel as though your rights as a parent are completely stripped away.
And if you have false charges made, that means that legitimate cases
of child abuse and neglect go uninvestigated.
Don't you think if the case were dropped
she would've come in with papers saying, look,
they found the allegations incredible?
-I don't-- -No. No, no, no.
Hold on one second. The problem is that you can't blame Ms. Jefferson
for not bringing in evidence that CPS hasn't given to her yet.
I agree with that.
It takes months. Not only with the investigators.
Then they gotta go to their Assistant Bureau Chiefs.
Then their Bureau Chiefs.
They could say there's sufficient evidence and it's so bad
that we're sending it to court.
That's not what happened here. We don't know it yet.
-But what we do know is the text messages. -That's where I am.
The text messages on page 35,
you have Ms. Hinton saying, "CPS will be in touch with you very soon.
They're not happy with your actions."
And with all of these crying emoji faces.
She's making it out to be a complete joke.
That's not what you do if you have legitimate concerns
-about the welfare of the child. -She has no concerns about the welfare,
-that's my point. -Okay. So…
She doesn't have concerns,
but she does have a basis, but her motivation is not good.
-No… -That's where I'm torn.
-But we don't know she has a basis. -I'm gonna dissent.
I'd give her $1,000.
I agree with that. $1,000 in favor of Ms. Jefferson.
-In case B. -In case B.
We have a verdict in Ms. Hinton's case,
we're unanimous in that we will dismiss the complaint in case A.
In case B, Ms. Jefferson's case against Ms. Hinton,
Judge DiMango, you are dissenting,
Judge Levy and I are gonna award Ms. Jefferson in that case $1,000.
-Wonderful. -Very good.
Court is back in session.
You're reminded you're still under oath.
-[Acker] Thank you, Byrd. -Mm-hm.
Ms. Jefferson, let's start with Ms. Hinton's case against you.
I believe you heard Judge Levy indicate during his examination
that he was inclined to dismiss it.
Judge DiMango and I agree with that position
in dismissing the plaintiff's complaint.
We do believe that she gave you some money.
We also believe that she got really mad at you
when you didn't testify falsely in court.
Now, whether or not she intended to condition that
on you doing something you didn't do, we don't know.
We certainly do not mean to accuse you of being a part of some plot
to offer perjurious testimony, because you didn't.
Which is what led to all of the events that gave rise
to your case against Ms. Hinton.
So we are dismissing Ms. Hinton's case against you.
You raised in your complaint against Ms. Hinton, a number of claims
that you believe justify an award of emotional distress damages.
There were some instances where you gave as good as you got.
There was a lot of back-and-forth.
But the instance that we found most troubling as a bench,
all three of us, were Ms. Hinton's claims about you to CPS.
Reporting people when you have no good-faith basis,
when it's just malicious,
when you're just mad, is only wrong.
Judge DiMango is dissenting from this portion of the verdict
in that she believes that because--
Since you testified about police coming to the house,
that your damages by these false claims by Ms. Hinton don't justify
you getting an award in this case.
But Judge Levy and I believe that because of the false claims to CPS,
she invited a level of intrusion into your home
that based on her improper motivations, was simply wrong.
So it is the verdict of Judge Levy and I
that you be awarded $1,000 in your countersuit against the plaintiff.
It's also our suggestion that you will try to eliminate
some of this toxicity from your life.
You shouldn't be in any proceeding engaging with people like this.
It's beneath you.
The judgment of this court is for $1,000 on your claim against Ms. Hinton.
Again, Ms. Hinton's claim against you is dismissed.
Good luck to you.
[Byrd] This case is concluded.
Parties are excused, you may step out.
I think the judges said it right, she's a sociopath.
I've never dealt with anybody like her
and I would never deal with anybody like her again.
The goal was for her to leave with nothing
and get-- I won that $1,000.
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