You become roommates. You want him to leave.
He was just, um, bringing all these girls in there.
It's very obvious what the problem is.
I just wanna make it clear. There's no physical attraction.
You had no business renting to him.
Your lease doesn't permit it.
So, who the hell are you
claiming he violated a roommate agreement with you
that, by the way, has zero enforceability?
Okay. There's some misunderstanding.
[announcer] Now on Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
Today's case was filed in Beverly Hills, California.
[Byrd] It's case number 2083
on the calendar in the matter of McKnight versus St. Romain.
- Thank you, Byrd. - You're welcome, Judge.
Parties have been sworn in. You may be seated.
Mr. McKnight and Ms. Saint Romain.
- [Amna] Yes, ma'am. - So, the two of you were roommates
for a time and then it seems to have turned
into a short version of hell.
And you are now suing the defendant, sir, for $1,100.
And that's for the return of your security deposit.
Ms. St. Romain, you say that is nonsense.
You owe him nothing.
In fact, you claim that he owes you money for the utilities,
which the two of you are supposed to split equally.
And you also have a counterclaim against him
for $4,800 for property damage
and theft of your property.
I'll note that both of you, uh, point out
that you met on a dating app but never dated.
You were in San Francisco. You were in LA.
You, sir, then decide that you're gonna move to LA.
You need a place to live. You need a roommate.
You become roommates. All platonic.
You, in fact, ma'am, had him sign a roommate agreement,
where you laid out everybody's responsibilities.
We're gonna share the utilities,
you're gonna get your security deposit back
if you leave the place in good condition.
It was all very clear.
It was interesting when I read your answer,
ma'am, you said some things and I was kinda like, wow,
this seems to be coming outta nowhere for a case
that's about security deposits and utilities.
"He's been with many girls since he's moved in.
With each girl, he has a different personality.
He's brought prostitutes to the apartment."
You know, I'm not saying any of this is true.
I'm just pointing out the claims she makes about you and the answer.
And you described him as very shady.
And I was like, "Gosh.
Normally, people who throw that much mud got something to hide."
And you know what I realized?
You had no business renting to him.
Your lease doesn't permit it.
- Not only did it not allow that... - Yes.
[Judge Acker] ... but you actually were having him conceal
- from other people that he was there. - [Amna] Yes.
So, that's a little shady, too.
So, you moved in in June 2022.
Originally, it's a six-month agreement, correct?
[Timothy] Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Acker] But you stay on a little longer.
- So then it becomes month to month. - Yes, Your Honor.
Then, you meet a girl in March.
Things go well with the girl.
You're still paying rent, but you're hardly ever there.
Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Acker] So, according to your complaint, sir,
about June to August, you're not really there.
You show up. What happens in August?
So, the beginning of August of 2022,
I came home to get my suitcase,
'cause I was flying back to San Francisco to see my son that weekend.
Uh, I walked in that morning, packed my things
and as I was leaving out, she stopped me to let me know
that she lost her job back in May.
I was barely there. So, I never knew.
That was my first time hearing about it.
So, as she's explaining that to me,
the first thing she said was,
she's gonna rent out her room
and either she's gonna stay with her friend here in LA
or possibly move to New York.
Never said anything about me moving out.
I heard that. Okay. You know, felt bad for her, whatever.
Got my things, left.
But I never came back to the apartment until the end of August.
Story changed, saying that she's found two couples--
two people to move in to her room.
She's gonna move into the smaller room.
It's only two bedrooms. So, in my head, I'm like,
"Smaller room? That's my room."
So, I stopped her and it's like, "So, what does that mean for me?"
But it almost doesn't matter.
I mean, at this point, you're a month to month tenant.
Now, in August, you want him to leave.
There are two holdups here.
- You keep saying he owes you utilities. - Yes.
You submitted evidence of what you say the utilities were.
But the utility breakdown that you submitted...
- Yes. - ... did not add up to the amount
of his security deposit.
- So, at a minimum... - [Amna] You're correct.
- But neither did that boy... - ... you owed him some money.
... if he was leaving the apartment.
- Whenever he was just... - And we will talk about that
because you also claim that he left the apartment in some disarray.
In fact, you submitted some photographs...
[Amna] And videos.
[Judge Acker] ... where you say he damaged things.
You say he poured bleach on your property.
- [Amna] Yes. - [Judge Acker] And you, in fact, told him
that you saw him.
In fact, you put cameras in your apartment.
- [Amna] I thought I had it, yes. - You'd put cameras in your apartment
because you wanted to check up on the landlords.
- Yeah. - So, can we put up Exhibit 4?
"I hope you do know I put a camera by the TV."
The suggestion being that you have him stealing, on camera.
Yeah. I thought that...
[Judge Acker] Except you had no such thing.
- No. - [Judge Acker] You got nothing.
And you made a police report.
- [Amna] Yes. - You called the police on him.
[Amna] I called the police to come immediately because car keys were taken,
but they didn't show up.
It was late at night.
So the next day, I went to the police station
and they told me if I have contacted him
and tell him that maybe he took it by accident,
- because car keys were taken. - Yeah. Well, what's interesting to me,
and what I really wanna dig in to
is what basis you had
for accusing him of theft,
accusing him of property damage,
- because you have no video. - No.
- I only have the video after the theft... - [Judge Acker] You have--no, no, no.
You know what you have?
You have a video of some bleach damage.
- I don't know who did it. - [Amna] Yeah.
[Judge Acker] Why wouldn't you bring that video to court,
or why wouldn't you show it to the police?
Or were you lying to the police and are you lying in this court?
No, no. I wasn't lying to anyone.
What I thought when I texted him, because I was really upset, is that I had it.
When I went to revise all my items...
- It was gone. - [Amna] No.
That's when I realized everything had been turned off because it was bleach.
[Judge Acker] Oh, my gosh.
We can look at your video.
But I'll tell you right now, the video proves absolutely nothing.
So, tell us what we're seeing.
[Amna] ... you can't see anything because it's white bleach.
It's clear. But it's all over.
I can't touch it 'cause I'm actually allergic.
There's a piece of paper that I can lift
and, like, it's all wet and bleached.
And then there's bleach poured all over the desk.
[Judge Acker] So, why aren't you wearing gloves if you're so allergic to it?
[Amna] Because I just noticed. So I grabbed my phone immediately.
- [Judge Acker] Hmm. - [Amna] And so then I went ahead
and, like, recorded all of that.
I saw that it was poured in the plug.
It was poured it over there.
[Judge Acker] How soon after the plaintiff left did you take this video?
- [Amna] The next morning. - [Judge Acker] It was the next morning?
Yeah. I thought the bleach smell was coming from the cleaning.
I didn't realize that it was coming from there until I started following the smell.
[Judge Acker] And so what evidence do you have that he did that--
or that he did it intentionally?
Well, there was nobody else at the very moment.
It was just him and I.
[Judge Acker] How do I know that you didn't do it?
I don't know that that's bleach.
I don't know if it was pre-existing or not.
Yeah. You don't.
[Judge Acker] I think what happened is that this roommate situation
got out of hand and you got out of hand.
And, sir, you were no angel. I mean, you know, there was a lot of--
you're telling her she's gonna die alone, this and that.
She's mentally ill.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
I just wanna make it clear.
There's no physical attraction, at all.
- I don't care. - [Amna] Like, at all.
- Like, at all. - Hmm.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Timothy McKnight is suing ex-roommate/landlord,
Amna St. Romain for $1,100,
after he claims she kept his security deposit.
Amna is countersuing for $4,800,
claiming Timothy constantly brought women over to their home,
purposely poured bleach on her property,
and owes for utilities.
There is some evidence that you may owe her something in utilities,
because your defense to that is not that I paid everything.
Your defense is, "Well, she didn't always show me the bills on time."
- And that I know because... - [Timothy] Yes.
[Judge Acker] ... you even said we only have to pay this much.
You know, that's enough to pay for now.
So how much do you owe her?
If I may, she says I owe her, like, $400 and something.
I, again, don't know that to be true or not
because I took her word, trusted her on that.
Whatever she says, I owed her, I Zelled it to her.
And, you know, I never asked her, "Oh, let me see.
I don't think this is true,"
anything like that. She said it. I just...
Got police being called,
accusations of intentional vandalism
- and property damage over $1,100... - No.
- ... security deposit... - [Timothy] No. I wanna...
... and some unknown amount of utility bills.
I wanna answer to that.
Uh, real reason being,
after I cleaned my room and the bathroom,
I called her in there to look over it
so she can see that everything is clean
so I can get my security deposit.
She stopped and said she's not gonna give it to me
because I contacted the rental property office
because I told them about the security deposit.
She told me they were having her evicted,
which confused me because she told me she was moving.
So, why does it matter if you're being evicted when you already told--
she literally packed up all her things,
put it in a U-Haul to move.
So, I'm--I was confused by that.
Like, okay, what I gotta do with my security deposit?
There was a lot of confusion about who was going where,
was she staying, was she going, so on and so forth.
That was another inciting incident.
You were annoyed that he called the rental office
and outed you for illegally renting to him.
That's not a basis for holding onto his money.
- I thought that didn't-- - [Judge Acker] I'm gonna pass the case...
- Oh, sorry. - [Judge Acker] ... to my colleagues.
I think they'll have plenty more to dig into.
- Judge? - You have a lease with a landlord.
How long are you living there before plaintiff moves in?
I was there for a year and a couple of months.
Okay. Now your lease clearly states in paragraph five
that you can't have anybody in there.
It's just you. Right?
So now, you come in.
You are not told that you're not supposed to be there,
but you're told, "Sure, come. You can live with me.
We'll split the rent. We'll split everything," correct?
- Yes, Your Honor. - But early on, she tells you,
"If anybody comes in here, hide."
Did you know that it was the landlord that you were hiding from?
She explained to me.
Uh, I was at--actually, I was at work one day when she told me.
So, I just stayed away...
[Judge DiMango] You just didn't come back in.
... from home for a while.
Now, how long were you living there
before you were told that the landlord might pop in?
Uh, I got there in June of 2022.
I think the first time it happened towards October, November...
[Judge DiMango] Okay. So, after about six months.
But it didn't bother you 'cause you were happy with your rental agreement.
The two of you were getting along, you were taking trips,
- you were going places, you were buddies. - [Timothy] Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge DiMango] You kind of had each other to hang out on.
No. I did not.
We were not friends like that.
- You weren't any kind of friend? - [Amna] No. We weren't.
- You never went to the movies together? - [Amna] No.
- We went to jazz... - We went--
- one time we have a drink. - We went to jazz clubs...
- Yeah. - ... hiking, and...
[Judge DiMango] You went hiking?
- [Amna] We... - We did.
Did we go hiking? Uh, yeah. We did go hiking.
[Judge DiMango] Are you living in the same world?
Okay. Can we--can I explain something real quick?
- I don't know... - [Amna] When he first moved...
- ... what do you want to explain? - ... the first week he moved to LA,
I did take him to the jazz club
because he's from Louisiana and I said I know people there.
[Judge DiMango] So you went to a jazz club.
And then I took him hiking.
- But we didn't... - [Judge DiMango] Went hiking.
But we didn't become friends that we will hang out all the time.
- [Timothy] We did... - That's not the friendship that we had.
We did brunch. We did do brunch.
- She took me to a Brazilian... - [Judge DiMango] Did you do brunch?
- [Timothy] Brazilian place. - Dude. That was only one week.
- I'm like--okay. - The first week.
- [Timothy] That was not the first week. - So, wait a minute.
Maybe you're the one with the imaginary relationship.
Yes. I just wanna make it clear. There's no physical attraction, at all.
- I don't care. - [Amna] Like, at all.
- Like, at all. - [Timothy] Hmm.
- [Amna] I think you... - Okay, look.
I don't care. I don't know if you got somebody home
who's watching this at some point, then you're gonna...
- No, I--no, but this is out of blue. - [Judge DiMango] So, forget it.
This has been, like, my whole life...
- Now I see the problem. - [Amna] ...I've been dealing with this.
- No. - It's very obvious what the problem is.
But the bottom line is,
for some reason, you want him out.
I mean, to me, there's something going on.
So, I don't know what it is but you want him out.
Yeah. Because I noticed how, like, he was just, um,
bringing all these girls in there
and I knew, like, it was kinda weird
because I always kept thinking,
these girls are gonna get mad at him at some point
and then come and get revenge and destroy--
- [Judge DiMango] Okay. - [Amna] But that's...
So, you were not comfortable with having a male
who had other relationships.
Listen, I can understand that,
and I'm not saying you did that.
- Nobody is. - Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge DiMango] There are certain things you don't have to defend.
But there are certain things that you have to understand
that might make somebody uncomfortable.
But the point here is, she wanted you out.
- [Timothy] If I may... - [Judge DiMango] Now you may.
... it was--it wasn't that I wanted to continue to stay,
it's the way she went about it. Now, as far as she's talking about...
[Judge DiMango] Oh, you two are very sensitive.
As far as she's talking about with these girls and stuff, literally, I...
Oh, you're gonna go back to that, even though I don't really care.
[Timothy] I don't, 'cause I don't like the way she did it.
There's only three at the--at the entire time.
- [Judge DiMango] I don't care. - But here's the thing.
I had no issue leaving. It's just the way she...
You didn't like the way she asked you to leave.
- What are you? Two years old? - [Timothy] No.
She lied about leaving. If she didn't...
[Judge DiMango] What do you care? She didn't want you there.
She didn't wanna hurt your feelings, whatever it was.
She doesn't have to explain to get you out.
But did you, by accident or in any way, spill bleach?
She was in the living room when I was...
Did one of your girlfriends come in and spill bleach?
No. I was--on the last day, it was me
- packing my things, cleaning the room. - [Judge DiMango] Well, I...
She was in the living room when I walked out the door.
I never came back after that.
She--this is my first time seeing her since I left.
Well, Mr. Clean didn't come in and throw bleach around.
Somebody here is lying
and you have the burden of proof on your counterclaim,
you got the burden of proof on your direct case.
- Yes, Your Honor. - [Judge DiMango] Judge Levy?
[Judge Levy] So, let's figure out who lied first.
That would be you.
You lied to your landlord.
There was no doubt in your mind
that your lease prohibited you from subletting.
Right?
So, when you told Judge Acker,
"I wasn't lying to anyone,"
you were lying to her,
'cause you did lie to your landlord,
because you couldn't afford the rent on your own.
I did give him a choice if he wanted to be added to the lease at the beginning.
[Judge Levy] Okay. Let's stop pointing the finger
at the person that you got to conspire with you
to break the law in California regarding leases.
Let's start with this.
Why don't you tell me what you think the reasons are
why a landlord would not want you as a tenant to sublease?
Come on. Think.
Uh, probably 'cause they wouldn't want somebody in the property
that they haven't gone through the process before they rent to them.
[Judge Levy] That's exactly right.
What if he was a sex offender?
What if he was someone who had a long history
of refusing to pay rent
and then holding over and squatting?
That's why you don't do it.
And you know that.
And then, we kinda beat around the text a little bit,
but I wanna read 'em right here so there's no question.
You were wrong, sir.
You were asked by Judge DiMango,
"When did you become aware
that you weren't allowed to be on the lease?"
And you said, "Well, I got there in June.
It was, like, six months later,
so it might have been, like, October, November."
That's not right. We have text messages. You gave 'em to us.
But this is what it says. June 12th,
you to the defendant,
"For the inspection tomorrow,
do you want me to just hide
all the things that belong to me?"
Your response, "Yes.
Make it look like a guest bedroom.
Please make sure it all looks good.
I don't want us getting caught."
So, who the hell are you coming in here
claiming he violated a roommate agreement with you
that, by the way, has zero enforceability?
Who are you?
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
[Judge Levy] Only when she was getting sued from you,
she figures, "Let me just go to court and throw some crap
against the wall and see what sticks."
That is your counterclaim.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Timothy McKnight is suing ex-roommate/landlord Amna St. Romain
for the return of his security deposit.
Amna is countersuing, claiming he poured bleach on her property
out of spite when she asked him to leave.
So, who the hell are you coming in here
claiming he violated a roommate agreement with you
that, by the way, has zero enforceability?
Who are you?
I didn't sue.
[Judge Levy] Yes, you did.
- For $4,800. - I'm countersuing.
But I wasn't gonna bring it because I figured
that it was my loss for making a bad decision.
[Judge Levy] Yeah. Only when she was getting sued from you
to get your $1,100 back,
she figures, "Let me just go to court and throw some crap
against the wall and see what sticks."
That is your counterclaim.
And you got the gall to start throwing shade at him
after you refuse to give him back his security deposit,
accusing him of breaking the rules?
- Tell me, how you gonna defend yourself? - Uh, there is some...
Defend the indefensible.
[Amna] Okay. There's some misunderstanding.
I never said I wasn't gonna give it to him.
I said, "If you leave the place how you found it
and we can square out the bills, then you can get the rest of it."
But he never even showed me the internet bills so we can even out,
- like, uh, you owe me this... - [Judge Levy] Is that accurate?
- ... I owe you that. - [Timothy] That's not accurate.
- She told... - [Judge Levy] All right. So...
She told me after I cleaned up everything,
I brought her into the room so she can see it,
but she was already mad because I contacted the rental office
and that's when she told me she's not giving me my...
- That's exactly... - [Timothy] ... security deposit back.
- That is--that is 100%... - [Timothy] And that's in text,
'cause I even text her and she even text me back saying, and so...
Did you get charged any, uh, fees
by your landlord for damage caused by him?
No. I got only charged for the keys that were stolen,
- the U-haul keys, my car keys. - [Judge Levy] Right.
- I understand. - Stuff like that.
[Judge Levy] So, you got charged for nothing.
That's another reason why I can tell you right now
when I go in the back there,
I am not gonna be ruling in your favor.
I'm done.
[Judge DiMango] I just have one question, if you don't have any.
Did you ever get an itemized list of the damages?
- No, ma'am, I didn't get anything. - [Judge DiMango] Did you ever mail him
- an itemized list of damages? - [Timothy] No, Your Honor.
She just, in response to my text messages
asking for my security deposit, she just stated the property--
- He blocked me after the... - No, I didn't block you. You blocked me.
She just stated the property was damaged,
bleach and this and that.
And also, back to the last day that I came to get the rest of my things,
she was standing outside with an unknown gentleman door wide open.
The door was open the whole entire time that I was there moving stuff out.
That was the last time I was ever at that apartment again
and that's the last time I ever saw her.
[Judge DiMango] Who was the gentleman that she was with?
I have no idea. I think she said they were getting--
they were changing the lock on the door...
- They were not mine. - ...or something like that.
That's what she told me.
[Amna] They were not-- they were not part of me.
The landlord has sent someone to change the lock keys.
So, they were there. You had car keys that were stolen...
- [Amna] And my camera. - [Judge DiMango] ...and in your home
was a locksmith at some point.
- Is that correct? - Yes.
I don't have any other questions. Thank you very much.
[Byrd] Court now stands in recess.
This case will be recalled. Parties are excused.
[dramatic musical sting]
And what will likely come as a surprise to no one,
I would like to rule in favor of the plaintiff
and dismiss the counterclaim in its entirety.
She's raised a defense of offset
with respect to the utilities.
She was like, "I was gonna give him back the $1,100,
but he still owed me for utilities."
It's not clear to me what that amount is.
They were all over the place. Her accounting is all over the place.
We do have evidence of payments
from him to her.
So, I don't know what the utility amount is.
I don't think her defense works.
I think her counterclaim is nonsensical.
She said as much. She filed it because she was mad.
Uh, you know, you don't go to the police and make up claims about people
because you don't wanna give him back the $1,100 that you owed him.
So, I would dismiss her counterclaim and rule in his favor.
So, just looking at the individual amounts here, I don't think she demonstrated
that her electronics were destroyed by him.
Now, there was another gentleman in the house
- who was a locksmith. - Uh-hmm.
So now, that put a whole another light on things to me
because originally, I thought it was just the two of them.
But we have a third party in there.
So now that actually muddies up her position
with regard to anything stolen.
I'm a little unclear on why he doesn't owe her
at least something for the utility bills, 'cause even he said it.
Because she--'cause I don't know what that something is.
And remember, they were always in arrears.
She was always in arrears.
So, I don't know how much of that arrearage took place
before he moved in.
So, I'm not saying he doesn't owe her something,
but I don't know what it is, and I'm not gonna make up a number for her.
And also, he was not given proper notice on the itemized list, etcetera.
So, he's entitled to get back his $1,100
for her failure of proof on that issue
and hers would be dismissed for all the reasons we've just said.
- [Judge Levy] I agree. - So we're unanimous?
- Uh-hmm. - Yeah.
Okay.
[dramatic musical sting]
[Byrd] Court is back in session.
Parties are reminded you're still under oath.
- [Judge Acker] Thank you, Byrd. - Uh-hmm.
This case reminds me,
people are just a trip sometimes.
I got you on camera pouring bleach.
All I have to do is show up at the police station
and show them you damaging my property.
You had nothing.
You raised a defense of an offset
claiming that he owed you some money for utilities.
Maybe. But it was your job to prove the amount.
And you gave us a bunch of bills with different amounts.
You had different breakdowns,
maybe he owed this, maybe he owed this.
If you're trying to prove that sort of defense,
if you're trying to prove an offset, that's an affirmative defense.
You have to prove it.
But you haven't proven what that amount was.
Sir, you paid the defendant an $1,100 security deposit.
It is our unanimous verdict
that she return every dollar of that to you.
Ma'am, in certainly what won't be a surprise to you,
we are dismissing your counterclaim.
You said, "I filed it after the fact."
We looked at your damages. They were not $4,800 worth of damages.
It was an overblown attempt to try to detract from the fact
that you owed him the money.
Uh, sir, you're entitled to the $1,100 for which you sued.
That is the unanimous verdict of the court.
Good luck to both of you.
- [gavel bangs] - Thank you, Your Honor.
[Byrd] This case is now concluded. Parties are excused.
You may step out.
[theme music plays]
I don't think that you can tell who people really are
until they--you actually see behind the curtains.
She was like, "Oh, there's damage to my property.
I have a camera showing you."
I thought that it was on because I left it on, but it was turned off.
But I knew in my heart of heart it wasn't true.
Well, this is really why a lot of people move out of California
because the law protects criminals
and not the people that actually go through stuff.
Justice was served.
I got to see behind the curtains.
Ah, just a waste of time.
[announcer] Did someone destroy your property?
Let Tribunal Justice decide your case.
Find us on social media @tribunaljustice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]