01x60 - Hookah Headache

[bunniefuu]

The defendant opened a lounge,
a bar below you.

How many times did she complain
about your business?

- Every day.
- She says,

"The smoke was wafting up
into her apartment."

Would that be annoying to you?

We had fans to push the smokes away.

[laughs] $220 fans.

[announcer] This is Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Cindy Sonboleh
is suing hookah lounge owner,

Mohammad Elamaireh,
for moving cost and lost wages.

[Kevin] Court come to order.

[Judge Judy] Be seated, please.

[Kevin] Hello, Judge.

Case 1111 Sonboleh versus Elamaireh.

Pronounce the first name.

- Sonboleh.
- [Kevin] Sonboleh.

- Sonboleh.
- Yes. Perfect.

[Judge Judy] Ms. Sonboleh,
the case is relatively simple in fact.

You have an apartment,

the apartment is over
a commercial premises.

The defendant opened a lounge,
a bar below you.

And it is your claim that the bar
was not only a nuisance,

but a health risk to you,

causing you to have
to move out of your apartment.

I think you did in fact
move out of your apartment.

And you want him to pay
for your doctor bills,

moving cost, et cetera,
and for being a public nuisance.

The defendant has a counterclaim,

the same amount of your claim,
which is $10,000.

And he says your behavior,
and he does, in fact,

refer to you in what
I assume is a pejorative term.

You caused distress to his customers,
you caused him...

your behavior caused him
to have to hire a new manager.

The manager, he's got a counterclaim,

all of which is probably nonsense.

How long had you been living
in your apartment?

- Five years.
- [Judge Judy] When did you

take control of the store

below the plaintiff's apartment?

- Last year in May.
- [Judge Judy] May of 2020?

- Yes.
- And this was supposed to be

- what kind of premises?
- It's a cafe and hookah lounge.

[Judge Judy] I know cafe.

I have never personally been
to a hookah lounge.

- [Mohammad] Uh-hmm.
- That...am I pronouncing that correctly?

- Yeah. Correct.
- [Judge Judy] Okay.

So I want you
to explain to me what that is.

It's like a kind of a place,
people can gather and...

Well, it's a...it's a cafe.

- A cafe, yeah.
- [Judge Judy] That...where you smoke?

- Yes.
- [Judge Judy] What do you smoke?

- It's tobacco.
- Just tobacco?

[Mohammad] Yeah. It's like...
in a hookah and based on kind of flavors.

- Okay. So there were no drugs in it?
- No.

[Judge Judy] And the main purpose
of going there is to be able to smoke?

[Mohammad] So to smoke, and relax,
study, meet your friends, have coffee.

- What city do you live in?
- [Mohammad] San Diego.

- In California?
- [Mohammad] Yes.

So you must need a specific permit
to open a hookah lounge.

- Correct.
- [Judge Judy] Because restaurants,

I believe in California,

if I'm not mistaken,
don't allow smoking indoors.

- Yes, it is.
- [Judge Judy] Is that correct?

- Yes.
- [Judge Judy] Okay.

[Mohammad] It's allowed
to smoke inside the door.

- [Judge Judy] You're allowed to smoke?
- Yeah. As, as in the business.

- You serve alcohol?
- [Mohammad] No.

- None?
- None.

- [Judge Judy] Do you serve food?
- Yes, but simply plates...small plates.

- So it's a restaurant as well?
- Yes, it is.

[Judge Judy] Have you applied
for a liquor license?

- Yes, I did.
- [Judge Judy] So you will be serving

- both food and alcohol?
- [Mohammad] Yes.

[Judge Judy] In California,

restaurants permit or don't permit

without a special permit.

Smoking indoors is my question.

It's my understanding that most places now
don't allow indoor smoking.

[Sarah] Smoking and vaping indoors

in restaurants
is banned by California Law.

Right.

So there must be
a special permit for you

to have a place where people
go purposely to smoke?

Yes.

[Judge Judy] Sarah is gonna verify that
and give me

- a shout when you...
- Uh-hmm.

[Judge Judy] ...verify that. Okay.

So May 2020, you moved into this premises.

And what kind of business
had been there before?

- Furniture store.
- Ever had any trouble

with the furniture store?

- Don't shake your head.
- No, ma'am.

This is an actually walky, and a talky,

- and a visual, so you have to answer.
- No, Your Honor.

[Judge Judy] Okay.
Did you have to do any construction?

- Yes, I did.
- What kind of construction

did you have to do?
Because this case is a simple one.

I had to build
a grease trap and folly kitchen,

- and some decoration stuff.
- [Judge Judy] And decorations.

- Don't cross your arms.
- [Mohammad] Uh, sorry.

[Judge Judy]
You had to build a grease strap,

a kitchen, and some decorations?

Yeah. Like, completely-wise
from scratch, actually.

When did you open?

[Mohammad] I opened 20th
of September, 2020.

[Judge Judy] While you were building,

did you meet the plaintiff?

[Mohammad] So she came and asked me, like,

uh, "What are you gonna do here?"
I didn't answer her.

I just like, said, "You have...you need
to ask my people who's working here.

- I'm just the owner here."
- What, what kind of answer is that?

[Mohammad] I'm telling you why, she came
out and she asked me where I'm from.

- I said, "I'm from Jordan." And...
- [Judge Judy] No, no.

She came and said to you, "What kind
of business are you putting in here?"

And your answer to her,
which you said first was,

"I don't know.
You have to ask the workers.

I'm just the owner here."
That's what you just said to me.

- Would you read that back?
- [Whitney] He said,

"Yes. She came and asked me,
'What are you going to do here?'

I didn't answer her. I said,
'You need to ask my people who work here,

- I'm just the owner here.'"
- Can I say why?

[Judge Judy] You wanna tell me why
you answered her that way?

- [Mohammad] Yeah. Because...
- [Judge Judy] I don't care why

you answered her that way.

Was that the first time you met her?

- That's either a yes or a no.
- Uh, she came...she was recording me.

[Judge Judy]
I asked you a simple question.

- [Mohammad] Okay. Yes. That...yes.
- That's either a yes or a no.

- Yes.
- [Judge Judy] When did you put in

a ventilation system?

[Mohammad] I don't remember
exactly the date.

When did you put in a ventilation system

in your place of business?

- When we started having the problem.
- [Judge Judy] That's a...that's a date.

- Listen to me.
- [Mohammad] I, uh...

That's a date.

That's either September,

- October, November.
- October.

[Judge Judy] So in October.
How much did that cost you?

Like almost $6,000.

[Judge Judy] Now,
you were in the premises from May

until September 20th

when you say you opened the hookah lounge

with a lot of smoke,
because that's why people come there.

They come there
because they can't go anyplace else

to smoke tobacco, and eat,

and drink, so they come to you.

But you didn't put in a ventilation system

to deal with all that smoke
until after you opened.

So the answer is you opened first

and then put in a ventilation system.

We had fans to push the smokes away.

[laughs] You want to answer my question.

That's either a yes or a no.

You opened first and then put in
a $6,000 ventilation system

instead of $220 fans.

Now, you're gonna show me proof

that her whole objective

- was to blackmail you for money.
- [Mohammad] All right.

Sure. So, uh, the thing
is from the beginning I started...

[Judge Judy] I don't wanna know
of your story from the beginning.

- I know the story.
- [Mohammad] If I have...

Now, nine, ten million people
hopefully will know the story.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Cindy Sonboleh
says hookah lounge owner,

Mohammad Elamaireh
owes for her moving cost and lost wages.

Mohammad is countersuing,

claiming Cindy caused him
to lose business at his hookah lounge.

- You understand where I'm going, sir?
- [Mohammad] I understand.

Okay. And I say that to you...

I say that...

Hands.

I say that to you,

because I was pretty distressed
about your answer.

And I was distressed about it,

because you referred to her

as a name that I actually
didn't know what that meant,

because as people around me know,

I'm operating in a different century,

still in the 20th Century,

not the 21st Century.

So, her case is simple.

She says the smoke was wafting up

into her apartment
where she had lived for five years

and she complained to you about it.

Tell me the first time
that the plaintiff complained to you

about the smoke that was coming up
into her apartment.

Do you recall the month and date?

So on September or...ended of...
ending of, uh, August,

I used to come to the lounge
to check up on the construction work.

- Okay.
- [Mohammad] So Ms. Cindy,

she comes down to me when she see my car,

and started to record me
by her phone for no reason.

And she came up to me
and she asked me that about...

"What are you gonna do here?"
I told her like,

"You need to ask my employees.
I'm just the owner."

That's what my answer.
So, she started recording me after that,

she came up again to me, and she said,
"What kind of business it is?"

I said, "It's a hookah and cafe shop."

And she comes back again, next day,

and the day after, every day,
she recording me,

trying to, to go inside the lounge,

making a problem with me
and the employees,

screaming and yelling for no reason.

[Judge Judy] Oh, were you there
when she was screaming?

- Yes, I was.
- [Judge Judy] Okay.

- Now, she's recorded you...
- [Mohammad] Uh-hmm.

...right? Going in and out of the store?

So evidently, you're pretty savvy,

did you record her
doing the screaming and yelling?

- No, I, I never record.
- [Judge Judy] Just a second.

Did you ever record her
doing the screaming

and yelling at you and your employees?

I never...I, I have a footage
from the camera of the business.

- Oh, I'd like to see that.
- [Mohammad] So I have...

- that was after the opening.
- [Judge Judy] I'm not talking

about after the opening.
I'm talking about before the opening.

- [Mohammad] Before the opening?
- [Judge Judy] You said that there was

- a problem with her before.
- So I wasn't like even had space.

I didn't wanna talk to her,
like, I was...I don't want to be like in,

- in the situation.
- You have to understand something, sir.

You're opening up an annoying business.

- [Mohammad] Okay.
- [Judge Judy] It's an annoying business,

not to people who live 10 blocks away,

but it's potentially an annoying business

for someone who has a home
for five years above that business,

- you do understand that, sir?
- I do understand.

[Judge Judy] Okay.

Do you have a home
or do you have an apartment?

- Apartment.
- [Judge Judy] Do you know your neighbors?

No, I don't.

Are they quiet?

- Very quiet.
- [Judge Judy] If you have a lounge,

you must sleep a good time during the day,

so that you can be
at your lounge, restaurant.

- I have other businesses too.
- [Judge Judy] Okay.

- When do you sleep?
- At night.

- [Judge Judy] At night, regularly?
- Yes.

[Judge Judy] Regular businesses.

Now, I want you to think if they leased,

or rented, or sold the apartment
that's next door to you

to a piano school,

to somebody who is living in the apartment

and decides to give piano lessons
in their apartment.

And they give their piano lessons
after they work.

So 8:00 at night, 9:00 at night,



sometimes early in the morning
before kids go to school.

They have a 7:30 piano lesson

and that goes on all the time.

Would that you be annoying to you?

- That's either a yes or a no.
- Yes, it would be annoying.

[Judge Judy] Of course,
it would be annoying.

Do you rent your apartment
or do you own it?

- I own it.
- [Judge Judy] So you would go

to the board because you're a smart guy
and you would say,

"The person who lives next door to me

is doing piano teaching on the side,

doing it at all hours
of the day and night.

I want you to stop them from doing that."

- That's what you would do, right?
- [Mohammad] Right.

Been there, done that.

And you would think
that you were in the right

because someone was invading your quiet,

- enjoyment of your property.
- Correct.

[Judge Judy] So it would seem to me

that if someone wanted
to give piano lessons next door,

the person who owns
the apartment next door gets a letter,

cease and desist from giving piano lessons

unless you can build in your apartment

a soundproof room

where you're gonna give
those piano lessons,

so it's not gonna bother your neighbor,

- does that sound reasonable?
- Yes.

[Judge Judy] And then
if somebody said to you,

your board said to you,
"We told them that they either had

to stop or build a soundproof room,

so that the neighbor
wouldn't be disturb by that."

You're a reasonable guy
and you said, "I'll try it."

And then they built a soundproof room.

You would have actually...
'cause all this is taking time

and while this is taking time,
while the board is convening,

and while you're giving evidence,

and while you're complaining,

you're still being...'cause nobody's told
them to stop playing piano.

They're still playing piano
and you're still not sleeping.

Finally, they build a soundproof room

and that takes time.

How long did it take you

to put in this $6,000 system

- that you put in?
- Actually, I bought more than that.

- I bought soundproofing about...
- [Judge Judy] Just a second.

- Okay.
- Let's start with the $6,000

ventilation system that you put in

after you opened.

Now, you'd been working on the property,

so we already know what this is about.

It's all about being a good neighbor.

- Correct.
- [Judge Judy] That is lost today.

You were working, am I correct, Whitney...

since you took
the lease in May of 2020.

- Yes, May of 2020.
- [Judge Judy] And you didn't open

until late September,

- September 20th?
- Right.

[Judge Judy] And you knew about her
because she came in August.

She said, "By the way, I live up stairs."

- What's the capacity of your cafe?
- One hundred fifty.

"I'm gonna have 150 people
whose sole purpose

in coming to my place

is to smoke and drink indoors.

So, before I put up my decorations,

I better check the ventilation system,

because there are people
who live in this building."

- We did check.
- Evidently not good enough.

I have proof from the air quality center.

[Judge Judy] Not in her apartment.

- Because if it's all good...
- It's all the building upstairs...

[Judge Judy] Listen to me.
If it's all good,

then a businessman like you
would not put in

a $6,000 system after you moved in.

- Do you understand?
- I understand.

[Judge Judy] All right.
You're a business guy,

and if everything was 100% efficient

and there was no smoke
going up into her apartment,

there is no way
that you would've invested $6,000

in another ventilation system
after you moved in.

Now, you started to say,

"I not only put in
a $6,000 ventilation system

after I moved in,
but I also soundproofed it."

- Yes.
- You're gonna have to show me proof.

- [Mohammad] Uh-hmm.
- What month did you soundproof it?

- So...
- [Judge Judy] What...not a so.

So is not a month.

January, February, March, April,
May, June, July, August, September...

[Mohammad]
So we closed...we closed...we closed...

- Month. A month.
- [Mohammad] Okay. We closed the...

we closed the business
for three months due to the COVID.

- [Judge Judy] Just a second.
- Okay.

Month!

- January.
- [Judge Judy] So January of 2021...

- Yes.
- [Judge Judy] ...is when you...

[laughs] Do you understand
where I'm going, sir?

- I completely understand...
- You put in a ventilation system,

you had three months
to put up decorations.

You were having a hundred and fifty people

whose sole reason
to be in your club is to smoke.

Otherwise, if you're a non-smoker,

you stay as far away
from smoke as possible.

And you had somebody
who came to you, according to you

in August, and said,

"What kind of business
are you putting here?"

Your response to her is, "I don't know.
Ask my employees. I'm just the owner."

You chose to renovate your place,

put on all the bells and whistles
for a hundred and fifty people,

but didn't contemplate
that a hundred and fifty people smoking

could filter up, and the noise from that...

- do you also play music?
- Yes, we do.

[Judge Judy] Yes. And you didn't think
that that would be annoying?

- I did think.
- [laughter]

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Cindy Sonboleh
is accusing business owner,

Mohammad Elamaireh, of forcing her to move

after he opened his hookah lounge.

Mohammad claimed Cindy
regularly harassed him and his customers.

Now, I want you to think
about you're living

in your apartment that you own.

How much did you pay for your apartment?

- Half a million dollar.
- [Judge Judy] Half a million dollars?

Now, you're living in your half
a million dollar piece of real estate

and you see your next door neighbor
moving in four pianos,

and you walk up, and you say,

"Gee, that's sort of...
why are you moving in"...

not one, not four, two pianos.

So if you ask your neighbor,
"Why do you need two pianos?"

And they said to you,
"It's none of your business."

And then they proceeded
to give piano lessons to people

in the apartment on the side for cash.

It would annoy you because you have
a half a million dollar investment

in your property.
And the reason I'm coming down

as hard as I am about you, sir,
is she complained reasonably.

She had been living there
quietly for five years

and you didn't soundproof
this hundred and fifty person facility

until January of 2021,

and you opened it in September of 2020,

and you didn't vent it until,
if I believed you, October...

- But we haven't...
- [Judge Judy] ...of 2020.

The issue we haven't had any complaints

from the tobacco or any music lounge

only from her among of all the residents.

Maybe only other one, but so far...
since she left...

[Judge Judy] Just a second.
I very rarely ask this question, sir.

- [Mohammad] Sure.
- Because trained lawyers

don't ask this kind of question, sir.

She's been living
in her apartment for five years.

- Why do you think she moved?
- She wants money.

[Judge Judy] No, no, no, no, no.

You mean she moved
because she wants money?

- [Mohammad] Yes.
- [laughs]

- [Mohammad] I have proof.
- [Cindy] Oh.

[Judge Judy] [indistinct]
because she asked you for money?

- She asked...
- [Judge Judy] Yes, she asked?

I'll put it to you this way.

You think if the furniture store
was still there, she would have moved?

I'm asking you a question.

Do you think
if the furniture store was still there,

she would have moved?

If, if she did [indistinct]
she wouldn't move.

[Judge Judy] How many times
did she complain about your business?

- All...every day.
- [Judge Judy] Every day?

How many times did she call
the authorities to your business?

Every single day.

[Judge Judy] How many times do you think

she called the authorities
when the furniture store was there?

[Mohammad] Because there was nobody there,
so there was...so it's very obvious,

- a nuisance to the area.
- [Judge Judy] Okay.

Now, you're gonna show me proof

that her whole objective
was to blackmail you for money.

[Mohammad] Sure. So the, uh, the thing is

- from the beginning I started...
- I don't wanna know your story

from the beginning.

I know the story.

Now, nine, ten million people
hopefully will know the story.

Proof. Don't say anything.

Show me proof.

[Mohammad] So she moved the day
after we banned her

from the lounge to come in.

- What did he just say?
- [Whitney] He said he banned her

from the lounge to come in. [laughs]

[Sarah] And there is a special permit
for hookah lounges,

but they differ county by county,
the regulations.

[Judge Judy] Okay.
What is this that you're showing me?

[Mohammad] So, she...
she's been banned, February 25th...

[Judge Judy] I don't care
if this is a letter written by somebody,

- operations manager.
- [Mohammad] Yes.

[Judge Judy] You were going to show me,
you said she's...

Can I say something...
and I...for two minutes?

So what happened is she's protesting
for the liquor license of my lounge.

So, I came to the landlord, we...me and him
we had a conversation about Ms. Cindy.

I don't want to hear anything
about a conversation

- you had with the landlord.
- [Mohammad] Okay. I offered her money...

I offered her money
for almost $2,000 to move out

- from her apartment.
- [Judge Judy] You offered her money

- to move out of her apartment?
- Yes, ma'am.

[Judge Judy] And she said,
"I want more money?"

She said, "I will take the money first."

But after we prepared documents
and everything,

we send it out to her house to sign it,

she said, "No."
She first said yes for the money,

but she wanted more money
to sign the documents.

- She said, "No."
- You were giving her

how much money to move out?

- She asked for 2,000.
- [Judge Judy] No...

and that's what you were gonna give her,
$2,000 for moving amount.

- Yes. $2,000. Yes.
- What was your rent in this apartment?

- 1,080.
- [Judge Judy] How big was it?

It's a little bit over 400 square feet.

- What kind of place do you have now?
- [Cindy] It's half the size, [laughs]

but it's quiet and there's no smoking.

How much do you pay in rent?

- [sighs] 1,275.
- [Judge Judy] Do you understand?

She moved into an apartment
that's either the same size

or smaller than she had.
She's paying an extra,

almost $300 a month in rent
to get away from you.

- Not to get away from me.
- [Judge Judy laughs]

- [Mohammad] Because there were...
- [Judge Judy] Just a second.

[Mohammad] The [indistinct] smoking weed
every day in the same building.

- What?
- [Mohammad] They smoking weed.

The residents,
at the place every single day.

I can smell it from my, my lounge.

And I see them party
on the balcony every single day

with drinking and I told
the landlord too about it.

Just a second. [laughs]
So, what you're telling me you complained

to the landlord because you saw other
tenants in the building smoking weed.

- Um, well, she...
- You can't tell me that, sir,

because you don't have witnesses here.

- They are...they can't...
- You don't have witnesses here.

She didn't have any problem before.

What I'm saying to you
is you chose to renovate your place,

put on all the bells and whistles
for a hundred and fifty people,

but didn't contemplate
that a hundred and fifty people smoking

could filter up and the noise from that...

do you also play music in your club?

- Yes, we do.
- [Judge Judy] And you didn't think

- that that would be annoying?
- I did think.

[laughs] Judgment for the plaintiff
in the amount of $10,000.

Your counterclaim is dismissed.
We're done.

[Kevin] Court is adjourned.

Yeah, I did go down and said something,
but it wasn't how he said it.

I already offered her money,
but she was more, like, greedy.

I'm so glad I'm out.

And, and she keep calling the police,
we're doing ill*gal stuff in the lounge.

We have the police came up and inspected
all the lounge a couple of times,

but was...nothing is wrong.

[Judge Judy] You know,
having had a life experience,

you bring as a judge

whatever life experience that you have,

and I can only remember
one life experience

that I had that was this kind of acute.

We were living in a...in a home,

and a neighbor of ours
had a couple of kids,

and their kids didn't make
the lacrosse team at school.

So, what this neighbor decided to do
was flatten a mountain

without permits to build a lacrosse field

on his property
and make his own lacrosse team.

The only problem
is he didn't put in proper drainage,

so my house was flooded
with mud and debris.

And when I complained,

well, then I was called a bad neighbor,

because after all
you were doing this for the kids.

I said, "Well, I have a swimming pool
that's now half full of mud."

Eventually, the matter
was resolved in my favor.

You did something
to interfere with a quiet enjoyment

of your neighbor's property.

There were 200 people
like that gentleman who says,

"You're not my problem.
I don't have to think about you.

And what I do,
how it's going to impact on you."

I think it's all about an attitude change

and I think that you have
to be a responsible citizen

- and make good choices.
- Responsible behavior

is something that better
come back into vogue.

[laughs] I agree.

[announcer] Want Justice?


[theme music playing]