Your daughter was hitting your granddaughter.
She was hitting her in her head. And I started yelling at her to stop.
No, ma'am.
I popped her on her leg.
How many times?
Maybe three. Three-- Four. Maybe four.
Have a seat. I'm going to see her 13-year-old daughter in chambers.
You see where I'm going, right?
[narrator] This is Judy Justice.
[theme music playing]
[narrator] Laretha Jackson is suing her daughter,
Janet Harris, for vandalism, airfare and emotional distress.
[Kevin] Court, come to order. All rise.
Have a seat, please.
Judge, case 4086, Jackson v. Harris.
-Thank you. -[Kevin] You're welcome.
-Miss Jackson, this is your daughter. -Yes.
-[Judy] And she has three children? -Two.
[Judy] Two. How old are they?
[Janet] Thirteen and seven.
-[Judy] The 13-year-old is a girl? -Girl.
-[Judy] The seven-year-old? -Boy.
[Judy] I'm gonna start with you, Miss Harris.
Some time ago, you ran into some difficulty,
you and your mom were living in different states.
-Yes. -[Judy] Where were you living?
I was living in Sacramento, California.
-[Judy] Where was your mom living? -[Janet] Houston, Texas.
[Judy] How did you connect with your mother and come to travel
to where she was and move into one of her rental properties?
I want you to tell me.
I had a situation in California, Sacramento, with an ex-partner of mine.
It was just getting a little crazy or whatever, so I actually called my sister.
[Judy] Without telling me what you discussed with your sister,
did you subsequently have a conversation with your mother?
After my sister contacted her regarding what we spoke about,
which is how I ended up contacting my mother.
[Judy] You did contact your mother.
-When she contacted me, excuse me. -[Judy] On what date?
[Janet] Somewhere between January 10th and 12th.
-[Judy] Of this year? -Yes, ma'am.
[Judy] You, at that time, explained to your mother
that you were having some serious domestic issues.
Did your mother volunteer to send you and your children plane tickets?
Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] And said, "Come to Texas." -She wants to help me.
[Judy] "I have some rental property that you can live in."
And she sent you tickets for you and your two children.
-Yes, ma'am. -[Judy] When did you arrive in Texas?
[Janet] January 18th.
-2024. -[Janet] Yes, ma'am.
Did you get a job?
I actually was not there long enough to do anything like that, ma'am.
[Judy] When did you leave?
I left, um, I think February, maybe eight.
[Judy] You left and went where?
I went back to Sacramento, California.
And you went back to Sacramento, California,
to the same place you had been living at?
-No, ma'am. -[Judy] Someplace else?
-Yes, ma'am. -Did you have a job in Sacramento?
Not after I came back, no.
[Judy] Almost a year ago. Are you working now?
-I am. -[Judy] When did you start working?
Um, I started working in August of 2024.
Are you living alone with your two children?
They live with their grandmother.
[Judy] You're children not living with you.
-[Janet] No, ma'am. -[Judy] When did they leave your custody?
Soon as I got back to Sacramento because when I went to Texas,
to my mother, I actually-- She convinced me to leave my home.
So, I actually turned my keys in to my home, and I quit my job
to go to Houston because my mother was going to help me.
I'm asking you when and under what circumstances
did the children leave your custody?
Soon as I touched down in Sacramento from leaving Texas, ma'am.
-[Judy] February. -Yes, ma'am.
So, they've been living with their paternal grandmother for almost a year.
-Yes. -And she lives in Sacramento.
-[Janet] Yes, ma'am. -And what do you do?
For work? I'm a server at Denny's.
[Judy] What did you do from February until August?
February to August I looked for work. I've been homeless.
I've bounced around. I've done everything I can to keep me and my kids safe.
Because I'm in a situation due to my mother.
[Judy] No, you're not in a situation due to your mother.
You're in a situation due to yourself.
-Mm-hmm. -[Judy] How old are you?
-I'm 31. -31.
Whatever your situation is, it's you.
Okay.
[Judy] Okay. Now, this is what the lawsuit is about.
You have some rental properties. You sent your daughter a ticket
for herself and the two children.
Clearly, there were things going on in Sacramento, California,
that made her staying in Sacramento at that time impossible.
-Yeah. -[Judy] You said, come to Texas.
-[Laretha] Yes. -[Judy] At some point,
according to what I read, you came into her apartment.
-It was an apartment or a house? -It was my apartment.
In an apartment that you own but that was vacant.
Yes.
And you got there sort of later in the late morning, or the early afternoon?
What time was it?
It was around 7:00 A.M. in the morning.
-[Judy] It couldn't have been 7:00 A.M. -Why?
Why would it be 7:00 A.M.?
I was going to enroll--
I came early in the morning to get the children to enroll them to school.
[Judy] Fine. You got up early. When you got to the house...
-do you remember that day? -Yes, ma'am.
-Yeah. -[Judy] And your mother came to the house,
and you and your two children were still sleeping.
That was January 22nd, Your Honor.
[Judy] Okay, 1/22.
Do you know why your mother had come to your house on the 22nd?
Was it to enroll your children in school?
-Yes, ma'am. -[Judy] That's a yes or no. Yes.
What happened next caused a kerfuffle.
From what I read, your 13-year-old daughter
was supposed to wake everybody up in the morning.
No, ma'am.
[Judy] Let me see what it says in your answer. Maybe I'm wrong.
"One morning, my mother came and woke us up
as we had overslept. I knew my oldest daughter
was on the phone all night and didn't charge her phone,
so her alarm didn't go off to wake us."
-That's what you wrote in your answer. -Mm-hmm. Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] Is that true? -Yes.
-Okay, so, that's what I said. -I'm sorry.
I wouldn't give my 13-year-old a responsibility to wake me, grown mother,
up for her to get up for school. No, ma'am.
Well, what I'm reading is what you wrote and swore to.
-Yes. Okay. -[Judy] Let me read it again to you.
"One morning, my mother came and woke us up
as we had overslept. I knew my oldest daughter
was on the phone all night and didn't charge her phone
so her alarm didn't go off to wake us up."
That's what you wrote. That's what you swore to.
The next line was, "I admit I was upset with her."
That's what you wrote.
-"And I gave her a disciplinary whooping." -Mm-hmm.
Is anything that you wrote there untrue?
No.
-[Judy] So, that's all true? -Yes.
So, what's true is that your 13-year-old
was supposed to wake you up--
Was not supposed to wake me.
That's what you wrote. I don't want you to speak.
Okay, Your Honor.
And you say, "I admit I was upset with her."
So, you were upset with your 13-year-old for not waking you up.
No, for being on that phone after she was not supposed to.
It was on the charger when I went to bed because I knew we had to get up.
And I know how my mother is, and she's very overreactive and dramatic
and I knew she'd be upset if we were not up and ready.
When me and my daughter and my son went to bed,
my daughter played sleep, got back up, she jumps on her phone.
She used it all night. When morning come, I wake up about 9:00 A.M.,
the phone is dead, off dead, zero percent dead.
That means, you never put it back on the charger,
you got up and used it without permission.
So, I would like you to tell me what a disciplinary whooping is to you.
Let's be careful because that's what started this all.
Describe to me a disciplinary whooping
for not putting the phone back on the charger.
[theme music playing]
-Don't speak. -Okay.
-[Judy] You think I'm your child? -No.
You can't give me a disciplinary whooping.
I guarantee you, I can give you a tongue whooping.
But you can't give me a disciplinary whooping
for not putting my phone back in the cradle.
Idiot.
Yeah, oh. Ooph.
[theme music playing]
[narrator] Laretha Jackson claims her daughter, Janet Harris,
vandalized her apartment and owes for the cost of repairs.
Take a breath, and describe to me a disciplinary whooping
because your daughter did not put the phone back on the charger.
-Ready? -[Judy] Yes, I'm ready.
So, I popped her on her legs because she has a brain aneurysm.
Yes, ma'am, my daughter has a brain aneurysm.
I don't know what you mean, "popped her on the leg."
-Yes, I showed you. Like... -[slaps leg]
-[Judy] So, you were hitting her. -Yes.
How many times did you hit her?
Maybe three. Three, maybe three. Four, maybe four.
-[Judy] Maybe three. -Max.
[Judy] And your mother interfered with that.
[Janet] No, ma'am.
[Judy] Well, let me read on.
Yeah, read on.
"My mother overreacted. She grabbed my daughter
and took her away without asking me if that was okay."
-That's what you wrote. -[Janet] Yeah.
Well then, what are you saying no for?
You're saying she interfered with me chastising my daughter.
[Judy] Yeah. You said, "My mother overreacted
and grabbed my daughter and took her away without asking me.
I told her to bring her back to me but she refused.
I later found out that she tried to call CPS on me.
After knowing what I already went through back in Sacramento,
I couldn't believe she would do this to me."
Did you have a problem with Child Protective Services in Sacramento?
I did.
[Judy] And you did involving which child?
-[Janet] Children, yeah. -[Judy] To both children. Okay.
[Judy] There was a case open with regard to both children.
In what month and year?
2019.
Since 2019 have your children been under the supervision of Child Protective--
My children were under the supervision of CPS from 2019 to 2022.
-Were they living with you or not-- -[Janet] No.
They were in foster care.
They were in foster care? You see where I'm going, right?
-They were in foster care from '19 to '22. -Mm-hmm.
-[Judy] Then, they came to live with you. -Mm-hmm.
[Judy] And then, there was enough tumult for you to say,
"I can't stay in Sacramento anymore," and you went to Texas.
Now, you went to Texas and...
Your mother is gonna say, there's a pop and there's a something else.
And she was going to report you to CPS.
But did. Very much did. CPS knocked on the door.
-Great! That sounds perfect to me. -Yes, ma'am. Very much did.
[Judy] Just a second. That sounds exactly like what's supposed to happen.
-Yeah, mm-hmm. -[Judy] You have a three-year period
when you're under the supervision of Child Protective Services
for something. And it's gotta be something serious--
I'm not under supervision of Child Protective Services at all, ma'am.
You just told me that you were under supervision from '19 to '22.
Would you read that back?
[Janet] Twenty twenty-four.
-Don't speak. -[Janet] Okay.
You think I'm your child? You can't give me a disciplinary whooping.
I guarantee you, I can give you a tongue whooping.
But you can't give me a disciplinary whooping
for not putting my phone back in the cradle.
Idiot.
Yeah. Oh. Ooph!
She says, "My children were under the supervision from 2019 to 2022.
-2022. -[Janet] Mm-hmm.
Now, a year or so later, your mother was either going to call them, or call them,
because you were disciplining your child by hitting her
for not putting the phone back on the charger.
That's what you just testified to. I just want to make sure we're all clear.
Yes, ma'am.
Anyway, your mother took your daughter, she wouldn't give her back.
Ultimately, you got her back. And she went to the house,
and you had split. Probably went back to Sacramento.
And this was all within how much time? One day? Two days?
I don't know what time you're talking about, ma'am.
Can you be more specific?
[Judy] The day we're talking about is January 22nd.
When did you go back to Sacramento? A day later, two days later, three days--
Nah, like four. I went back to Sacramento the day that CPS came to the house.
Is the day I left the house.
It is your claim that your daughter vandalized your property when she left.
Yes.
Do you know what date you came to the apartment
where she was formerly living?
[Laretha] February 3rd. That's when she got her check.
[Judy] What check are you talking about?
Her government assistance check she gets from the county for the children.
She gets a check on the 3rd. That's when she gets her money.
What I'm asking you, madam, is, first, I want you to describe
how your daughter was hitting your granddaughter on January 22nd.
And why you took her.
-Well... -[Judy] What are you smiling at?
-I'm just, um-- -[taps on bench]
I asked you a simple question. I want you to describe--
Well, she was hitting her in her head, you know, she was hitting--
Ma'am, my daughter has a brain aneurysm.
That's a lie. She'd be dead right now.
[Judy] Just a second. I don't want to hear from you.
She was socking her in her head, and stuff like that,
and hitting her in her body, up here.
And she hit her a couple times on the head.
And I started yelling, "Stop, stop hitting her, stop."
Then she told me, "I'll do something to you.
I'll get you." Like, she coulda jump on me.
So, I was like, "No." So then, she told her, "Get your stuff, go.
Go with your grandma." She told her to come with me.
[Judy] When did you let your granddaughter go back to her mother?
I brought her back the next day, Your Honor.
-The next morning. -[Judy] So, on January 23rd.
[Laretha] Yeah.
[Judy] Were the children ever enrolled in school in Texas?
No.
According to you, you left in the beginning of February.
Could you explain to me why your children weren't enrolled in school?
When I got there, I was supposed to get help from them
to get to certain places to get things done,
and when everything started going bad, I started making rearrangements
to get out of there. There was no point in putting them in school there
because we were leaving.
-That's why. -[Judy] Okay. All right.
When did you decide that there was something that wasn't going right there?
Was that before or after January 22nd?
Before.
[Judy] Okay. So, you knew before the incident
when your mother came and woke everybody up
and the phone didn't get back on the charger,
that things weren't going well and you were going to go back to California.
What rubbed me wrong and made me want to go back
was my mother asking me to give her full custody of my kids
so she could put them on her Section 8 and get a bigger house
and I can go live my life.
That is a lie, Your Honor.
[Judy] Just a second. Her children are with their other grandmother now.
No, they're here with me. They're here.
I thought you said that the children were--
-[Janet] I said they live with her. -They live with her.
Yeah. They're here with me.
-Why don't you have a seat. -[Janet] Me?
Both of you.
I'm going to see her 13-year-old daughter in Chambers.
[Janet] Thank you.
[theme music playing]
I want you to tell me what money you were talking about
in your text to her, when you say, I'm just trying to get you your money.
[theme music playing]
[narrator] Laretha Jackson has accused her daughter, Janet Harris,
of refusing to pay for damages after vandalizing her apartment.
In her chambers, Janet's 13-year-old daughter
was recently interviewed by Judge Judy Sheindlin.
Okay. What you're suing her for is vandalism to the apartment.
Can I see pictures of the apartment when she moved out?
You have an estimate for the damage, please?
Okay. So, here's the receipts for everything I spent
on supplies and everything. I had two guys to fix my apartment.
[Judy] How long did it take them?
About nine hours.
Okay. Is the apartment rented now?
I don't live there no more, Your Honor.
Just a second. You were living at the apartment with them?
No. You said is the house rent--
This house, where she was living.
-With the two children. -Yes.
-[Judy] Were you living with her? -No.
-So, it's a rental property. -[Laretha] Yes.
I asked you if it was rented now.
-[Laretha] Yes, yes. -To whom?
I don't know, Your Honor, I moved out.
After the apartment got fixed and everything, I moved out.
I moved out and they rented to someone else.
It's an apartment building, Your Honor. I don't own it, I was just renting.
My lease was just up in May. I moved out in May, Your Honor.
Are you telling me you lived in the same apartment building as she did?
No, ma'am. I'm saying, I was staying somewhere else, Your Honor.
-Let's be clear. -[Laretha] Okay.
-We're gonna get back to being clear. -Okay.
-[Judy] That's your apartment. -Yes, ma'am. Yes.
Not real estate that you own, it's a rental apartment.
-That you had a lease on? -[Laretha] Yes.
For how long?
It was a one-year lease.
And where were you living?
I had to get me another apartment because I had an incident there.
When I moved to that apartment, the apartment wasn't up to standards.
Okay. And the manager there at that apartment unit
had a friend of hers file a false police report on me.
So, I was ordered not to be there.
I couldn't even go to my own apartment, Your Honor.
I couldn't go to my own apartment. I don't know if I can say this on record,
but yes, I did have a, you know, a suit against her
for filing a false police report on me. I was found not guilty.
-[Judy] You're talking about the landlord? -The manager, yes.
You're talking about the manager or the landlord?
[Laretha] I'm talking about the landlord.
I'd like to see something from the landlord.
A bill for this vandalism that someone did to this apartment.
Your Honor, I cleared that apartment and got that apartment fixed, okay.
They didn't even know.
Just a second. Did you move back in?
No. I paid the rent up and finished my lease off.
So, that apartment was vacant when you told your daughter
she could move in because you moved out
because there was a suit involving the building manager.
Yes, ma'am.
[Judy] Miss Harris, do you have any idea how this apartment was vandalized?
No, ma'am.
And on what date did you leave the apartment?
It had to be, like, January 31st or February 1st.
One of those two days I was gone already because I was gonna get paid soon.
Paid from what?
From the government. The money she's talking about.
She only came on the 3rd, she wanted some money.
I just want you to understand, that's not pay. Pay is when you work.
Okay, regardless, she's talking about when you get some money...
[Judy] When you get your government check.
Yeah. That's what she's talking about.
I want you to see. She admitted that she's gonna, um, tear up my apartment.
You want me to read it or you want read it?
-I want to read it. -[Laretha] Okay.
Right here, she said, "I'm about to get you..." that right... mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. She texted me back and forth, Your Honor.
She was threatening to tear my apartment up already.
[Judy] I don't want you to speak to each other!
She's talking to you.
-[Judy] Both of you! -She ain't talking to me.
Who are you having this conversation with
where you say, "I'm just trying to help you get your money"?
Yeah, she said-- She text me--
[Judy] Shh!
I don't know why she text me-- Okay.
[whispers] What's that about?
Only thing I could do to help her was show up.
If I show up and if she wins, then that's help.
Now, I want you-- Stand up, don't lean over.
I have hearing loss. If I'm doing this, it's 'cause I can't hear you.
She can vouch for that. I can't hear you.
I understand hearing loss, but I do understand
that you're leaning over for a different reason.
I want you to tell me what money you were talking about
in your text to her when you say, "I'm just trying to get you your money."
Money for what?
For whatever she thought she was suing me for.
I didn't have a counterclaim, I have no issue.
I came here for closure. After this day, this woman will never see us again.
That's why I'm here. You want me to show up or not.
I'm missing work, I'm taking days off,
trying to schedule plane tickets and all of this.
I don't have time for that. I've got my own life, my own kids,
and I'm dealing with what I'm dealing with.
If you want help to get whatever you're trying to get,
I'm supposed to show up, she's supposed to get an appearance.
I don't need the appearance. Give it to her, she needs it.
Like that, that's exactly where I'm at with it.
-[Judy] Great! -Yeah.
Great, this case is now resolved. You getting an appearance fee?
-Yes. -[Judy] How much?
-No, no. -Yes, you are.
-You know you are. -[Janet] Hm!
-[Judy] So are you. -I don't even need it.
-How much was the appearance-- -[Janet] $500.
Five-hundred. So you were getting $500?
-You're gonna give that to your mother? -I will.
Very good. That covers the expense of cleaning up the graffiti.
-We are done. -[Janet] Thank you!
[Kevin] This court is adjourned.
[theme music playing]
My mom came here, she's trying to get some money for her apartment.
I didn't damage it, squatters damaged it.
That's a lie, there's no squatters nowhere.
Like I said, the best I can do for you is $500. Take it.
I bought her plane tickets to fly out here.
We had a verbal agreement that she's gonna pay me back, and she didn't pay me.
Greed is her thing. She wanted a bigger house.
She wanted my kids to be on her Section 8 housing,
so she could get a house and get out of the apartment.
That's a lie. She's lying.
I haven't been in my mom's care since I was ten years old. I'm 31.
She can stay over there and I'm stay over here.
I came here for my closure. I came here,
it's the last time I'm gonna see and speak to you, and we're done.
-That daughter was so lovely. -Mm-hmm.
Very soft spoken. But clearly bounced around
between the two grandmothers, a cousin, a friend, a girlfriend,
and whatever. She's living with somebody else now,
I don't know who else, a girlfriend, she said.
But it's interesting that the defendant had been in foster care
for most of her childhood.
I was gonna say, it was a vicious cycle. From the time she was 8 to 18.
Terrible.
I just really wanted to make certain, in my own head,
that there wasn't any active abuse going on.
Which is really why I spoke to the girl.
I think that was necessary and called for.
It doesn't appear that there was.
[narrator] Are you having a family dispute?
Go to JudyJustice.tv.
[theme music playing]