He said he was going too fast,
tried to turn,
- and crashed into our garage. - No, sir.
- You calling them a liar? - Right now, I am.
[Judge Levy] You wanna teach your son a lesson?
Then the way you do that is to say,
"When you mess up, you take responsibility for it."
It was not that damaging.
[Judge Levy] You are an enabler.
If you keep doing this,
he's gonna have real problems.
[announcer] Now, on Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
[announcer] Today's case was filed in Santa Ana, California.
Your Honor, this is case number 2040 on the calendar
in the matter of Caulder and Caulder versus Lagarde.
[Judge Acker] Thank you, Byrd.
[Byrd] Parties have been sworn in. You may be seated.
[Judge Acker] Mr. and Ms. Caulder,
June 16th was very eventful.
It's the evening. It's around 7:00 p.m.
You're at home minding your business.
And then you hear something that sounds like a gunshot.
- Yes. - [Judge Acker] You go outside.
You see the defendant's son,
Mr. William Burke, on the ground
and there's an e-bike next to him,
an electric bike, and a Nerf gun.
You clearly see that there's damage to your garage.
You asked young William for his mother's contact information.
He says he doesn't have it,
but another neighbor does in fact provide it for you.
You get in touch with the defendant, Ms. Lagarde.
She says, "I'll make it right."
She doesn't make it right,
and you are here now suing her for $1,200.
Ms. Lagarde, your defense is that you don't believe you're liable
because your son, William, was not the only one at fault.
As you put it, it just seems awful
that he's only coming after you
since there were other people involved in this incident.
- I have your defense accurate? - Correct. Yes.
Sir, tell me what you hear on June 16th.
I heard a large crash
or--well, it did sound like a gunshot.
We had just gotten home.
I shut my garage door.
I walked in the house and heard the sound.
Ran back out.
Waited for the garage door to open.
Saw the defendant on the ground.
- My first thought was... - Well, really, the defendant witness.
- Hey, how old are you, William? - Uh, 14.
[Judge Acker] He's a kid. He's not a defendant yet.
His mom is responsible for all his mistakes.
- [Glenn] Okay. Well... - So he's just the witness.
- Just a kid. - ... I saw William on the ground.
Right after I went out there, my wife came in.
We were most concerned about him at first
because he was holding his chin,
his face, so we wanted to make sure he was okay.
So I asked him if he wanted ice--
an ice pack and I think he was a little embarrassed in front of his friends,
- so he said, "No, I'm okay." - [Judge Acker] How many other--
how many other kids did you see?
[Debbie] There were four to five kids.
I know there was one girl and the rest were boys.
Were the other kids on the ground?
Were they standing around?
And how many bikes were involved?
There was only one bike.
The rest of the kids were about two to three garage doors down.
It was in our alley, and they moved up...
[Judge Acker] He was a little further away on the ground.
- Yeah. - Let's see the plaintiff's garage door.
So, Mr. and Ms. Caulder,
I see those indentations on the garage door.
Those are from the accident?
- [Glenn] Yes, they are. - [Debbie] Uh-hmm.
[Judge Acker] Let's put up young William's chart
that shows his version of the incident.
Why don't you describe for us
what you were doing when this accident took place?
Me and a group of kids were hanging out
and then there is like a little cut up like above there
and I was coming around with another kid.
And then as soon as I got here, I started to slow down.
[Judge Acker] When you say coming around with another kid, on the bike?
No. He wasn't on the bike. He was running.
He was running next to you
- while you were on the bike? - [William] Yeah.
And then I came down to about right here
and I slowed down 'cause that's where the other kids were.
And then someone else jumped on the back
and then it scared me and I pressed the throttle
and then I couldn't slow down in time.
And then he jumped off right before I hit the garage.
Did you have the Nerf gun in your hand while you were riding?
No. He had it.
[Judge Acker] The other kid have the Nerf gun.
- Yeah. - You can go back to the stand.
When the plaintiffs asked you for your mother's information,
what did you tell them?
[William] She was at work.
But I had just gotten a new phone
and I--like that morning
and I didn't even have it set up yet,
and I had nobody's number
- and I just created my Snap really. - [Judge Acker] Were you hurt?
Were you a little dazed?
Did you feel okay after the accident?
No, ma'am. A slight headache. That's it.
I'm glad you're okay. Were you wearing a helmet?
- [William] Yes, ma'am. - [Judge Acker] You sure?
- Yes, ma'am. - [Judge Acker] Okay.
Now, Mr. and Ms. Caulder,
how close was the Nerf gun
to William while he was on the ground?
- Maybe two feet. - [Judge Acker] Maybe two feet?
And I did end up taking a picture of him
holding the Nerf gun after the accident
and there was the e-bike still laying on the ground.
This is the picture you're referring to?
- [Glenn] That is, yes. - [Debbie] Uh-hmm.
Now, this picture took place
- after the accident, yes? - It did, yes.
[Judge Acker] So what are you trying to prove with this?
I mean, he denies holding it before or during the accident,
so why do we need to see it?
[Glenn] Just the fact that the neighborhood kid's explanation to us
was, "No, he had a Nerf gun, he was going too fast,
and he hit the corner and hit our garage door."
- [Judge Acker] I'm not taking it. - [Glenn] Okay.
[Judge Acker] It's hearsay.
You've got someone who they're pointing the finger at,
who doesn't show up in court,
and he says--he wants to point the finger at them
from the safety of his home.
That's not how it works.
If he had something of value to say,
he should have been here to say it.
But here's my view.
I feel that part of your resistance to their position
seems to be based, at least in part, on your perception
- that they weren't very kind to William. - Correct, yes.
- [Judge Acker] Why did you think that? - [Marianne] Okay.
So, initially, coming up on the scene,
Mr. Caulder was very standoffish.
And when I spoke to my son,
the first thing that my son said when he came out
when he heard the noise was,
"Who's gonna pay for this?"
Not, "Are you okay?"
She did when she came out. He was not.
You know what? That's why men get married
so they can exercise their empathy muscles
and do better with feelings.
You asked after him.
You saw how he was doing.
I felt like we were overly being very kind.
In fact, I even told William's mom,
I said, "Look, I have a teenager.
We're not mad at him.
We wanted to make sure he was okay."
And our neighbor had come out
and suggested we call to make a police report.
And so she said, "Please don't call the police.
I will take care of this.
I promise to take care of any damage."
And then you asked them to get some estimates for the repairs, yes?
Yes. I told them to get estimates.
You know, we stayed and talked verbally for about five minutes.
You know, it was a quick, you know, conversation
'cause it was not that damaging.
[Judge Acker] This is a situation where, in my view,
your defense is predicated on a bit of a legal misunderstanding.
Even if other people were involved,
that doesn't mean that he can't be found at fault.
What it does mean is that if you are found at fault,
you have a cause of action against those others.
It's called joint and several liability.
So all of the people or each of them
can be held liable for this with you.
Now, I understand we have an expert witness here.
May we please have the expert join us in court.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
[Glenn] If you see where the tire hit,
his whole body went against the side.
You can see the very top panel. You can see the indention.
[Judge DiMango] Well, you see, that's a concern I have
that you might have had some damage
on your garage door before he hit it.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Glenn and Debbie Caulder are suing Mariann Lagarde
after Mariann's son crashed into their garage,
causing $1,200 in damage.
Mariann says the plaintiffs want too much
and that her son isn't 100% responsible.
Sir, could you please state your name for the record?
Milad Najafi.
Tell us a bit about your expertise with respect to this bicycle.
Yes. I own an electric bike shop in Huntington Beach
called Fatbike HB for six years.
We also manufacture our own electric bikes,
so I'm very educated on the topic.
How fast can that bike go?
So out of the box, it will do 20 miles per hour.
However, with an app, you can unlock the bike
to its full potential of 28 miles per hour.
What are the recommended safety protocols for a bike like this?
[Milad] Yeah, if you're under 18,
you are required to wear a helmet.
That's if the bike is going under 20 miles per hour.
If you unlock it via the app and it goes 28 miles per hour,
everyone is required to wear a helmet.
[Judge Acker] Do you need both hands on both handles at all times
or can you be a little more flexible?
I would definitely recommend that.
- Can I demonstrate something for you? - [Judge Acker] Please.
So essentially on the bike, there's two features.
One is called pedal assist,
where when you get on the bike
and any time the pedals rotate forward, there's a sensor
and it begins to accelerate all on--all by itself.
The other way you can ride the bike is by using this throttle right here, okay?
It's a thumb throttle. You just push it down with your thumb.
And it works just like a gas pedal.
So if you push it gently, it'll go slow.
But if you push it all the way, it'll reach that top speed.
So if it's propelling itself,
how quickly can you get it to brake?
Right. So then that was gonna be my next point.
Let's say this hand is holding something else
and you're only accelerating the bike with your thumb.
You're gonna be limited to one brake lever.
If, out of the factory, the brake lever on the right side stops the rear tire,
then you're gonna pretty much lock up the rear tire and you're just gonna skid.
You're not gonna really stop.
- So limited braking ability? - Absolutely.
If you have both hands, then you could pull both brakes at the same time.
You're gonna stop twice as fast, for sure.
That's very helpful.
I don't have anything further for you, sir, but my colleagues may.
- Judge DiMango. - [Judge DiMango] Thank you.
First of all, who's bike was this?
[William] A friend of a friend's.
It was my first time hanging out with them.
[Judge DiMango] I'd like to speak to you again, sir.
- What are they, like almost $3,000? - [Milad] Almost 3,000, yes.
[Judge DiMango] He says, "Here. You look like a good kid, William.
Take my $3,000 bike?"
No. Everybody was riding it all night long.
[Judge DiMango] How fast were you going?
Um, around 15
and then I slowed down.
And then after the kid jumped on the back,
I pressed the throttle and I didn't look at the...
[Judge DiMango] You pressed the throttle? With which hand did you do that?
My right hand.
So if you were holding the Nerf,
you would have held that in your left hand?
Yes, ma'am.
[Judge DiMango] We have a picture of the garage
down with the damages on it.
I'd like to see that.
Tell me how the impact occurred.
I wanna know exactly what happened when you hit the garage.
Okay. I hit this part right here
where the tire mark is.
That's where the bike hit it.
I hit it like this and then I immediately went forward.
And then I felt the bike come up
and then it bounced like down as I was falling down.
When it came up, how high up did it go?
I'd say like right here.
Your Honor, if you can look, if you see where the tire hit,
his whole body went against the side.
You can see the very top panel. You can see the indention.
[Judge DiMango] Well, you see, that's a concern I have.
The damage on the top, point to it.
There's nothing that makes me think
that he or the bike hit that portion of the garage.
It just seems much too high for the impact.
- [Debbie] So we just... - So I'm alluding to the fact
that you might have had some damage on your garage door before he hit it.
- [Glenn] No. - That's where I'm going with this,
- just so you know. - We didn't.
- [Judge DiMango] Okay. You can go back.
We had purchased the garage door a year prior
and we didn't have any damage as far as we know.
[Judge DiMango] Did you go back to the same company
- to replace the garage door? - We did.
We did speak to the guy who thought at the time
he might be able to just smooth it out and repair it...
Right. He did say that.
... which we were willing to go with.
We just wanted it fixed.
When he did come out and look at it again,
he wasn't able to get it all creased out
because all four panels were damaged.
So he said that we wouldn't be able to fix it.
When I did get the three estimates,
I got the two estimates,
- one was the 1,200... - But the garage does open and close
- as it's supposed to but with the fact... - Not all the time.
- [Debbie] Not all the time. - We've had--we've had issues
four or five times now where she's gone to work
and it hasn't either opened or closed behind her.
I understand we have a video of the garage not working properly.
So let's take a look at that.
[Debbie] It makes a popping...
[Judge DiMango] Mom, I mean, I know you're his mother
and you wanna stick up for him and all,
but, to me, I would be so annoyed
that he would be so reckless with his own safety.
It is annoying. It is.
And I wouldn't give him an inch of letting him think that,
"Okay, it was your friend's fault or they jumped on or you didn't do this.
Oh, you're okay, you're okay."
- [Marianne] It's a--it's not... - You're responsible here.
You wanna be an adult? You're responsible. Judge Levy.
[Judge Levy] You know, William, I was 14 once.
If at 14 years old, I could ride that bike,
ripping around with my friends playing Nerf gun wars,
you're damn right I'd be doing it.
- [chuckling] - [Judge Levy] You know.
That's what was going on.
Your friends were all having a Nerf gun war, right?
- Uh-hmm. - [Judge Levy] Yeah.
You knew your mom wasn't gonna be happy about you riding the bike.
And that's right, because she's your mom and she wants you to be safe, right?
- Yes, sir. - [Judge Levy] I know.
And then you most certainly knew
that she would not be happy and would be super pissed
if she found out you were not wearing a helmet,
so you told her that you were wearing a helmet, right?
I was wearing a helmet.
- [Judge Levy] You were? - That's what I told her.
- What color was it? - [William] It's a...
- What color was it? - [William] It was a black one.
- Really? - An all-black one.
[Judge Levy] Yeah?
William, we can go through this.
We can--you know what? Why not?
I did it with my son, so I might as well do it with you.
So let me ask you a question.
You think these are bad people over here?
No, sir.
Do they have any reason to lie about you not wearing a helmet?
Hmm, because it's illegal not to wear a helmet.
Who cares if it's illegal not to wear-- they don't care whether--
if they wanted to jam you up, they'd have called the cops.
They did.
[Judge Levy chuckles] No, they didn't.
- Not initially. - [Judge Levy] They called--
No, they didn't. You called 911?
- No, sir. - [Judge Levy] No.
The way that you acted, ma'am, after the fact,
they're probably kicking themselves in the backside
for not calling the cops there right away.
And how did I act?
- [Judge Levy] How did you act? - Yes.
You told them that you were gonna make good on it
and then you didn't and you forced them to file a lawsuit.
They stood there and said that I have to get a brand-new door for them
- and not repair the one that's there. - [Judge Levy] Let me ask you.
- Jeez. Oh, man. You know--no, no. - Your Honor, I just...
- I don't wanna interrupt, just... - Go ahead.
But in the three estimates-- she asked me to get three estimates.
I took time out of my day to get those estimates.
I met with each individual person.
And then...
- [Judge Levy] I get it. - [Glenn] Yeah.
And the $2,200 estimate was--
and I told her this, is for her because she said
she couldn't pay it all at once.
That company was gonna let her finance it.
[Judge Levy] Yeah. Ms. Lagarde, if they wanted to jam you up,
they'd have come in with the $2,200 estimate.
They would have kept the $1,200 estimate in their pocket.
They know they're getting money from you.
They know that. They'd have take...
Well, it's already more than they paid for it.
[Judge Levy] They--it doesn't make any difference.
Listen, do you think that they should have any less of a brand-new door
because of what your son did?
I think that if they are reasonable,
they could allow us to get it fixed and handled.
[Judge Levy] When you say fixed and handled, not a new door.
So they should have something less than what they had before.
It wasn't new after a year.
[Judge Levy] Who cares?
You think you're gonna go out and you're gonna go take
a one-year-old door off another garage...
- [Marianne] Well, I... - ... and they should do that?
Ma'am, you wanna teach your son a lesson, a life lesson,
a responsible lesson,
then the way you do that is to say,
"When you mess up, you take responsibility for it."
- That's what you do. - And that's true.
No. That's not the lesson you're teaching him at all.
You're teaching him to say, "Hey, listen, if you do something wrong,
don't take responsibility,
jerk people around who work hard and who are not responsible
for taking time out of their day to fix your mistake,
and, you know, just force them to take you to court
to pay for what you know you should."
What kind of lesson is that for you to teach your son?
Volunteered services for him to go and volunteer some free work for him,
if he wanted, to help hold him accountable.
- [Judge Levy] Yeah. - Yeah.
[Judge Levy] He should be doing that anyway.
We offered.
But the main thing that they want is their door
the way it was before your son--
no one else, your son nailed it.
No, the other child that was there...
Nailed it. Listen, the problem with you, you are an enabler.
- Okay. - [Judge Levy] If you keep doing this,
he's gonna have real problems.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
He said he was going too fast, tried to turn,
and crashed into our garage.
- You calling them a liar? - [William] Yes, sir.
[Judge Levy] Really?
Right now, I am.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Glenn and Debbie Caulder think Marianne Lagarde should pay
to replace the garage door her son, William, wrecked with an e-bike.
However, Marianne is blaming another kid for the mishap.
I spent 25 years dealing with parents like you
who refuse to have their children take responsibility for themselves
and they don't grow up well,
'cause you always want to play him as the victim.
The only victims here are these two people.
And you think that they should get some janky door put on their garage
so that every time that they go into that garage every day--
you think that's reasonable, William?
- No, sir. - [Judge Levy] No.
It should have been fixed immediately.
Immediately.
[Debbie] I think what was disappointing as well
is that there was no mention of anybody being involved
other than her son by him or her
until after the quotes came.
Ms. Caulder, thank you, 'cause that was my next point.
Before William's mom got there,
it was just him and you two.
[Glenn] Correct.
Did he tell you in any way, shape, or form,
when you went out and saw him on the ground holding his jaw,
that someone else was on the back of the bike?
- No, sir. - No.
He said he was going too fast, tried to turn,
and crashed into our garage.
[Judge Levy] So what you're doing, William, think about it.
You calling them a liar?
Yes, sir.
[Judge Levy] Really?
Right now, I am.
That's the problem with what you do, ma'am.
That's the problem with what you do.
I have nothing further.
[Judge Acker] I do.
Ma'am, how much do you think you owe them?
- Because in your papers, I saw... - [Mariann] I think...
... I saw something mention
that you said you wouldn't pay more than $600.
- Where did that come from? - Oh, because their lowest estimate
was 1,200 for the brand-new door
and I believe that we should pay half, at least,
because I do not believe that he is completely 100% responsible.
I do believe that he is partially responsible.
He was there. It was part of his actions.
But he wasn't the only one that took in this act that caused this damage.
[Judge Acker] Ms. Caulder, let me also ask you this.
As you walked out of your home and saw the scene,
did you have any reason to believe
that there were other kids who were involved?
No, because they weren't close enough to him.
- They took off. - He didn't tell us.
She never said a word until about,
- what, a month or--a month later... - A month.
- ... when we got the estimate? - Yeah, after I got the three quotes.
Thank you. I don't have anything further.
I do wanna ask you one thing. How'd your phone break?
Oh, I was going to 7-Eleven with my brother
and he told me he'd buy me a drink if I could jump over the hedge.
And I tried to jump over the hedge and my phone fell out my pocket.
You know, I just-- you know why I asked you?
Because I said to myself, this is a kid who makes just a lot of stupid decisions.
I don't have any other questions.
- Are we ready? - [Judge Levy] Yeah.
We're gonna retire to deliberate. Thank you.
Okay. Court now stands in recess. Parties are excused.
[dramatic musical sting]
You guys are so hard on young William and his enabling mother.
[laughter]
Oh, this is such an easy case.
He's absolutely liable.
I don't think they inflated the damage.
Frankly, she got her back up for reasons that I don't quite understand
but probably just have to do with not being able to pay,
being protective, not understanding
that even if other people are responsible, that doesn't mean that you're not.
But, to me, it's a very simple $1,200 verdict.
- And they were very fair... - Yeah.
... in finding the lowest estimate,
working to look for lower estimates.
They had no obligation to do all of that.
I don't think they fabricated any of their damages.
I think that they truly want a new garage.
They want a garage that works, that doesn't make clicking sounds
when it opens and closes.
I do think that the female plaintiff was interested and concerned
about his wellbeing.
Most people would come out and say, "Are you okay?"
- The other--the husband not so much. - No, dad's coming out going,
- "What did you do to my door?" - I know. Like...
- That's exactly what he said. - [laughs] That's what happened.
Believe me, I swear I said the female. He was--he was not...
And then she said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He's hurt. He's hurt."
- Yeah. - He's like, "Well, with the door."
He was like, "My face, my face."
And you know what? She is gonna defend her son.
And, you know, in a way, it's good.
It's good to have somebody in your court
but it's another thing to help him be responsible for all he's done.
You gotta--you gotta have to own up.
- There's defending and there's enabling. - [Judge DiMango] Correct.
And Lord knows we've seen so many young adults
who've been enabled for their entire lives.
Their maturity is dwarfed by what their parents do to them.
Well, that's why I was curious as to what happened with his phone
because we kind of--I'm thinking,
a kid that age, what happened with his phone?
Maybe he crashed into a wall with the phone.
But he should be making wiser choices. He's gotta make smart choices.
My parents would have made me sign over my allowance until it was done.
- Yeah, but--yes. - We're unanimous, $1,200.
I was a bad kid growing up.
I know exactly what he did.
[dramatic musical sting]
[Byrd] Court is back in session.
Parties are reminded you're still under oath.
- Thank you, Byrd. - Uh-hmm.
We've deliberated. We've reached a unanimous verdict.
Before I announce it, Ms. Lagarde,
I got the sense from the papers that maybe sometimes
money is not as plentiful
- as you would have liked. - Correct.
[Judge Acker] I think that's why you're here.
And in fairness to you,
there are situations where people try to make a mountain out of a molehill
or try to take advantage of a minor accident
and make something grander of it.
That's not those people.
They worked with you. They were patient.
So this is a situation where it really was not right or fair
to make them go through all of this.
William, you did it. You're responsible for this.
I don't know if there are others who are responsible.
If there are, it is your mother's burden to go out,
find them, sue them, and then bring them to justice.
But the way that the facts of this case played out,
it just doesn't support liability, at this point,
for anybody but mom here.
So we are going to award you
the full amount of $1,200 that you are requesting.
Judgment in this case is in your favor.
Good luck to everybody.
William, wear that helmet next time
and stop getting your mother into so much trouble.
- Thank you. - Thank you. Thank you.
This case has now concluded.
Parties are excused, you may step out.
[theme music plays]
I do feel that the other child and their parents
should be held responsible as well.
She said do what you gotta do so I did.
It's whatever.
I mean, I could see where they're coming from
but then I don't.
Lesson learned for him.
He's not touching them, no.
No bikes. Period.
[laughter]
We hope no more e-bikes in our neighborhood.
I'll have to get on the HOA about that.
[announcer] Did someone destroy your property?
Let Tribunal Justice decide your case.
Find us on social media at Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]