03x76 - Voicemails and Vengeance and Death-Defying Motorcycle Chase

[bunniefuu]

-He was in need of a loan.
-Yes.

I was telling her, you know,
"You gave me this as a gift."

-Can I play a voicemail, please?
-Absolutely.

[Kevin on recording] And I don't owe you
a dime, you...

slank, skank... mother...

Aren't you embarrassed?

Mm... not really.

You have a nasty potty mouth.

[narrator]
This is Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

[narrator] Bonita Roberts is suing
her former friend, Kevin Burt,

for a loan, harassment
and personal threats.

[bailiff]
Court, come to order. All rise.

Have a seat, please.

Judge, case 3113,
Roberts versus Burt.

-Thank you.
-You're welcome.

[Judy] Ms. Roberts, you and Mr. Burt
became friends

because you were living
in the same community.

-Yes.
-And according to your complaint,

the defendant, at some point,
told you that he was in need of a loan.

Yes.

And you made that loan to him.
And what was the amount of that loan?

It was $190.

-[Judy] And he paid you back.
-No.

[Judy] Well, according to your complaint,
you had, in fact,

loaned him money in the past
and he had paid you back.

Yes, he did.

-[Judy] Okay. And that was $2,000.
-[Bonita] Yep.

Two thousand one time, 300 another.

[Judy] And then, there came a time
in December of last year

when Mr. Burt, again, said
that his account was a little overdrawn.

-Yes.
-[Judy] And he asked you

if you could loan him that money.

Yes, and he would pay me back
the following day.

-[Judy] And you did.
-Yes.

I sent him $190 through Zell.

And you, as a matter of fact,
acknowledged that she did in fact

give you $190.

Yes, Your Honor.

[Judy] And that $190,
you have not given back to her.

No, Your Honor.

[Judy] So now, I don't know
what you guys are drinking,

but now you're each suing each other
for $10,000.

[audience chuckles]

You want money owed
for repayment of a loan, that's $190.

And the rest for harassment
and threats of bodily harm.

And defamation of character.

No, that's not in here.
That's in your fantasy world. [chuckles]

So, let's start with this, Mr. Burt.
She gave you $190.

Yes, Your Honor.

Why didn't you give it back to her?

Because it was a gift.

[Judy] Did you ever give her a gift
that was worth $190?

-[Kevin] Yes, Your Honor.
-[Judy] Like what?

I'd take her to dinner, uh,
at the steakhouse.

I would buy the dinners.
It would be well over $300.

How many times did you do that?

We went to the steakhouse
a couple of times.

Okay. Tell me about the phone call
that you made to her

indicating your account was overdrawn.

Yeah. I called her up.
Uh, I was trying to get a payday loan.

I called her from the payday lender place
and told her I needed $190.

[Judy]
And what did she say to you?

She said,
"Okay, I'll send it to you by Zell."

Okay. Did she tell you
when she needed it back?

No, she didn't.

Okay. Now, at some point,
she started to ask you for this money,

this $190. When was that?

I think it was sometime around Christmas,
I believe.

And what'd you tell her?

I didn't really tell her anything.
I was just kind of like ignoring her...

Well, she was asking you,
"When can I have my $190 back?"

And you were ignoring her.

Yeah, I'm like, "This was a gift."

I was telling her, you know,
"You gave this to me as a gift."

Okay. Well, a gift is something
that you usually buy or give

to somebody without being asked.

You actually called her
and asked her for the money.

Correct.

You know, that would be like
Sarah saying to me,

"I want this particular bag
and I don't have money for it right now.

Can you send it to me?"

And I send her the money
and then she says, "Well, that was a gift

because you sent it."

I mean, she's done that, but...

[all laugh]

Not exactly. [chuckles] Okay.

So, we have $190. Now,
I want you to get from $190,

Ms. Roberts, to $10,000.

And I want you to get there
in three minutes or less.

-Can I play a voicemail, please?
-[Judy] Absolutely.

-And this is gonna be a $9,810 voicemail.
-Ten dollars, yes.

This is the first voicemail.

[Kevin on recording]
Hey, I got your phone call.

Don't call me before 12:00
in the afternoon anymore, b*tch.

Like you, I don't work.
I'm fully retired.

And furthermore, you were calling me
about your mother... $200.

Well, I just wanted to let you know
you got your $200 worth on Christmas day,

when you hurt my dog and you hurt me.

I'm not giving you a dime.

So you can kiss my a*s.
Get the... out of my life.

The way you treated me on Christmas...

the way you tried to humiliate me?

The only thing you did was you lost
your $200 and you lost a friend.

I trusted you, and all of a sudden,

you went rogue psycho mother... b*tch
on me.

Okay. I already told you, you have
your $190 and he has a bad potty mouth.

-[Bonita] Okay.
-[Kevin laughs]

[Judy] So, after you got that message
from him, and he told you,

"You're out of my life," whatever it was,
you had some sort of a bad Christmas.

"Don't call me anymore.
I don't want to know from you anymore.

You did something. You humiliated me,
you hurt my dog.

Leave me alone, get out of my life."
What did you do?

I didn't do anything 'cause
I kept getting voicemails...

[Judy] Just a second.
So, you didn't contact him again.

I sent an email saying how hurt I was...

-But I didn't call him, no.
-Just a second.

Well, do you have the email?

Yeah, I do.

[Judy]
I'd like to see it.

So, you sent him an email
after you got this message. May I see...

You have it written?

I'd like to see it.

Okay. This is a very nice email.

Mr. Burt. So far, it's a very nice email.
I'm gonna read it out loud.

It said, "Just so you can hear how
ridiculous you get when you're inebriated.

I really pray that you get some help.
This has to stop.

I have only been a good person
to and for you,

and you turn around
and say these nasty things to me

because you don't want to pay me back.

I've always been there for you
whenever you were in need,

loaning you money when you need it.
For you to make up a bunch of lies

it truly breaks my heart
and I feel so sorry for you.

But I will pray that God helps you
get a peaceful, calm space

where you don't require liquid courage

and possibly keep one good person
around you."

And she doesn't say anything nasty to you
in this email, sir.

It says, "I will see you in court

because I'm not going to allow you
to steal money from me.

I really thought we were friends.
Bonnie."

Lovely, lovely email.

If I got that message from you, sir,
I would not have sent you this.

Except she probably knows that you're
a drunk and that she felt sorry for you.

On Christmas day, did you go out
and buy yourself a little pint of vodka?

Yes, I did.

-[Bonita] It wasn't a pint...
-[Judy] Shh!

[Bonita]
Sorry.

-Sorry.
-Does it look like I need help from you?

-You don't.
-[Judy] Okay, good.

-You say that he threatened you.
-He did.

I'd like to hear the threatening one.
So far, it was just potty mouth.

First of all, I had knee surgery.
He threatened to harm my knees.

-Okay, I'm listening.
-When I asked for the money back.

And this is what really bothered me.

[narrator]
And later today...

So, the police
were trying to pull you over

-while you were riding your motorcycle.
-Yes, ma'am.

And then, what happened?

Emotions got the best of me.
I flipped them the bird and just took off.

How fast did you take off?

[theme music playing]

[narrator] Bonita Roberts
claims her former friend,

Kevin Burt, refuses to pay back a loan
and harassed her.

Kevin is countersuing Bonita
for filing a false restraining order

and emotional distress.

So, what you did was nasty.

What you did was nasty.
Now, it may have clouded your judgment,

that you did have liquid courage.
I don't know what you needed courage from.

She wasn't doing anything bad to you.

Okay. So far, that's not worth a nickle.

That. It's just a bad potty mouth.
You knew he was drunk.

You said, "I feel sorry for you,
but I'm gonna take you to court."

-You already won your $190.
-Okay.

Okay? We're getting to 10,000.

-Now, you say that he threatened you.
-He did.

-[Judy] And it's on a voicemail.
-[Bonita] Yes.

Okay. I'd like to hear the threatening
one. So far, it's just potty mouth.

First of all, can I just...
a little back story.

I had knee surgery.
He threatened to harm my knees.

-[Judy] Okay, I'm listening.
-When I asked for the money back.

Then, this is what... really bothered me.

[Kevin on recording]
I just got the notice from Wells Fargo,

of you begging for $190.

I'm gonna call Wells Fargo
and I'm gonna let them know

that I don't owe you a dime.

You broke-a*s b*tch.

And you better keep your communication
with me either by phone or by email.

'Cause if you ever show up at my house,
God help you.

I'm going straight for the knees.

Okay, got it. Aren't you embarrassed?

No, uh, Your Honor, Ms. Roberts

started needling me
about not being around her,

ignoring her calls
after I got the loan...

Which I didn't.
I was actually in the hospital

after I suffered, uh, three incidents
of cardiac arrest on July the 22nd.

-[Judy] Listen to me.
-He's lying.

Shh. You should be embarrassed
by those phone messages

that you left her while you were drunk!

And if you tell me you weren't drunk,
that's twice as bad.

You understand?

That's not the kind of communication
that a grown-up adult

has with another grown-up adult,

especially when you get
this kind of an email in response.

In that email...
In that email, she stated

that I could barely take care of myself.

-[Judy] Well, clearly you can't.
-[laughs]

If she said it, it's true.

[Kevin]
No, it's not true.

-[Judy] Yes, it's true.
-It's very true.

-Mr. Burt... Shh!
-[Bonita] It's very true.

Okay. So, they're nasty messages.

She knows that when you left
those messages, you were drunk.

-You know that, correct?
-Yes, I do.

And you know that he said
don't ever come to his house,

because if you come to his house,
he's going right for the knees.

And I was very vulnerable
because I had just had surgery.

I get it. You weren't going
to his house either.

Okay. But at some point, you filed
for a protective order against him.

[Bonita] I did.

[Judy]
And that's his counterclaim for $10,000,

that you filed for a protective order
against him.

-And that was ultimately dismissed.
-[Bonita] Yes.

[Judy] As I would dismiss it

if I were hearing
this application for a protective order.

In any event, I don't like the messages
that you sent to her,

so your counterclaim is dismissed.
Do you understand?

Yes, Your Honor.

If you can't hold your liquor,
don't drink.

If you're retired and you sleep until noon
because you're drunk every day,

that's not a smart thing for you.

And if you've been in the hospital
because of cardiac arrest,

it's twice as not smart for you. Right?

-Right.
-[Judy] Yeah.

Right. Unless you can't stop.
If you can't stop, check into Betty Ford.

Judgment for the plaintiff.
And I'm awarding you $500

'cause I wouldn't like
to listen to those messages either.

A hundred a ninety dollars
for what he owes you,

and the rest is because
you have a nasty potty mouth!

We're done here, thank you.

-[bailiff] This court is adjourned.
-Well, she should've stopped calling me.

She sees me buying a bottle of vodka
and she gets an attitude

like, "You owe me $190,
but you're gonna buy vodka?"

Um, I'm happy. I got, you know,
I got what I wanted.

I just wanted my money back.

I think she was taking advantage of me
because of my medical condition.

Ha! What? What? What would I
take advantage of from him?

He has nothing.

I had told her
before I made those messages,

to leave me alone.
But she continued to call me.

Nothing. He's a thing of the past for me.

I just find it so ironic that
in all of those potty-mouthed messages,

where he's calling her a broke-a*s b*tch,
he couldn't afford the $190 overdraft fee

on his own account.
So, it's just, you know.

That's funny. She was a nice lady.

She was. And I think she expected him
to pay her back and he's just a drunk

-who had no intention of paying her back.
-He's just an old drunk.

Case number 3096, Corcoran versus Curry.
All parties, please step forward.

[narrator] Christopher Corcoran
is suing his former employee,

Joshua Curry, for unpaid legal fees.

Mr. Corcoran, the case is
relatively simple and straightforward.

It is your claim that the defendant
owes you

for legal fees that you paid
on his behalf.

Yes, Your Honor.

And Mr. Curry says that there was never
an agreement to pay you anything.

And you paid legal fees for him
for a criminal matter

because he was such a valued employee.

That without him,
your business couldn't function.

That's very true, Your Honor.

[Judy]
Okay. So, that's relatively easy.

How long did you work for Mr. Corcoran,
Mr. Curry? From when to when?

August of 2020
until September of 2023.

And how much did you earn?

Two hundred to three hundred,
depending on how long it was.

So, you want to tell me when you got
into some legal trouble?

It was July 5th, morning,
about 4:00 in the morning,

I had heard some news of one of my friends
passing away from a motorcycle wreck.

And I was a little emotional.
Went on a motorcycle ride myself.

And the police tried to pull me over,
which I made a bad decision and didn't...

[Judy]
Okay. Well, let's go back a second.

I just want to make sure
I'm hearing it right.

You got some very bad news

-that a friend of yours...
-Yep.

...had been k*lled
in a motorcycle accident.

[Joshua] Yep.

[Judy]
And you were very upset about it.

Well, emotional, yes. Yes.

You were upset about it.
Hadn't been drinking.

[Joshua] No.

-No drugs.
-Nope.

So, at 4:00 in the morning,
you decided to go on a motorcycle ride.

[Joshua]
Yep.

Where did you take your motorcycle
for a ride?

I was just going for a ride
through Mariemont.

And is that a big town, a little town?

It's a small, little town,
outside Cincinnati.

[Judy]
And the police must see you.

Because you're gonna tell me what happened
when the police tried to pull you over.

Well, there was like a median,
from one direction to the other,

from the way the cop was coming.

I wasn't speeding,
I wasn't doing anything ill*gal.

They boxed me, they came up behind me
and was trying to pull me over

for what I thought for no reason.

So, the police were trying
to pull you over

-while you were riding your motorcycle.
-Yes, ma'am.

[Judy]
And then what happened?

I just... emotions got the best of me.

I flipped them the bird
and just took off.

[Judy]
Okay.

You have a copy of your check?

No, I paid cash.

Mm-mm. This doesn't do it for me, sir.

Show me where you took $6,000 from.

Out of my safe.

I mean, I keep a lot of cash on hand
at the house.

You know, I'm not believing you, sir.

[theme music playing]

[narrator] Christopher Corcoran
claims his former employee,

Joshua Curry, owes for attorney fees
he loaned to Joshua.

-So, you made a middle finger gesture.
-Yes, ma'am.

-And took off on your motorcycle.
-[Joshua] That's right.

How fast did you take off?

I probably hit 100 miles an hour,
at some point.

[Judy] So now, you're driving 100 an hour
through this small town in Ohio,

police try to pull you over.
High-speed chase.

-They finally got you to pull over.
-[Joshua] Yes, ma'am.

[Judy]
And they arrested you.

Well, they impounded my bike.
And they actually took me home

once they realized
that I didn't do anything...

Don't tell me what they realized.
You can't tell me what they realized.

They impounded your bike.

Yes. And they drove me home
and gave me a failure to comply.

So, they gave you a ticket.

Well, it's a ticket which was
a misdemeanor... ticket, yes.

Were you originally charged
with a misdemeanor or with a felony?

I think it was a misdemeanor. It was...

Yeah, it was a misdemeanor.

Let me see what you're looking at.

Okay. So, at some point,
you got in touch with your boss.

-Mm-hmm.
-[Judy] Tell me when that was.

Probably later on that evening, that day.

-And I told him I was in trouble. Yeah.
-[Judy] Okay.

And at that point, did you ask him
to do anything for you?

Uh, not at that point, no.

[Judy]
At what point?

I don't really remember. It was just more
or less like, we're gonna handle this.

You know, we'll make sure
everything's okay

kinda conversations.

Okay. Now, I'm gonna come to you,
Mr. Corcoran.

First of all, you have a business
that is what?

It's a commercial construction.
We set up pallet racking in warehouses.

[Judy]
When did you start the business?

Two thousand and eight.

-Is the business still ongoing?
-Yes.

And it's still ongoing, so,
you've managed to keep your business,

even after this valued employee
is gone.

Yes, Your Honor.

[Judy] So, I have to tell you something,
Mr. Curry.

The only time
that you become indispensable

is when the show has your name on it.

Do you understand?

-Yes, Your Honor.
-[Judy] Other than that...

everybody can be replaced.

I say that because your defense is...

'Cause what Mr. Corcoran did
is he contacted a lawyer on your behalf.

And that's the money he wants.

And your position was you
never asked him for it, he just did it.

Okay. So, you tell me about
the conversation that you had with him,

Mr. Corcoran, when he called the next day.

Uh, he called me and told me that,
pretty much,

-verbatim.
-[Judy] Exactly what he told me.

He went to court.
He called me after court.

He said, "I don't know what to do."

He said, "They told me to come back
with an attorney."

So, now, he's going back
and he said to you,

"This is bad, I have to go back to court.

They told me to come back with a lawyer."
Did you tell him that?

Well, yeah.

And you said to him...

I said, "Let me make a phone call.
I'll get in touch with my attorney.

He'll call you, get your side of it
and we'll go from there."

So, you called your lawyer.

[Christopher] So, I called my attorney.
He called Mr. Curry.

They spoke. He called me back,
he says, "Chris, this is bad.

This is bad. He's gonna
do some time on this."

[Judy]
And then?

He said, "You know, well,"
he said, "He doesn't have any money."

And uh, he told me $6,000.
So, I told Mr. Curry,

and he said, "Well, I don't have that."

I said, "Well, I'll take it
out of your check."

And on we went.

Is that what he said to you?

Well, that's not really
how I remember the conversation.

But I mean, it was a couple years ago.

I would like you to tell me how,
Mr. Curry, you remember the conversation.

Well, I just remember him saying,
you know,

"I have a friend that's a lawyer,

we'll take care of this.
We'll get it handled."

[Judy] Well, Mr. Curry, what I'm asking
you is, you're not related to him,

you're not his brother,
you're not his cousin.

You're not his son-in-law.
You're an employee.

If you knew about the amount of money,
$6,000,

why in the world would you think that
he was just gonna cover that for you?

I mean, he brought it up to me
after the fact that it was paid.

Like, I didn't have a chance
to say yes or no to $6,000.

[Judy] Well, you knew the lawyer
wasn't working for nothing.

Well, I completely understand that.

But I also thought the way
that he approached me,

it was like, we're gonna
take care of this.

[Judy] Okay. May I see the invoice
from the attorney

and a copy of your check.

You have a copy of your check?

[Christopher]
No, I paid cash.

[Judy]
Mm-mm. No, you didn't.

Yeah, I did. Your Honor.

This doesn't do it for me, sir.

Show me where you took $6,000 from.

Out of my safe. I mean,
I keep a lot of cash on hand at the house.

Well, you know,
I'm not believing you, sir.

I'm gonna tell you, I'm not believing you.

Because there's no reason
why you would pay a lawyer in cash

for somebody else,
when the somebody else

is expected to pay you back.
So, you have absolutely no proof

that you paid anybody.

You loan somebody money to pay a lawyer,

you pay that lawyer by check.
And you have proof of it.

There's a possibility that you did
lay out some money for him for a lawyer.

I don't believe it was $6,000
'cause this is not a lawyer's invoice.

I can get him on the phone.

Oh, no, I'm absolutely positive that
you can get somebody on the phone, sir.

Unless I have proof that
the amount of money that you laid out

for Mr. Curry, I'm dismissing your case
without prejudice.

You go and plead it to somebody else.
I don't buy it.

We're done here.

[bailiff]
This court is adjourned.

You're making a loan to somebody,
especially in a case like this,

where there was no family relation,
no, like you said,

no particular reason why the plaintiff
would just, out of the kindness

of his heart, would step up
and pay this bill.

I would want a paper trail,
or two, or three,

to ensure that they could not
go back on their word

to repay you for the loan
that you so nicely laid out for them.

And I found it almost as odd as you,
that he paid cash

and didn't even have anything
as far as a handwritten note

that said I paid this to the lawyer
on this day, signed by someone.

It doesn't even have to be official.
But just pulling $6,000 out of your safe

in cash, it's less than what we needed
for his loan.

You know what's interesting, Sarah,
is I actually think he got a lawyer

-to go in with him on what was a ticket.
-Yeah.

But certainly, no lawyer would say,
"Oh, that's very serious.

He's looking at serious jail..."
That's baloney.

Unless there was another charge there.
But I don't see why a lawyer

would demand $6,000 in cash.
It doesn't make sense to me.

[both] And if it doesn't make sense,
it's not true.

[narrator]
Are you a victim of a scam?



[theme music playing]