You buy half a cow.
-Right. -No.
I'm sure he had intentions of buying the cow, but he didn't do it.
You texted him,
"I will do whatever I can to get you your money back."
He never bought it.
Nah, you're full of baloney. Or full of cow meat. One or the other.
[announcer] Today on Tribunal Justice...
[opening theme music plays]
This case was filed in Mort Myers, Florida.
Judges, this is case #1058 on the calendar
in the matter of Vo versus Delgado.
Parties have been sworn in. You may be seated.
Thank you, Byrd. Mr. Vo, you are the Plaintiff in the case.
-You are a contractor. -Right.
You know the Defendant because he does work on several of your jobs.
-He is a plumber. -Correct.
And there came a time when Mr. Delgado was in need of some money, of a loan.
He asked if he could borrow $3,500. You agreed.
-But you had him sign a promissory note. -Correct, yes.
The terms of the promissory note were what?
Standard, no interest. Payable within 60 days.
Okay, so, when you say standard, usually, a promissory note has some interest.
Right.
But yours was a zero-interest promissory note...
I tried to help the guy.
And it was for a short period of time for 60 days.
-Right. -[Adam] You lent him that money,
-and he did not pay you back. -No, he didn't.
And what he was saying was that was not a loan.
but it was an advance on work.
-Is that correct? -Correct.
You also gave him $2,500. And what was that for?
-Oh, half the cow. Yes. -[Adam] For half a cow?
[Adam] So, according to your complaint that I read,
the Defendant is involved in purchasing whole cows,
you have been doing it for awhile. You purchase the cow,
you have it butchered and you freeze the meat
and you use the meat for yourself and your family over a long period of time.
Correct.
According to your answer, Mr. Delgado, that's not what happened.
-No. -No. He said what?
He never paid the money?
No, no. He didn't like that there wasn't the amount that you hang the cow at.
But everybody knows that cow shrinks when you hang it for two weeks.
Well, when you say everybody knows...
Well, most people know. Most people know.
I would challenge you on that, but that's not what's really important.
What is important is that, your position is that you never received the $2,500
-and you don't owe him that money at all. -No.
Let's start now, with the $3,500 that, uh, that you did loan.
Was there anything in writing that outlined the terms and conditions
of that loan. Because you said it was a loan, interest free.
And according to what you, Mr. Delgado, was saying
is it was nothing that you were gonna pay back immediately
but because you do work for the Plaintiff, you were gonna work that off.
So, what I'm asking, since it's your burden,
-Right. -[Adam] do you have a copy
of any contract that shows what the terms and conditions of that agreement was?
That's correct, yes. I have a promissory note.
I think that you have it in the evidence.
Okay, is that your Exhibit One?
That's correct, yes.
All right, so I do have that. And have you seen that also, Mr. Delgado?
-Yes. -[Adam] Okay.
According to the terms and conditions of this promissory note,
which was signed by the both of you on June 1st, 2022,
that this was a $3,500 loan with zero percent interest,
and the full balance was going to become due on August 1st, 2022.
-Is that correct? -That's correct, yes.
Is what you're saying that the agreement that you had with the Plaintiff here,
was something besides that which you signed on this promissory note?
Yes. It was actually for work to be done for a couple houses,
and there was no paying back of the money.
The August 1st thing, I wasn't even offered work
until after August 1st had passed. He had no houses for us to do.
So, if I understand your testimony then, in your mind's eye,
this was supposed to be you paying him back with work that was to be done.
Correct.
[Adam] On the promissory note, it clearly states
that that repayment was gonna be done by August 1st.
Right. There was no repayment that needed to be done at all
He said he wanted that just so there was a statement.
He's a by-the-books guy. There's never any money, cash in hand,
until there's paperwork or something saying that he's giving me that money.
Even for the houses that we do do, he doesn't give us any in advance.
'Cause that's just how, you know... He's good at what he does.
Well, he may be good at what he does, but the problem is, there is a document.
You signed it. If you're attempting to controvert the terms of that,
it would violate what's called the Statute of Frauds.
And that's a problem. You understand that.
Yes. I actually tried to make... Once he left, after the cow thing,
which we'll get into later, but I told him I could make payments.
He didn't want nothing to do with that.
He wanted all his money right then and there.
-[Adam] He's a businessman. -So, yeah.
I get it. Let's put aside, for a moment, that issue of the promissory note.
It is what it is, it's a contract.
Let's now talk about the second cause of action here.
It's for $2,500. What's that for?
For half of the cow. Usually a cow is not my business,
but he called me up and he asked me if I wanted to buy half of the cow
because he needed money to buy food for his animals.
Because he raised all the... Not just cows, he raised chicken, pigs...
So, Mr. Delgado, what I'm understanding, and I read your answer.
Instead of going to the supermarket, like so many of us,
and we buy the steaks and what have you, and chopped meat.
You'll go out and actually purchase a whole cow.
Yes. I raise it, actually, from a calf.
-You do? -[Andrew] Yes.
-And what kind of cow? -It's a Black Angus.
Now, you hear him saying that he paid you for that.
And you're saying that that wasn't exactly how it was.
-He was gonna pay you once he got it. -Right.
But something happened and the deal was never consummated.
You say you never got the money, and you, Mr. Vo, say you never got the meat.
So, why don't you tell me in your words, since it's your burden,
what do you say happened?
He called me up and asked, do I have money to come and pay half the cow
because he leaving town. So, I said look, I'm not gonna buy the cow
until I go and see it. So, I asked him for the address.
So, he text me the address, so I went to his farm.
He was standing there, and, um, so, I looked at the cow.
He was, you know, regular Black Angus, weighed over a ton.
Uh, before that, I came to his house. I went to the bank and withdrew $2,500.
So, I came to his home. Because I didn't want to get the check,
he doesn't have time to deposit the check.
So, you gave him cash.
So, I gave him cash and I asked him, you know,
you have to text it to me that you received $2,500 for the cow.
And he did text me, in writing on my phone,
that he received that money.
-You heard what he said. -I did.
And are you suggesting that his testimony is something other than accurate?
Yes, so...
Why don't you tell me what you say really happened.
He's never been to my farm. He's never seen the cow,
other than a picture that I've sent him. He came to my house, asked for my scale,
because he said it's not 400 pounds of meat.
I said, I know it's not 400 pounds of meat. I then explained to him
once it hangs for two weeks, it dries out, the blood drains, it shrinks.
So, it's your testimony that he never paid you the money.
Right.
-I'm looking at Plaintiff's Exhibit #4, -Mm-hmm.
On June 21st, you texted to him, that's your address.
-That is my farm address. -[Adam] Your farm.
And I went and looked at the cow at the farm.
He never ever went to my farm. My grandmother lives there and it's gated.
So, he'd have to get permission to come inside.
You're saying here that you did not get his $2,500.
-Right. -But I'm looking at a text right now
and you texted him, "Cow for $2,500 received today."
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice...
-You're sending us some cows? -No.
You're gonna send us some steak?
No, it's the average price of it goes for.
Oh, I'm sorry, I was getting ahead of myself
in thinking that you were trying to bribe us with some good meat.
-But that's all right. -No.
[announcer] Hiep Vo is suing his former friend and plumber,
Andrew Delgado, for an unpaid loan and the cost of half a cow.
Andrew says Hiep never paid for the cow and wasted his time.
So, I'm having a difficult time, Mr. Delgado, understanding
how the text message that you sent to the Plaintiff
means something other than he gave you $2,500 for the cow.
Right. So, he told me to send that to him because he wanted to come get it.
As you know, he never came and got it. I mean, he didn't pick up the cow.
He is not the type to just hand you some cash...
I got a bank statement too, that I went the same day and withdraw $2,500.
[Adam] You have that. I'll take a look at that, please.
So, I'm looking at a bank statement on June 21st,
the same day that you text him, and I see here,
a withdrawal in the amount of $2,500. Is that just a coincidence?
Um, no. I'm sure he had intentions of buying the cow. But he didn't do it.
And your testimony is notwithstanding now what is this evidence
of him withdrawing $2,500 cash from the bank. So, on June 21st,
the text, "Cow for $2,500 received today" is something other than
what everyone else would basically look at that and saying, yeah...
Right, but I can assure you there's no cash at hand with this guy
unless you're signing a piece of paper for anything, ever.
He even text me, I sue people all the time.
If what you just told me is that he does this all the time,
that he'll have people give him documents and then he'll turn around and sue them,
why in the world would you do that?
Well, I didn't have any issues with him until this day.
The problem with your testimony though is that according to the text messages,
you sent back a text, "I didn't do you dirty, so don't think that.
I will do whatever I can to get you your money... back."
In reference to the $3,500.
So, you're saying that the statement that you made there
comes immediately after the text message involving,
"I misspoke if I said you were gonna get half of the 800,"
which was the 800 pounds of the cow was something other than a cow?
No.
'Cause you understand how that looks, right?
Yeah, I do understand.
[Adam] I get you. You know what...
I understand how it looks.
I think Judge Acker may have some questions for you.
Thank you, Judge. I love the lifestyle, Mr. Delgado.
I mean, it sounds very clean, raising your animals. I love it.
I hate your legal position.
It is just bereft of any common sense basis.
So, I want to try to...
I'm used to getting screwed over. So, I didn't take the necessary steps...
Tell me how and why you think you're getting screwed over.
Because I wrote a few things down that you said in response to Judge Levy
and they were about Mr. Vo, you said, "He does everything by the book.
He won't pay us in advance. That's just how he is.
He's good at what he does." And... Apparently not good enough,
'cause even though he does all those things,
he still has to drag people to court to get money back.
And I'm gonna start with that promissory note.
How on earth can you come to court and expect us to ignore
the clear import of your words on a page? I mean, was he holding a gun to your head?
I told him, like, I don't have $3,500 to pay you.
I can pay you in payments. He said, nope, I want all my money right now.
I told him, I'm still willing to do the work.
So, your argument is that, instead of paying you back,
the money I committed to pay you on the promissory note,
I'll give you my labor. That's different. What you've actually said,
is that there was never any intention to pay him back
and that this deal was always about him prepaying you for labor.
And what I'm saying to you, respectfully, is that that just doesn't make any sense.
Why would you sign a promissory note
saying I am going to pay you back the money
if you were not thinking that you had to pay him back the money?
I can totally agree with the $3,500 that that needed to be paid back.
Okay, I'm good with that. Now, help me understand the cow.
Because what you're saying is that on the 21st,
"Cow for $2,500 received today." Maybe there's another interpretation
which is that you got the cow in hand on the 21st.
-Is that what you intended to say? -[Andrew] No.
-Oh, my goodness. [laughs] -[Andrew] I'm just being honest.
-I... I appreciate it. -I'm being honest.
He told me to send him that exact text, exact words.
Either he is an unabashed craven liar
who wanted to set you up for a lawsuit so he could go to court, file a lawsuit,
and get back $2,500 that he never paid from you,
or maybe he just wanted you to acknowledge the $2,500 that he gave you.
So, it's one of the two.
He is a liar. He just told you he's come to my farm,
and he's never been to my farm.
He also said that he seen somewhere you can buy cow for two dollars a pound.
I said you can't buy cat meat for two dollars a pound.
I'm not a butcher. As much as I may romanticize
the whole clean farm living life, that's not my life, okay.
I don't know how much Angus beef costs, I just know it tastes quite good.
I sent it to you guys, uh...
-You're sending us some cows? -[Andrew] No.
Just what the average price of it goes for.
Oh, I'm sorry, I was getting ahead of myself
in thinking that you were trying to bribe us with some good meat.
But that's all right. Mr. Vo, is there some potential for confusion here?
Did you set foot on the farm?
Yes, I did. I even have on GPS that I went there.
He texted me the address. I saw the cows.
Did you see his grandmother behind the gated fence?
'Cause he said she lives...
No, I actually went around the farm. He even introduced me to his neighbor
who does RV repair too. Because I just bought a RV.
I wanted to do a remodel on it. So, I went around the farm
and I see a lot of animal lives there. I didn't see his grandmother.
And we had a beer.
-And you had a beer? -[Hiep] Yeah.
-What kind of beer did you have? -[Hiep] A Bud Light.
[Tanya laughing] That just settles it.
Why would he tell... I mean, it's...
I don't drink Bud Light, so... I didn't
There's the case, there's the case. He doesn't drink Bud Light.
He's an IPA guy. You know, on a serious note,
so far, what you've demonstrated is that Mr. Vo is someone
who does exactly what he says he's going to do.
I'm gonna end where I started. You seem like a nice gentleman,
but your legal position, it leaves me wanting. Judge?
-[Patricia] Actually you seem like a liar. -Oh.
First of all, do you have a picture of the farm?
I have pictures here.
Have you seen these photographs, sir?
-No, I went... -[Patricia] Good.
I don't want you to see them. Thank you.
Sir, when you went to the farm, can you describe the property?
Were there standing trees, were there dead trees...
-[Hiep] Yeah. -What?
When you enter the gate, big gate, 16-foot wide gate,
and then there's a big tree in the front. Then you walk around the fence
there some small fence for the pigs and small fence for the chicken.
Were there any dead trees anywhere or everything was pretty and nice?
He has a lot of trailer on the farm.
-A trailer. What color was it? -Yes.
Oh, I can't remember but you know, old trailer.
One of the trailer he bought to remodel. His friend drop it there.
And there we see a trailer on the farm.
That's not my property. That's the back, what he's talking about.
So, you were there. That goes along with my first statement to you.
So now, you go there, but you don't know anything about animals.
-You're not a vet or anything, right? -Right, but I...
So how would you know if a cow is good? I looked at the cow,
it's standing up on all four feet. I mean, how do you know a cow is good?
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice...
Does the refrigerator stand as tall as you or bigger...
Um, no, lower.
A little baby refrigerator? -Yes! He tried to give me
that little refrigerator!
It will fit in that refrigerator and it did fit in that refrigerator.
-Oh, sir, sir... -Oh, man. Okay.
-I've done this for so long. -You are so full of baloney.
So, you look at a cow. You say to him, how big is this cow?
He says, oh, it's about 2000 pounds. Right? It's a ton.
No. I don't even know what it weighed. I have no idea.
You must have some idea because you gave him an assurance
that he'd get a certain amount of meat.
I did not give him an assurance that he'd get any kind of meat.
[Patricia] Okay, so let me go back to what we have here.
You were charging him $2,500 for half a cow.
-Correct. -[Patricia] The range is more like
$1,200 to $1,600, plus some kind of fee for half the cow.
So, you're a little high in your price. You buy half a cow.
They chop the thing right down the middle. Not half butt and half head,
right down the middle. That weighs, let's just say 1,600.
Eight hundred pounds each. Now, you have hanging weight.
And that includes removing all the things you don't eat, basically.
The bones, the hooves, the tail, whatever... the bell. That goes.
So, now that then gets cut down by the butcher.
So ultimately, you could have a five, six hundred pound half a cow,
but when you finally go to the butcher, it's gonna be much less in weight.
You said you looked in his refrigerator, correct?
-There was meat in there, correct? -Right.
But you didn't think it was enough based on the cow that you saw.
Did that cow have a name since you had it from an infant?
-It did. -[Patricia] What was it?
Um, that one was Muchacho.
Why do I feel like you just made that up? You looked down at that piece of paper.
All right. So, Muchacho ended up much smaller
in the refrigerator than when you first checked him out on the farm. Correct?
Well, it ended up much smaller than we agree on.
He said that I'm gonna get, by the end of the day, over 400 pound of meat.
So, I calculated 400 pound of meat for $2,500...
If any of this is true, you paid a lot of money for the half a cow.
Whatever, prime steaks, whatever.
[Hiep] I just tried to help the guy.
Because they say here, when I did all this reading on cows,
and now I'm gonna go to the farm and buy a cow.
It's 400, let's say 460 pounds hanging. You take off 30%.
It comes down to 322 pounds. Then, by the time the butcher gets a hold of it,
you end up way much less than you kinda thought in the first place.
So, that's an issue. However, your baloney about this loan
that started off, as you said, he doesn't give you $10, he never gives you anything.
Why would he then give you $3,500 for nothing?
He wouldn't do that. You said he wouldn't do that.
You said he's... I don't know if you want to say he's rigid,
he's cheap, or both of those, he would never have given you $3,500
on a mere promise that you were going to do work in the future,
when he wouldn't even give you a check for $20
if he was short for you already did.
He even stated that that was for work.
You're full of baloney. Or full of cow meat. One or the other.
But it doesn't look to me as though you're being credible and candid with us, sir.
But then again, on the other hand,
I'm not sure that what you rejected in that cow meat,
you know, what was he supposed to do with it?
Well, when I first came to his home and I ask, okay,
am I gonna get over 400 pound meat, like we agree, he said, yes,
they are in the fridge. So, I open the fridge and it doesn't look like...
[Patricia] Did you weight it?
[Hiep] No, when I look at that and I see it's not 400 pound meat.
You've got a good eye. The cow's a good cow, it's not enough meat...
Well, you know, it's just common sense.
Well, I don't know. How much of the refrigerator did it fill?
It's small refrigerator.
Does the refrigerator stand as tall as you, or bigger...
Um, no, lower.
-A little baby refrigerator?! -Yes!
He tried to give me that little refrigerator.
There you go, there you go.
He was gonna borrow that refrigerator.
It will fit in that refrigerator and it did fit in that refrigerator.
-Oh, sir, sir. -Oh, man. Okay.
-I've done this for so long. -You're so full of baloney.
Where is the beef now? Where's all that beef?
It's at home.
So, you ate it, you didn't eat it...
No, it takes a year to eat a whole cow. With feeding a family of four.
You have a year to eat it. So, you can fatten up a little bit.
[Andrew] Okay.
[Patricia] I don't have any other questions.
We're gonna retire to deliberate.
Court stands in recess. Parties are excused.
It seems pretty straightforward to me.
We had two issues. We have a $3,500 loan with a promissory note.
with terms and conditions that are written and signed off on by both parties.
I agree.
Something about Statute of Frauds kept popping in my head.
Whatever. Does that sound about right?
-It does to me. -That sounds quite right.
[Adam] The cow for $2,500, it sounds straightforward as well.
Especially when you consider what the story was about the $3,500,
you call into question his voracity, that's the Defendant's veracity.
But you look at those text messages, you know, they're just so valuable.
It makes our jobs pretty easy. You have the Plaintiff saying,
"I am not interested in the beef."
That's because he thought he wasn't getting enough.
"I just need my money back." It seems pretty clear.
It seems very clear. And in fact, the Defendant helped, I think,
make the Plaintiff's position even more credible and believable.
Of course someone's going to say, now I want you to acknowledge in writing
that I gave you the $2,500 for the cow.
This is a very straightforward case, in my view.
Well, I didn't think anything that came out of the Defendant's mouth was truthful.
In fact, when the Plaintiff said that there was an RV
on the property behind him and there, in that picture was the RV,
I knew he was there. And once he was there and the Defendant was swearing up and down
that he'd never been there, then there was nothing I really could believe after that.
So, I think Mr. Vo is entitled to the $3,500 as well as the $2,500.
-Six thousand. -Six grand. You got it.
Court is back in session. I remind parties you're still under oath.
Thank you, Byrd. We had an opportunity to deliberate in the back
and it's a unanimous decision. Mr. Delgado, you owe Mr. Vo $6,000.
The $3,500 pursuant to the promissory note and the $2,500
that was clearly established as having been paid by him to you
in the form of those text messages.
So, that is going to be the verdict of the court.
Six thousand dollars in your favor, sir. Thank you.
This case is concluded. Parties are excused, you may step out.
It is what it is. I mean, I can't tell people the names of my animals
all the time 'cause I don't name 'em, my wife does, you know.
He calls, I pick up my phone, he know me.
The meat of a cow is all determined on the rancher and how he feeds it.
Well, he said he gonna pay me the next day, but he never pay me.
They can say it's expensive, but it's what I name the price.
He cheated me.
I think, just in feed alone, we probably spent close to $6,000.
He told me I'm gonna get 400 pound of meat, but by the end of day,
he just try to give me 200 pound of meat for the $2,500 I pay him.
He didn't want nothing to do with it.
He wanted all his money back and he was mad about the cow.
And I told him, look, if you're not gonna pay me,
you ignore my phone, I'm gonna take you to court.
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