You go to the restaurant. You then get towed.
She paid because I did not have my bank card.
How many days after the tow did you pay her?
Six days.
[Patricia] Six days.
You file a lawsuit against a 15-year friend.
-Yes. -[Tanya] Whoo!
Don't keep a friendship with her.
[announcer] Today on Tribunal Justice.
[theme music playing]
[announcer] This case was filed in Akron, Ohio.
Your Honor, this is case number 1080 on the calendar
in the matter of Curry versus Sykes.
Parties have been sworn in. You may be seated.
-[Patricia] Thank you, Byrd. -[Byrd] Mm-hmm.
Ms. Curry and Ms. Sykes...
two longtime friends.
Fifteen years, right?
You go out to dinner and a show together.
Ms. Sykes, you drive your car. You park the car on the street.
And when you go back to the car after dinner, it's gone.
You find out that the car was towed, but you can't get the car out that night.
So the next day, Ms. Sykes, you call Ms. Curry.
You say, "Can you help me out? I need to get the car."
You take some time from work, you go down to get the car.
And when it comes time to pay for the fees and the towing,
you say, conveniently, she does not have her Cash App card with her
and you have to lay out the money.
After that, you call like the next day or so
and you say, "Where's my money? Where's my money?"
And you say that she had a number of excuses why she couldn't repay you.
You even left your sandals in the car and when you asked her for them,
she said, "I don't have your sandals."
She denied having them.
You say she's an ingrate.
She is somebody who is not sympathetic to all that you did for her.
That she doesn't appreciate the things that you've done for her.
That the aggravation here in getting your money to you
is worth some $921.
Because she actually did pay you in the end, correct?
But you're suing for aggravation in getting that
and for what you call a very expensive pair of shoes,
$79, and you submit a photograph of those shoes.
-Yes. -[Patricia] Ms. Sykes,
your position is, you owe her nothing.
That this was her idea to go to dinner and a show.
She insisted that you drive the car.
She picked the parking spot and encouraged you to park there.
She promised to pay for any tickets that you got
if you did take the parking space that she picked.
And you never saw any shoes that were in the car.
So you don't owe her a thing and, in fact, you did repay her.
-Is that where we're at? -Correct. Yes.
[Patricia] You know what amazed me about this?
That you're not even suing for the money for the tow
because she gave you the money back.
How long did it take her to give you the money for the tow?
I filed the claim five days later.
-You filed this claim five days later? -Five days later, after--
You didn't give your best friend of 15 years even five days.
Yes.
You file a lawsuit against a 15-year friend.
Yes.
So why would she take a pair of shoes that are sitting in your car?
Just to get back and to be evil about the situation.
[Patricia] So she took them, and what, threw them away?
[Alexis] I asked for them.
I said, "You could even put them on my porch, you don't have to see me."
So I did try to get the shoes back.
Did you ever think that when they towed the car, they took the shoes?
No, they were still in there at the tow lot.
[Patricia] Didn't you both decide to go to dinner together?
I'm glad you're laughing, because honestly, I'm appalled at this.
And I can't imagine how in 15 years
you never saw evidence of this type of behavior.
So you both go to dinner.
So I did not want to go there, to that restaurant.
-Oh, I see. So that-- -[Alexis] So we would've--
We wouldn't even been in the situation if she had gone
-to the restaurant that I had chosen. -[Patricia] So if anything ever happens
and you're at a place that you did not select,
you have no responsibility for anything because it's not the place you picked.
No, but it was also her vehicle, so it's her responsibility.
So she shouldn't have looked to me.
And conveniently, when it was time to pay for the tow,
all of a sudden, she did not have her card that day.
-[Patricia] I'm just looking at you... -Mm-hmm.
You know, you give true meaning to the expression
"With friends like you, who needs enemies?"
Mm-hmm.
[Patricia] By the way, the comedy show,
did you have to buy the tickets in advance?
Yes, actually, and I bought the tickets.
They were one-dollar tickets.
Had you agreed in advance that you were both going together to the show?
Your Honor, we had different plans.
We were going to somewhere right near our homes.
At the last minute, she said, "I'd like to go to this comedy show,
but I don't want to drive."
The tickets were one dollar, so I said, "Sure, I will drive."
And I bought the tickets.
We went to the comedy show, and I wanted to go to a brewery.
She said, "They close early, but let's try one of these two places."
So she did give me two options that she wanted to try.
I chose one of the places. She helped pick out the spot.
She said, "You know, I'll take care of this ticket if we get a ticket."
Which we shouldn't have based on the signage,
and I have a picture of that, actually.
But you asked about not seeing evidence of her character
leading up to this.
And actually, we had a group of friends--
And how long before this incident was that?
-[Kayla] It's been some years-- -Because something else... Listen...
You know, common sense, even stupid behavior like this,
common sense tells us that something else is happening.
It's not over a pair of $79 shoes
that I'm sure you wore before.
And if you're gonna stand there and say, "I just bought them"...
I'm not. I had them for a little while.
...why would you bring another pair of shoes to the car?
Because I was changing into my shoes for later in that evening.
Why, were you going dancing?
[Alexis] Possibly.
-She had on sandals. Flip-flops. -Yeah, but I changed.
[Patricia] Well, that's what these were.
[Kayla] She was not gonna change from flip-flops to another pair of flip-flops.
-I wouldn't have asked-- -[Patricia] I wanna get the picture.
-I wanna get the picture of the shoes. -I wouldn't have put in--
Ma'am, please. Just a minute.
It's bad enough I have to listen to you when I am listening to you.
[audience laughs]
Are these the shoes?
[Alexis] Yes, but they were gold.
And I actually have a photo of her that night in a pair of flip-flops.
In different shoes.
The gold sandals were in her car.
Do you have a picture of what she was wearing that night?
-[Kayla] Yes. -What was it?
Nothing fancy.
We were just going to a comedy show and dinner.
We were not going dancing. She didn't have on heels.
There would be no reason to bring another pair of shoes.
So let me see if I get this right.
You go to the restaurant.
Now, when you park,
these photographs are you parked at the restaurant?
Yes.
Normally, when you park, do you get out of the car and look at a sign?
I look at the signs before I park.
Okay. Sometimes you can't always see it.
But, so in this particular case,
did you get out of the car and see the sign?
We did not see the sign.
What time did you get back to that parking space?
The comedy show was probably 8:00.
We left early, got to dinner at 10:00.
Just ate, had a couple drinks.
Went outside, the car was gone.
Were there other cars on the street?
When we parked, the entire street was full.
I actually have a memo that--
[Patricia] Did they give you a ticket?
'Cause I noticed in here and I was looking for it.
I was looking for the parking ticket that goes with the tow.
Do you have that ticket?
It's combined. -[Patricia] They have to summons you
before they can tow the car.
So I wanted to know what the summons actually said.
I mean, what was the reason for the tow?
It's actually a new parking restriction in that area.
There are seven streets of the city under this restriction
I believe from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., which we were unaware of.
So I never actually blamed her for being towed
because we'd never seen that sign, we're unaware of this parking restri--
[Patricia] But the bottom line here is,
you're two friends who go to dinner together.
You get to the location.
You park the car. You agree on a parking space.
Though, you really had an obligation
-to look at the signs... -Yes.
...because you're the driver.
You then get towed.
And you're in a joint venture.
Had it been your car and--
I would've been responsible for the towing fee.
Well, that's if you didn't come before this forum, maybe.
Maybe you would've been responsible. I don't know.
The traffic laws are the traffic laws, and as a friend,
I'm the one who did not hesitate to pay when she said
that she conveniently did not have her card.
-And as a friend-- -She said she didn't have her card.
She didn't say, "I want to buy your firstborn child."
But she had her card the day before and she was using it.
[Patricia] She said, "I have no card with me today."
-But when-- -[Patricia] And when you called her,
the next day, immediately, saying, "Where's my money?"
by the time she gets up--
It was not the next day. It was at least two days.
[Patricia] How many days later?
It was two days later.
Two days you waited.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
I care about your suit for $79
because, quite frankly, the other money that you're suing for,
you're not gonna get that.
And you know that, right?
-I don't know that. -You don't know that.
Well, then that makes you a moron.
[theme music playing]
[announcer] Alexis Curry is suing her former friend,
Kayla Sykes, for towing fees and a pair of shoes.
Kayla claims Alexis picked the parking spot
and she's responsible for the car being towed.
Are you really this convinced about your position?
If you are, I am so... [chuckles]
-[Alexis] Your Honor-- -...appalled by your tenacity.
I'm a nurse. Yes, honesty is my occupation. So if...
-[Patricia] What is your occupation? -I'm a nurse. A registered nurse.
And what did you say before that?
[Alexis] Honesty is part of my occupation.
-Honesty? -[Alexis] Yeah.
So I would have communicated and been honest and said,
"Hey, I will pay you back when I get paid or anything."
We talk every day, and she, when it came time to pay,
she stopped talking to me.
[Patricia] I wanna get the text where she says--
Okay.
She never says, "I'm not gonna pay." Never says that to you.
Never!
[Alexis] On page three,
I asked her when she was going to give me the money back.
And then she proceeds to say, um, was I gonna take off any money
-from the amount, because she's-- -[Patricia] That's right.
Because she felt that you had an obligation since you went together
and you decided everything together.
Except, of course, you didn't eat at the restaurant you really wanted.
She says, "I was waiting till tomorrow to hit you up with all this...
and you did all this texting/calling while I was sleeping,
expecting an immediate response."
And she said "immediate response." But I text her at 10:35 p.m.
and she did not text me back till 3:00 in the morning.
You know, I mean, I'm doing this because
I'm trying to give you both an opportunity,
but I sit here in... and--and...
It's like you're dense.
It's like your notion of friendship--
What really happened between the two of you?
[Kayla] Ma'am--
What happened that brought this here? This did not do it!
What happened? Tell me, Ms. Sykes!
So we had a falling out one year ago.
We did not speak for one year.
She contacted me to come back together and make up, and--
When?
[Kayla] In May.
And so, since May to July, we were working on our friendship.
Everything was fine. We never had another falling out.
[Patricia] It's not like a marriage.
If you don't have a friend that works, who can't go to dinner with you
or to a place that you like, don't keep a friendship with her.
-Yeah. -[Patricia] Judge Levy.
[Adam] Thank you.
Ms. Curry, you say that you're a registered nurse.
[Alexis] Yes.
[Adam] How long you been doing that?
For eight years.
-Do you work in a hospital? -[Alexis] Yes.
Prior to working in the hospital, where else did you work?
Um, I've done everything, home health.
Um, I've done, um, hospice care, um, chemical dependency.
I've worked in nursing home and assisted living homes.
Hospice care, let's talk about that for a minute.
'Cause I'm gonna talk to you now about stuff that's real important...
and stuff that's not.
So in your work in hospice care, tell me about that.
Tell me about the families that you sat with
watching their loved ones die
and wishing for more time to spend with them.
Tell me about that.
I feel compassion toward them.
I've also been in that situation with my own family, so I understand.
Um, and I keep that nurse relationship with them,
but I'm also just very understanding.
And I do whatever I can to put comfort in their life.
And you understand that life is short.
No time for petty disagreements.
Agreed.
[Adam] That's what you saw in hospice care.
You saw and heard parents and loved ones talking to other loved ones
about how they wish they could've put aside their petty differences.
Like a $79 pair of shoes.
-Yup. -[Adam] You understand?
Seventy-nine dollar pair of shoes.
Friends for 15 years.
Friends, really-- I keep hearing the word "friend," but--
[Adam] I don't care. Friends. Acquaintances.
As a friend, she should've paid me back.
She could've just communicated that with me.
I was a good friend to her that night.
I'm the one who helped her even find where her car was.
She wouldn't even had known where the tow lot was
-if it wasn't for me getting to that. -[Adam] Listen. I get-- Listen, listen...
-Mm-hmm. -Someone's gotta be the adult in the room.
I thought that with your background...
-That's why I paid for it. -...it would've been...
-That's why I'm the-- -...it would've been...
I'm the reason that she got her car back that morning.
...it would've been you.
I was wrong.
You're not wrong.
-I'm the reason she got her car back. -[Adam] The same way--
None of her family and the other friends that she talked about in this group--
I get it. I get it, Ms. Curry.
[Alexis] None of them helped her get her car out but me.
-[Adam] Ms. Curry, I get it. I get it. -Mm-hmm.
These shoes must've been important to you.
[Alexis] They were.
And my money was very important to me as well, and she did not
even make an agreement to give me back my money.
[Adam] Let me explain something to you.
I couldn't give a damn about your money that you paid for the tow bill.
'Cause that's not what you're suing here for.
I care about your suit for $79
because, quite frankly, the other money that you're suing for,
you're not gonna get that.
And you know that, right?
-I don't know that. -You don't know that.
-Well, then that makes you a moron. -I don't know that.
I'm not a moron. I'm far from it.
You think over a $79 pair of shoes,
you're gonna get $900-plus dollars in pain
-and for the aggravation? -For the aggravation that she put me--
-As a nurse. As a nurse. -For the aggravation, this hospice nurse?
-For the aggravation? -[Alexis] Yes.
-[Adam] Really? -I had to work that day.
-Okay. I rep-- I-- -[Alexis] I had to work that day.
You know, I'm even more committed to my prior statement about you
Mm-hmm.
-These shoes, let's talk about them. -Mm-hmm.
That were so important to you that you were willing to file a lawsuit.
I filed the claim because she had not paid me the money.
After trying to get the money from her, she conveniently paid me the money
-on the day she was served with papers. -[Adam] Fine.
-Fine. She paid you the money. -[Alexis] Mm-hmm.
Nothing prevented you at that time
from saying, "You know what, enough's enough, I'll take the money.
Thank you very much. We're never gonna talk again.
Forget about my shoes."
-She offered to not return my property-- -Stop! Stop!
Nothing prevented you from withdrawing that suit, right?
Yes, it did. 'Cause as a friend, she was not being a friend--
[Adam] Nothing...
prevented you!
It did. It did.
[Adam] So this important pair of shoes
that you insisted on continuing the litigation about,
that you were so upset about, that you were so focused on,
-let's talk about those for a second. -[Alexis] Okay.
[Adam] You say you had 'em on the night that you went to your comedy show
-and to your dinner. -Yes.
-And you left 'em in the car. -[Alexis] Yes.
You went for your dinner and for your show.
Yes, Your Honor.
[Adam] You come back, the car's not there.
Yes, Your Honor.
Everything else happens
and you end up getting a ride from a friend,
-you go back home-- -[Alexis] Because of me.
I'm the reason-- She sat on the corner crying.
I'm the reason that we got the car.
-I... don't... care! -[Alexis] Okay.
Okay.
[Adam] The next day, you come back.
So you haven't seen your shoes now in a day.
-I only care about your shoes. -Yes, Your Honor. Okay. Mm-hmm.
You come back the next day, you go to the tow lot.
I don't care about her not paying or forgetting her car. Nothing.
-I care about the shoes. -[Alexis] Okay.
'Cause you cared about the shoes.
-And I cared about the thousand dollars-- -'Cause you cared about the shoes!
[Alexis] Yes. [chuckles]
[Adam] So now you go to the tow lot, you finally get the car out.
"My shoes! I got my shoes back. I got my shoes back."
Did you see your shoes in the car then?
[Alexis] The shoes were still in the car.
Did... you... see... the...
-shoes... the next day when you went back? -Yes, the previous night.
-Not when we picked up the car-- -There you go!
They were in there the night before.
-When I got-- They were in the car. -I get that. I get that.
They were in there the night before, weren't they?
I would have asked her after that.
[Adam] They were in there the night before, weren't they?
You saw them in there the night before.
I never seen the shoes.
Okay, no one saw these shoes.
-[Alexis] I wouldn't have asked-- -So I-- hold on!
Ms. Curry, I'm gonna make this real simple for ya.
'Cause now I think I understand the case perfectly.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
You both are grown women going out at night.
There's a no parking sign.
I mean, the fact that
-we're even engaging in all of this... -But she had the car the night before.
-I did not. -...is dumb!
[theme music playing]
You saw the shoes the day before. You pick up the car.
-You don't see the shoes the next day. -Because I stayed in my car--
I don't care! You didn't see 'em the next day.
The only thing that changed
between the day that you went there for the comedy show,
that you claim to have seen the shoes,
and now, the day that you no longer see the shoes,
is that car is in someone else's impound lot.
-Right? -Yes, but I did see them--
There you go! I'm done! Judge Acker.
[Tanya] Whoo!
[chuckles] This is such an absurd case.
It's really an absurd, silly little case.
And I say it with a smile because
we have the luxury of sitting here and being able to spend time on it.
So thank you for this little bit of nonsense.
Um... but that's really what this case is.
[Alexis] It's not nonsense.
Well, you may think it's not.
But the problem is that, right now,
you're engaging with a decision-maker, one of three,
who clearly thinks it is.
So I'm gonna give you a chance to try to be heard.
And maybe there is something that I'm missing.
Remind me of how much the tow bill was.
-[Alexis] $189 and-- -$189.
And 72 cents.
[Tanya] And you paid that how, with cash?
-Or credit card? -With my card.
So you paid this $189.72 with a credit card,
which means that, you know, you had some time to make that debt right.
Now, Ms. Sykes, it's annoying when people are owed money and they have to chase it.
People get annoyed when they don't get paid.
So why did it take you so long to pay her?
-[Tanya] It was your car. -It was my car.
And the reason that she paid, initially, was because I did not have my bank card.
-Which I had lost. -[Tanya] Right, I saw that.
The text messages, "I don't have my bankcard.
-We gotta get the car out of tow." -[Kayla] Which is--
You both are grown women going out at night.
There's a no parking sign.
I mean, the fact that
-we're even engaging in all of this... -But she had the card the night before.
-I did not. -...is dumb!
So how many days after the tow...
-[Kayla] Yes? -...did you pay her?
Since she paid it on Saturday, I paid her on Friday. It was six days.
Before the six days were up, you said,
-"I'm gonna sue you." -Yes.
And what evidence do you have of $921 worth of aggravation?
-What's your evidence? -Because I had to go to work that day.
And so that was me going to work that day,
the gas, and the time that I had to--
So that's a silly decision you made. You didn't have to do that.
Yeah, she did ask me to take her to get the car.
She asked you to do that,
just like you rode with her to go out on club night.
She drove you. She got a ticket.
You paid for her ticket. She asked you to do her a solid.
You could've said, "Not now, after I get off of work.
We can do it at a time when I am not going to make the bad choice
to not go to work that day."
That was your silly choice.
But she did agree to pay me back when I--
Did she agree to pay you $921 for aggravation?
She did agree to pay me back for the parking fee.
She agreed to pay you back for the tow and she did within six days.
And yet and still, you want to waste our time
seeking to make $800 on a $200 ticket.
I'm done. What a waste of time.
We're gonna retire to deliberate. Thank you both.
Court now stands in recess. Parties are excused.
[theme music playing]
It's interesting because Ms. Curry said that
she wouldn't hold her responsible if something happened to her car.
Listening to this in here, she would absolutely hold her responsible.
If she drove through mud
because she told her to make the right turn,
she'd say, "I was gonna go straight. I gotta bring the car to the car wash now.
She's paying for it."
I mean, I don't see her forgiving or having an understanding
about the mutuality of relationships at all.
I wouldn't-- certainly, never gonna give her the $921.
And the tow fee, that was paid for within five days.
I mean, it's just absurd.
And the shoes? I'm not willing to give her any money for the shoes.
She never testified truthfully to the fact that she never saw the shoes
in the car after the tow.
So I can't see any way, circumstantially or directly,
to hold the defendant responsible for that.
It's gotta be dismissed.
I said everything I wanted to say in there.
I agree with you.
Um, there's something about this case that's a little bit offensive.
-[Patricia] Mm-hmm. -She lays out less than $200,
is repaid, in full, six days later,
and thinks that she's entitled to $921,
plus money for some shoes that nobody can prove.
Yeah, I'm with Adam. I think I'm clear about my views on this case.
-Unanimous. -We are unanimous. And quickly dismiss it.
[theme music playing]
Court is back in session.
Parties are reminded you're still under oath.
[Patricia] Thank you, Byrd.
You know, this case and your action here really doesn't even warrant...
a conversation or an explanation by us.
It's so absurd, you know, I don't think anybody would fault us
if we just slammed the gavel and said, "Case dismissed."
But we take our responsibility seriously,
and we have discussed the case and we've made a decision.
And we're gonna give you, with the hope that you won't remain
as entrenched in your position,
we are going to give you an explanation.
So when you say that throwing out your shoes
was a spiteful act by her, my belief is, the only person in this courtroom
who is that spiteful... is you.
She gave you ever reason to believe she was going to pay.
It was six days. Six days is not all that significant and serious.
And she paid you. I mean, this isn't even about the money.
She paid you.
This is about the difficulty you felt
in your text messages back and forth and taking a drive to help a friend
where you do things for one another.
You don't see that. You don't know how to do that.
You don't know what that type of person does.
And I'm surprised you're in a helping field like nursing.
But the other things is, you're saying that
you would never hold her responsible.
You're the kind of person who, if she said, "Make a right turn here,"
and you went through a mud pile and had to bring your car to the car wash,
would make her pay for it because she's the one
that told you to make the turn,
when you really wanted to turn on the next block.
And why you would invest any energy in a friendship here
escaped all of us.
So I think that you're the one that really needs to smarten up as well
and choose your friends a lot better.
And when you make that list of who you're gonna choose...
don't even put her name on it.
The verdict of the court is to unanimously dismiss your complaint.
This case is now concluded. Parties are excused. You may step out.
It is her responsibility because it was her car,
um, she is the driver, so she is, you know, in charge
of looking at the traffic laws and the signs.
And it's not my fault that she parked in the wrong spot, so...
I feel like she's being petty because misery loves company,
and that's just what this is at this point.
There was no real reason for this to go as far as it went.
As soon as I paid her the money, I thought she would drop everything.
And she did not.
It was over before today, so... there's no chance of a friend.
Sadly, it's over. A friendship of 15 years should never come to this.
Um, I did cherish it and now it's sad that that's gonna be over.
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[theme music playing]