03x30 - g*ns, Ice, and Unpaid Price, and Renovation Roulette

[bunniefuu]

You sold him a truck.

He did not finish
paying for it.

Yes, Your Honor.

That's not true.

What did you believe
the purchase price was?

Don't look there.

He was going to figure out a price later.

How much was the truck?
See how you were looking over here?

-Now you're looking over there.
-[chuckles]

[announcer]
This is Judge Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Raphael Baenen, is suing
his former employee, Eric Meyers,

for the cost of a pickup truck,
a g*n and a leather holster.

[Bailiff Kevin]
Court, come to order. All rise.

Have a seat, please.

Case 3044,
Baenen versus Meyers.

-Thank you.
-You're welcome.

[Judge Judge Judy] Mr. Baenen,
you have a drywall business?

Yes. North Star Drywall.

I have been in business


The defendant worked for you
for a period of time.

You're going to tell me about that.

And it is your claim that during that
period of time, you sold him a truck.

And he did not finish paying for it.

Yes, Your Honor.

Okay, Mr. Meyers says that he paid you
$800 for the truck,

that there was never a fixed price
that you came up with for the truck

and that shortly after he had
possession of the truck,

it died and it's no longer drivable.

What did you do, junk it?

We did not junk it, but it is out
on her property at the moment.

So you have it.

Not in my possession,
but, yes, we still have it.

[Judge Judy]
Yeah, you still have it.

So, Mr. Meyers,
I'm going to start with you.

When did you start
to work for the plaintiff?

I believe it was around June
or July of 2022.

And you were homeless at the time.

At that point, yes.

You moved on to the plaintiff's property
with his permission?

-Yes.
-In a trailer or a camper or what?

We were actually in a big ice shed.

An ice shed. Who's "we"?

Me and my witness.

Is that your girlfriend?

-No.
-Who is it?

She is my ex-girlfriend.

She was your girlfriend.

-You were living together in the ice shed?
-Yes.

-Was it his ice shed?
-Yes, it was.

You had a car?

She owned a car at that time
when we met.

A couple of months after we met,
she ended up crashing it.

and we were left vehicle-less,
and, at the time I was working for him,

so, we worked out a deal
to get that truck off the property

to let me use while I worked for him,
to let, you know, help us get around.

Okay. And what was the arrangement
that you made at the time

that you purchased the truck from him,

that you made the deal with him
for the purchase of the truck?

The truck was not running.

It was being used as a storage facility
by the plaintiff.

-Yes.
-Did you spend any money

to get it running?

I did spend about a hundred dollars,
I do believe.

Okay, now, when you agreed
to purchase the truck from him,

were you over the phone, in person?

It was in person.

Okay. I'd like to see
what you have, Mr. Baenen,

of the amount that you contracted for
with the defendant

for the purchase of this truck.

And, Sarah, would you take a look
for me to see a range...

-I have that pulled up.
-Okay, great.

Hold on.

Okay. Let me just see what you have.

[Raphael] Okay, I have a contract,
but it was sitting on the office table

and he refused to sign it.

-So...
-[Judge Judy] This is not a contract.

He didn't sign this.

No, He refused to sign it.
It was sitting on the office table.

Well, he didn't sign it.
Then they didn't sign it for a reason.

Push him to decide. So...

Yeah, then. It's not a contract, sir.

-Well, no.
-No.

Okay. Do you have any other proof with you
that he agreed to pay $2200 for the truck?

Where did you get the truck, by the way?

Actually it comes from Georgia.

Well, I bought the truck
probably seven years earlier.

I had it for for for quite some time.

And who did you purchase it from?

-A private party.
-Was it registered?

Yes, I registered
as soon as I purchased it.

Was it registered
when you sold it to him?

Yes. Mm-hmm.

And it was a current registration.

Well, when I signed the title over
and he went and put it in his name.

Do you have the title to the truck?

-Yeah.
-I'd like to take a look at it.

Mr. Meyers...

-...I'd like...
-That's the registration and the title.

I'd like you to tell me, you sound
like a pretty intelligent guy,

how much did you purchase the truck for?

We wrote a hundred dollars.
But...

No, no, no.
How much did you purchase...

She's looked up the value,
which she's going to tell me in a moment...

both private party, trade-in,
et cetera.

-You paid $800 towards this truck.
-Over time. Yes.

Is that right?

I disagree with that.

How much did he pay?

I've only received one payment
of $100.

Well, then,
he's going to show me the rest.

Is that money
that you took out of his pay?

-Yes.
-Do you have any other proof

that you paid him any other money?

I do not have paper proof.

Well, that's unfortunate,
but let's take for a moment,

Mr. Meyers, that you did pay him
more than the hundred dollars

that he took out of your pay,
and then you quit.

Then you left. What did you believe
the purchase price was, sir?

-Don't look there.
-Okay.

You don't look like a stupid person.

You're buying a truck.

You say you paid $800
over time.

Let's say I believe you.

You don't look like a stupid man
who would pay $800

if you didn't know how much
the total purchase price was.

So, you tell me how much you believed
the total purchase price was.

Now you're looking over there.
You see how you were looking over here?

-Now you're looking over...
-The original purchase price...

All that was... All that happened is
he was going to give us the truck,

let us put it in my name

so we can drive it
and then figure out a price later.

After we fixed it and figured out
how much it's going to cost

to fix the problems on it
and to see the shape that it was.

You said that it cost you a hundred
dollars to get it up and running.

-That's what you said it cost you.
-Yes.

How much was the truck, sir?

Over two months,
he took money out of paychecks

that I worked for him.

Well, show me that because he says
he only took out...

I cannot.

One payment
of a hundred dollars,

-and then you quit.
-No, that's not true.

You have proof of how much
you took out of his pay.

I have a calendar of the weeks he worked
and how much I paid him.

Okay, I'd like to take a look at that.

-Okay.
-Maybe it will be informative to me.

Sarah, what's the range for this truck?

So, I adjusted it based on the fact
that it wasn't running,

so I put it "fair condition"
as opposed to good,

and the 250,000 miles
based on the complaint.

To trade it in,
which is to a more official dealership,

-Two hundred and twelve dollars.
-[Raphael, indistinct]

-[Judge Judy] Shh!
-$212 to around a thousand.

And a private party,
you know the ranges are different,

ranges from 1100 to 2500.

Got it.

Oh. Well, you prepared
this calendar, sir.

All this calendar
was prepared just recently

because it's all in the same handwriting.

Who wrote this calendar?

This is my daughter.
She's my secretary.

Who wrote this calendar? This is nonsense.
She just wrote this today.

Yesterday, the day before yesterday.
It wasn't written...

You can only introduce a paper document
if the notations are made, under the law,

contemporaneously with the event.

That means at the same time as the event.

This was all written by the same person
at the same time with the same pen

in different months.

So this was all done
in preparation for this case.

So it's hearsay, inadmissible.

[theme music playing]

Where did you get
the purchase price of $2200?

At most, it's worth a thousand.

Well, it's, uh, Kelly Blue Book.

-And it was rust-free.
-It's not rust-free. It wasn't running.

[announcer]
And later today...

I got a "yes" from my cousin,

so, then I started on the remodel
in December.

[laughing]

You can't do that,
Mr. Burzynski.

Sue your cousin.

Your cousin authorized you
to do work in the bathroom.

He never authorized you to do anything.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Raphael Baenen
claims his former employee, Eric Meyers,

owes for the cost of a pickup truck,
a g*n and a leather holster.

Now, you have any other proof
that he paid you

only one hundred dollars?

-No.
-No. Okay.

And where did you get the purchase price

of $2200
for a truck that wasn't running?

At most, it's worth a thousand.

Where did you get a figure
of 2200 from?

Well, Kelley Blue Book.

We looked at that and, like I said,
the truck is from Georgia.

There was no rust.
It was rust-free.

It was not rust-free.
It wasn't running.

You were using it,
according to you, as storage,

because the other part of your complaint
is for a handgun

that you say was in the truck
that you never got back.

You have the truck now?

I have it. Yes.

-Yes.
-It's on her property.

You have it.

What? What are you showing me?

You're showing me a picture
of a g*n that you had.

Well, it went missing
and nobody else took it.

He was the only one who had access
to where the g*n was stored. So...

Well, that's not true.

He was out sh**ting
with somebody with a g*n,

according to you,
who was he sh**ting with?

That I do not know, Your Honor.

Who were you sh**ting the g*n with?

-I was sh**ting it with Matthew.
-[Judge Judy] Is that right, Matthew?

-Yes, ma'am.
-Yes, ma'am.

So, Matthew had access to the g*n.

-Who's Matthew?
-Matthew is my foreman.

He's been with me 15 years, so...

Yeah, okay. Matthew.

After you were sh**ting the g*n
with the defendant,

what did you do with it?

I left before
he was done sh**ting.

And last I seen,
it was in one of the sheds.

-In a shed?
-Yeah.

Okay. You're his foreman.

-Yes.
-Foremen usually have

people that work for them.

-Yep.
-"Yep" is not an answer.

"Yes" is an answer.

-Yes, ma'am.
-How many people work under you?

Right now just two.

-Two in addition to yourself?
-Yes.

-Do they come on this property?
-Yeah.

Yes.

They just started working
in the last six months.

At the time that he was there,
How many people worked?

It was just me and Eric.

You paid him $800
for the truck because you thought

that it was worth $800?

Yeah.

Yeah. I don't believe you paid him
$800 over time.

Because if you did,
then you would have proof of it.

But you can't take his property and
retain his property and not pay for it.

I don't believe that you had a fixed price
of $2200,

which is why you refused
to sign this contract.

But I certainly believe
that you owe him money for the truck.

Judgment for the plaintiff
in the amount of $800.

Do you know where the g*n is?

No, absolutely not.

Where did you put it
when you finished sh**ting it?

Where he said we walked,
there's six g*ns

that all went into the garage
and they sat there for days.

Okay. That's it. $800.
Judgment for the plaintiff.

-We're done.
[Bailiff Rasco] This court is adjourned.

I do understand her verdict with it.

The settlement is done, so,
there's nothing I can do about it.

I just don't think he really kept track of
what he was actually taking out of my pay

and, you know,
it kind of showed in the case.

He felt like I was taking money out,
but I was not.

Always keep better records,
that's for sure.

I wasn't happy,
but there's nothing I can do about it.

Purchase price is sort of
the material part of a contract.

That and a signature
would have been nice.

Any of these things I know the plaintiff
feels like he had a contract.

But, in reality, if you have
a piece of paper that's not signed,

you have a piece of paper, not a contract.

And, you know, if you can't decide
on purchase price before,

that's probably a good indicator

that you shouldn't be entering
into whatever agreement.

He shouldn't have
turned over title to him.

Mm-hmm.

And he still has the truck
and it's still running.

He's got to pay
something for it.

Yeah, I agree.

I cannot imagine
living in an ice shed, shack.

-What was it?
-I think he said "ice shack."

I think you said "ice shed."
It all blurs together.

-In...
-Wisconsin, I think, is where...

-In Wisconsin.
-Wisconsin, the middle of winter.

-That's chilly there.
-Yeah.

Case, 3047.
Blake versus Burzynski.

All parties, please step forward.

[announcer] Edwin Blake is suing
business owner, Kyle Burzynski,

for property damage
and filing a false lien on his property.

-Mr. Blake, you are a landlord...
-[Edwin] Correct.

...and you have several rental units.

One of the units that you have
has been occupied

by Mr. Burzynski's cousin
for the last ten years.

And she's been a reasonable paying tenant.
You've had no difficulty.

-Is she still your tenant?
-She is.

And Mr. Burzynski, who is her cousin,
never lived in that unit.

-Correct.
-How many rental units

do you have altogether, sir?

At this time, I have five.

Are they all in the same building?

No, they're individual houses,
and I have one that's in Florida

a condo that I rent as well,
so, that's one of the five.

So, Mr. Burzynski's cousin lives
in one of your houses.

-Correct.
-This is what your lawsuit is about, sir.

It is your claim that Mr. Burzynski,
without your authority,

did renovations, in that house,
in a bathroom,

and when he asked you
for payment, for the renovation,

you said, "I never authorized
the renovation.

I'm not paying you for renovation
that I never authorized."

He put a lien on your house.

And when did he put the lien
on the house?

It would have been February
when he ex*cuted the...

-[Judge Judy] February of this...
-Of '23.

-Correct.
-And when was the work done on the house?

In December.

-Of '22.
-'22. Correct.

Mr. Burzynski says that you did,
in fact, authorize the work,

that he had an absolute right
to put a lien on your property.

He's got a counterclaim for $10,000
for the work that he did.

Okay, so, Mr. Burzynski, actually,
the ball is in your court.

-Okay.
-When, for the first time,

did you meet Blake?

I've never met Mr. Blake.

-Okay, so, this is the first time.
-This is the first time.

And what kind of business are you in?

I am in construction
and general maintenance.

-Who do you work for?
-Myself.

-In what state?
-Wisconsin.

-Are you a licensed contractor?
-Yes, I am.

What's the name of your company?

K and K Pristine Exteriors.

-Would you check that for me, please?
-Sure.

And how long have you
been in business?

Two or three years.

What did you do before that?

I've done all sorts
of construction beforehand.

Glass and glazing
was the most recent one.

So, you've never met Blake,
so any conversations you had with him

were either over the phone
or via texts or emails.

Everything was through
his maintenance guy, Mike Bennin,

who is his witness.

Ma'am, he's not my maintenance guy.

-[Judge Judy] Just a second.
-[Edwin] Okay, Sure.

So, you've never personally
had a conversation with the plaintiff.

-[Kyle] That is correct.
-That's a big problem for you, sir.

Now, you've been in
the construction business.

You have a company,
Sarah's Looking up the company.

I assume you have a website.

-Is that right?
-Yes.

The area of the house
that you worked on

was the bathroom for your cousin.

I want you to tell me when for the first
time you saw your cousin's bathroom.

Probably about nine years ago,
right after she...

Just a second.
And more recently?

More recently would be August.

[Judge Judy] I want to know how
it came about, Mr. Burzynski...

-Yes.
-...that you saw the bathroom.

-Did your cousin call you?
-[Kyle] She...

Were you over there for a visit?

I want to know how it came about,
since you had no contact with him.

Well, her and Mike had called me about how
the bathroom was in such poor condition.

[Judge Judy]
Who's Mike?

Mike Bennin is his witness
sitting right there,

which would also be my cousin's boyfriend.

-[Judge Judy] Oh, just...
-[laughing]

-Oh, okay. Just a... Just a second.
-[Kyle] We all...

So, this man you say
is your cousin's boyfriend?

-Yes.
-And either she or he called you

to come and look at the bathroom.

-[Kyle] That is correct.
-Okay.

-Was he living there at the time?
-No.

He just stays there
every so often.

How long have you known him?

I have known him once she introduced me,

which would be a month
or two before in August.

In August?

[Kyle] Yes, that's when
the first conversation

about this renovation
being done took place.

-August 19.
-Okay, so, this is... Just a second.

-So, this is the boyfriend...
-Yes.

-...according to what you know...
-Yes.

...of your cousin,

-who you know is a renter.
-Yes.

Okay, and then
what happened, sir?

I want to know how it came about
that you did the renovation

since you had no conversation
with him at all personally.

-Okay.
-And you met him

only for the first time today.

[theme music playing]

You're trying to scam him.
You can't do that.

You can't do work for somebody.
and then say, "Now I want to get paid.

I've never spoken to you,
but now I want to get paid.

And if you don't pay me, I'm going
to tell you what I'm going to do.

I'm going to make your life miserable
by putting a lien on your house."

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Edwin Blake claims
business owner Kyle Burzynski

damaged his rental home
and filed a false lien on his property.

Okay, so now the ball is in your court.

August 19, they called
to have me come meet

and look at the bathroom,
which I did.

And Mike was there too as well.

I just look at it and said,
I go, "Yes, I can do that."

And he said what he wanted
done to the bathroom.

So, leave the tub...

-You mean this man told you that?
-Yeah.

-[Judge Judy] Okay.
-Leave the tub

and leave the tile
up the wall halfway.

And then he was doing window work
on the apartment, on the house,

replacing the windows.

So they offered to leave
the dumpster there

so they didn't have an extra charge
with the dumpster.

Because there was a dumpster on site.

I said I could not get to it right now
It would be late November, December

before her to be able to get onto this.

So, as time went, they got a hold of me

and wanted me
to come help grab a...

Who are "they"?
You mean you mean your cousin.

-Mike got a hold of me.
-And Mike.

And, as far as you know,
he's still dating your cousin.

-As far as I know.
-Okay, go ahead.

So, Mike had me come meet up with him
to pick up a toilet

from another one of Blake's units
to use on my cousin's remodel.

So, he found a toilet for you?

Yup, from another one of his rentals.

-Do you know anything about that?
-[Bennin chuckling]

No. Just check... You know anything
about the other toilet?

That's all I'm asking you.

-I do.
-Okay. Go ahead.

I'll get to you in a second.

-Just... Maybe.
-[Kyle] So, I did that.

And then the conversation came back
In November

when I said I've got time
to do this now. Is this good to go?

And I got a "yes" from my cousin
saying that Blake had authorized it,

and a "yes" from Mr. Bennin saying it was
authorized to go ahead and do the remodel.

So, and, then, I started
on the remodel in December.

You can't do that.
[laughs]

You can't do that, Mr. Burzynski.
Sue your cousin.

Your cousin authorized you
to do work in the bathroom.

He never authorized you to do anything.

Mr. Mike Bennin was the author...
was acting as an agent.

[Judge Judy] Oh, no, no, no, no, sir.

That may have been a giant leap for you.

You said you had a conversation
with your cousin.

-Yes.
-And she said, "Okay, go ahead and do it."

And you did it.

-Yes.
-Did I get that right?

Did he?

-She said.
-She said, "Go ahead and do it."

She said, "Go ahead and do it."
Sue her.

You're not losing.
What do you want to interfere for?

Okay.

Your cousin said,
"Go ahead, fix my bathroom."

Sue her if she didn't pay you.
You can't put a lien on his property.

That's fraudulent.

That can get you in real trouble, sir.

If you have a license
in the state of where?

-Wisconsin?
-[Kyle] Yeah.

Yeah? They can lift your license for that.

-Mm.
-Do you understand?

Yes, I do.

Because I'm going
to send them an order.

-[Kyle] Okay.
-Oh, yeah.

I don't understand
what you're thinking.

-You knew she was a renter.
-Yeah.

You say, "I have to get a contract

with the owner of the house
to do that."

You've been in the business
you said two-and-a-half years.

You have a company for him?

I couldn't get to the website because
it was a spam risk to go to the website.

But I have a Nextdoor page
for the business

with a little blurb on their story
that doesn't really read professional.

It reads more hobby-based.

-Got it.
-[Edwin] He does landscaping.

-[Sarah] It's mostly landscaping.
-Mostly landscaping.

-[Blake, indistinct]
-By the way, do you...

By the way, in Wisconsin...
I know I've had to renovate bathrooms,

and I've done bathroom renovations
and all of that requires permitting.

Did you pull permits on this?

Think very carefully.
Did you pull permits on this bathroom?

-No, I did not.
-No!

-But you were required to pull permits.
-There was a permit pulled

for the renovations
being done already on the house.

[Judge Judy] You...

in the bathroom,
didn't pull permits?

-[Kyle] Nope.
-No.

Well, this is a very easy case.

I don't even have to ask about a toilet.
You didn't have to open your mouth.

-Mr. Burzynski.
-Yup.

I am sending an order to...

Department of Ag, Trade
and Consumer Protection.

That's where it's going,
and it's going to be a strong order.

It's going to indicate that you had no
permission from the owner of the property

to do any work on the property.

That's what I found.

You signed off on that
on any judgment that I make,

that you sued the wrong person.

because the owner of the property
never gave you permission to do any work.

That you did work without pulling permits.

And I'm directing them
to remove the lien on his house.

Do you understand?

-Yes.
-Great.

Now go sue your cousin to get paid.
Got it?

-Yup.
-Yeah. You're trying to scam him.

You can't do that.

[scoffs] You can't...
You can't do work for somebody

and then say,
"Now I want to get paid.

I've never spoken to you,
but now I want to get paid.

And if you don't pay me, I'm going
to tell you what I'm going to do.

I'm going to make your life miserable
by putting a lien on your house."

And, by the way, if you get me
a number, I'll call them as well.

-Do you understand?
-Yes, ma'am.

Judgment for the plaintiff.
We're finished. Lien will be removed.

[Bailiff Kevin]
This court is adjourned.

[theme music playing]

Well, he sent me a bill
and he threatened to sue me.

But he didn't sue me.

And instead of suing me,
he put a lien on my property.

I didn't even know he was doing it

and I get a bill
for this big amount of money

to pay for a job I didn't ask for.

And the work was just absolutely terrible.

I'm not saying he's a crook,
in general,

but, in this case,
he tried scamming me.

Happy it's over.

So, I hope I made it clear what I found.

It was... I couldn't find
a website on the defendant's LLC,

but I did find a Nextdoor page,
which is just a business page.

-What is...
-It's for neighbors to get ideas.

If you're looking for a contractor
or a landscaper,

neighbors can post on there
and give suggestions.

So, I found his page on there,
but in the "about us"

or "our story" section of his business,

it says that he started out landscaping
because his mother had a vegetable garden

and then he was good with his hands,
so, he made it a career choice.

But it all seemed very hobby-based
and more landscape-based...

-Rather than construction.
-...than a licensed contractor

able to redo an entire bathroom.

But, you know, I think
the right thing happened.

You can't file a lien
on someone's property and...

Come on, that you've never spoken to.

Exactly. I was.
I was surprised at his position

because I know we spoke about this before

and we thought he was
going to come in saying

that he had all these documents signed
with the plaintiff and conversation.

He came...
Never seen him before today.

Just met him for the first time, so kind
of was dead in the water before he got...

We'll do that order
and I'm confident that it'll work,

that they'll remove

-the lien from his house.
-Yeah.

[announcer]
Are you a victim of an as*ault?


[theme music playing]