[Judge Judy] She invited you to live in her home with her mother.
She offered to help me.
I'm a 47-year-old man.
I can't be living in a home with my girlfriend and her mom.
It's, it's embarrassing.
You're preaching to the choir.
[announcer] This is Judy Justice.
[theme music playing]
[announcer] Gina Salazar is suing her ex-boyfriend,
Vincent Salgado,
for unpaid loans and car damages.
[Kevin] Court come to order.
Have a seat, please.
Hello, Judge.
- How are you? - Case number 1130 Salazar versus Salgado.
- [Judge Judy] Thank you. - [Kevin] You're welcome.
[Judge Judy] Ms. Salazar, the defendant is a former boyfriend of yours.
- Correct. - Claim he owes you some money.
- Yes. - [Judge Judy] One for loan
- and one for damaging your car. - Correct.
[Judge Judy] Who do you live with, Ms. Salazar?
- [Gina] My mother. - [Judge Judy] In her house?
Correct, yes.
[Judge Judy] How old are you?
Thirty-seven.
- Do you work? - [Gina] Yes.
- What kind of work do you do? - I do medical billing.
- [Judge Judy] Does your mom work? - Yes.
So it's just the two of you living together?
- Yes. - And Mr. Salgado, how old are you, sir?
I'm 47.
[Judge Judy] What kind of work do you do?
I'm in construction.
[Judge Judy] Do you work for yourself or with a company?
Uh, with a company.
How long have you been working for them?
A little over two months.
How much do you earn.
Twenty-two an hour.
And who do you live with?
I'm currently in a men's home right now.
[Judge Judy] So this is the story.
You and Mr. Salgado, according to you,
had had sort of a relationship.
And then Mr. Salgado went to prison
- for a period of time. - Yes.
And it's clear from seeing you, Mr. Salgado,
that the information that you put in your answer appears to me,
who has this relatively seasoned nose, that it's accurate.
That you say when you got out of prison,
you had sort of gotten your act together.
- Yeah. - [Judge Judy] You were clean and sober.
You've been clean and sober for how long?
Almost, almost two years.
- Feel better? - [Vincent] Yes.
- You look fine. - [laughs]
[Judge Judy] Anyway, you got out of prison.
And according to what I read,
Ms. Salazar invited you
- to live in her home? - No.
- [Judge Judy] With her mother. - Sorry.
- [Judge Judy] Is that what happened? - No.
[Judge Judy] Did you live in her home with her mother?
- I did. - From when to when?
It was briefly.
- Well, let's start with this. - [Vincent] Okay.
When were you released from custody?
Like two year...almost two years ago.
[Judge Judy] Is it when you were released from custody
that you went into a facility?
A rehab facility?
Uh, no, I had just recently moved into a facility voluntarily.
It was voluntary. Um...
- No, I meant a voluntary facility. - [Vincent] I had...
Yeah, I had no place to stay. So, um...
[Judge Judy] When were you in a facility?
- What month and year? - From the beginning of September till...
- September till now. - You were released from prison
- two years ago. - [Vincent] Yeah.
[Judge Judy] Where did you go to live?
At the time, my current girlfriend.
So as soon as you were released from prison,
- you went to live with your girlfriend. - Yes.
[Judge Judy] How did you connect with Ms. Salazar?
[Vincent] When I was in prison, she was looking out for me.
We stood in touch.
But when I got out, I kind of like, just like, stopped talking to her.
I didn't talk to her when I... when I got out for, like, a few months.
And from then, it was...we started talking again,
we kind of rekindled the relationship.
[Judge Judy] How did you end up living with her and her mother?
And when did that happen?
Well, again, I... things turned out bad with me
and my girlfriend then.
I kind of went to...I was on the... staying here and there
with friend's house. And then once we started talking again.
So you broke up with your then girlfriend.
- [Vincent] Yes. - And you and Ms. Salazar
- started talking again? - Yes.
[Judge Judy] 'Cause you were staying with friends?
- [Vincent] Uh, yeah. - And it was sort of convenient.
Did she volunteer a place to live to you
or did you ask her?
[Vincent] She, she told me that I can come stay with her.
[Judge Judy] Okay.
And you knew that she liked you.
Um, yeah, she loved me.
[Judge Judy] Okay. And you knew that.
- Yes. - [Judge Judy] But if I were to guess,
and so far, Mr. Salgado,
you've been right on the money.
If I were to suggest to you did you love Ms. Salazar,
you would say no.
[Vincent] Um, that's not true.
Well, now you're back with your old girlfriend,
- correct? - No.
[Judge Judy] I said where were you staying?
- You said, "I'm staying with..." - No, I was.
- [Judge Judy] Oh. - No.
Well, before you went into this men's place,
where you're living now,
you were living with...
right before you were living with your then old girlfriend.
No, it was...it was a men's home, on the streets for a little bit.
- Then it was with her. - And then?
[Vincent] And then it was my, uh, on the streets for a little bit,
then with my, um, my girlfriend at that time,
and before that, it was a jail cell.
Well, the girl... your girlfriend of that time.
- At that time. Yeah. - [Judge Judy] Okay.
Do you remember the month and date
that you moved into Ms. Salazar's home with her mother?
January, beginning of the year.
Was her mother happy that you were there?
[Vincent] I wasn't really happy.
- Because... - [Judge Judy] You weren't happy.
Actually, Ms. Salazar says you weren't happy there.
- How long did you stay? - [Vincent] Only a couple months
'cause I just didn't feel right.
Because I mean, I'm a 47-year-old man.
I can't be living in a home with my...
with my girlfriend and, and her mom. It's just...
[Judge Judy] Listen, you don't have to be preaching to the choir.
(chuckles) I actually understand that.
[Vincent] It's embarrassing, you know what I mean?
- It's embarrassing. - [Judge Judy] Right, right.
So, you had gotten a job in construction.
- Had you gotten a job in construction? - Yes.
Then so you were making money.
[Vincent] At that time, no.
So where did you go when you moved out of her house?
Again with friends.
I was trying to stay positive.
And I was trying to continue to do good
'cause I wasn t trying to go back to what I used to do.
Did there come a time when Ms. Salazar would...
this is her case.
And I'm not sure about all of it.
But, did there come a time when Ms. Salazar bought you some tools?
- Yes. - Do you remember when that was?
[Vincent] Right after I kind of... I moved in with her.
She, um, she offered to help me.
[Judge Judy] Well, tell me about the conversation.
Because that's part of this lawsuit, the tools,
which I assume you still have.
Actually they were, um, recently stolen out of my truck, last week.
Oh, that's too bad. But you did have them.
- I did have them, yeah. - And you did use them at your job.
- Yes. - [Judge Judy] That you said you've had
- for at least the last couple of months. - Yeah.
Tell me about the conversation with the tools.
At the time I was looking for work, in the construction trade
you need your own... you need your own tools.
- And so she had... - [Judge Judy] So you...you had to have
told her that, that's something...
that somebody who's involved in medical billing
doesn't know that you need your own tools if you're going to work construction.
So you must have said, "I would like to work in construction.
But I need my tools.
- I don't have the money for it." - [Vincent] Yeah, yeah. And she...
- Something like that. - Yeah.
That's interesting, 'cause you're a 47-year-old man
who said he couldn't be living with a girl and her mother
in her house like a teenager.
And here, somebody is giving you money.
And a 47-year-old man
who wants to be considered a grown up would say,
"I'm gonna pay you back."
[theme music playing]
[announcer] Gina Salazar claims her ex-boyfriend,
Vincent Salgado,
owes for unpaid loans and car damages.
So you must have said, "I would like to work in construction.
But I need my tools.
- I don't have the money for it." - Yeah. Yeah. And...
- [Judge Judy] Something like that. - Yeah.
And she offered to help me.
[Judge Judy] And what did she say?
[Vincent] She asked me if she can help me
- with getting what I needed. - How did it come about it?
Did you get what you needed and she gave you the cash
or did she give you a credit card?
She took me to go get them.
- [Judge Judy] You went with her... - Yeah. But...
Don't, don t be waving papers
- in my face. - [Gina] Sorry.
- Okay. - She took you to go get them.
- [Vincent] Yeah. - And she put them on her credit card.
Actually, no, she had...she went with me but she had gave me the cash.
How much cash did she give you?
[Vincent] Uh, it was like, like, 6, 700 bucks at the time.
[Judge Judy] And she gave you the cash before you went to the store
- or when it was... - When we were there
'cause she doesn't like shopping.
So, she gave me the cash.
And I went in and bought what I needed.
- [Judge Judy] So she stayed outside. - [Vincent] Yes.
[Judge Judy] She didn't go into the tool place with you.
- Yeah. She don t like stopping at... - [Judge Judy] Stayed in the car.
- [Vincent] Yeah. - Looked at Instagram...
- [Vincent] Yeah. - ...looked at Facebook,
- she stayed in the car. - Yeah.
[Judge Judy] Did you bring back any change to her
when she gave you the money or did...
She didn t ask for it so I kept it.
- [Judge Judy] Okay. - [Vincent] There really wasn't much left
- because I spent it all. - [Judge Judy] Okay.
And what arrangements did you make with her
to pay her back for this money?
Did you say to her something like, "You know, when I get a job"?
- Uh, no. - [Judge Judy] You didn't.
- No. - That's interesting,
'cause you're a 47-year-old man
who said he couldn't be living
with a girl and her mother in her house
like a, you know, like a teenager.
And here somebody is giving you money
so that you can work,
and a 47-year-old man
who wants to be considered a grown up...
- Yeah. - [Judge Judy] ...would say,
"You know when I get a job,
with these tools that you just bought for me,
I'm gonna pay you back."
[Vincent] Well, I didn t actually tell her I was gonna pay her back.
I was going to...I was gonna pay her back.
But it was nothing like...it was... it was verbally spoken or like that.
So, it was your intention to pay her back.
- Yeah. Full intention. - [Judge Judy] ...because she was doing
- something nice for you. - [Vincent] Yeah.
[Judge Judy] So that you could continue to rehabilitate yourself.
- Yeah. - [Judge Judy] Great.
Now, at some point, you split up
- and you're... - [Vincent] Yes.
...back with, uh, whatever you made with friends,
you didn't want to stay with her.
You continued to see her even after you moved out of her mother's house.
- And you were working. - [Vincent] When I moved out, no.
I got the job after. I had...
- [Judge Judy] How much after? - It was, um, I don t know, like,
I had gotten sick in July,
I got COVID.
So right after that, after I got better, and I started working.
[Judge Judy] How did you support yourself?
Did you get any stimulus money?
No.
- [Judge Judy] How did you... - I went to...I went to go stay
with my girlfriend before that.
I went back over there.
[Judge Judy] Well, that's what I thought before.
And I asked you that, and you said, no, but...
Oh, yeah, but that was briefly, it wasn't like I wasn't staying there.
- I...I'd gotten sick. - [Judge Judy] No, I just wanna know
how you were supporting yourself.
I wasn't.
But you're working now and you started to work
according to you a couple of months ago...
and you had every intention of paying her back,
the money that she gave you for the tools.
Did you ever start to pay her back the money?
I did not.
You wanna tell me why?
Had a truck that needed tags that needed to be paid.
- Um, and those were expensive. - So she wasn't on the priority list.
- [Vincent] No, she was on the list. - But you...but she was on the list.
- Yeah. - [Judge Judy] How much were the tools
that you can prove to me?
May I have the...uh-hmm.
Okay.
See Mr. Salgado, how easy this is?
- This is such an easy job. - [Sarah] [indistinct]
[Judge Judy] I don't know what you're giving me.
I asked you how much the tools were.
If what you're saying to me, Ms. Salazar,
is that what Mr. Salgado told me was not truthful,
And...what you're gonna tell me is truthful about the tools,
I'm gonna tell you now that he has totally
fessed up to the fact
that he owes you for the tools.
He says you gave him cash, stayed in the car,
and he went in and purchased the tools, he kept the change.
You gave me a whole bunch of stuff here, nothing there has to do with tools.
Nothing. Kevin is going to return that to you.
- Okay. - [Judge Judy] All I want to see
is anything for the tools.
If in fact you gave him cash,
listen to me,
so then show me the receipt for the tools.
No, I have the Zelle transfers that I sent him.
I never gave him cash.
I sent him through my bank to his bank.
I sent him money. I never went with him shopping.
[Judge Judy] Okay. I want to see
the tools, Ms. Salazar,
- tools. - There.
[Judge Judy] The cash for...
that's $134.
No. Four hundred.
- [Judge Judy] Four hundred. - Yes.
[Judge Judy] He says you gave him
- six or seven hundred. - I...yeah.
So, why...so why don't you say
- that s about right? - [Gina] This is a 400...this is...
So what you should say to me is that's about right, I gave him...
[Gina] No, not all at once.
I...like he asked for it different times.
He never asked for a lump sum.
I gave him money in April, like throughout April,
because he started work in April, he started a new job in May,
and then he started a new job in July,
with different companies.
So he needed new tools for each job.
What I'm telling you is the complaint that you signed,
you said "In January of 2021,
he asked me if he could borrow some money to buy tools,
and promised to pay me back.
I lent him a total of $1,500."
That is for tools.
- From January to July. - No, that is for tools.
I'm not talking about loans or the moneys
- that you gave him. - [Gina] No, they're from his...
- ...I'm only talking about tools. - Tools and work-related stuff.
[Judge Judy] No, not work-related stuff...
- Well, yeah, it's work gear. - [Judge Judy] ...tools.
Tools.
- To buy tools. - Okay.
[Judge Judy] You have two parts of your claim,
loan to buy tools
and damage that you allege to your car.
- Yeah. - [Judge Judy] He says...
I'm just telling you what he says.
Mr. Salgado says that you gave them
between six and seven hundred dollars for tools.
And if I were you, I would say
that he intended to return to you that you were on the list.
(chuckles) If I were you, I would say, "That's right."
Because your bill for tools is $400.
No.
Do you understand? You could be mad,
but you have to be smart mad.
[Gina] There's more than 400 here.
- What I'm telling you is tools... - [Gina] Yes.
...not other money that you gave him for anything else.
- This is the tools. - [Judge Judy] Just tools.
[theme music playing]
He says, "I never drove her car into a pole, I never caused any damage."
So I wanna see anywhere in those three months when you say to him,
"Hey, I wanna get my car fixed."
[announcer] Gina Salazar is accusing her ex-boyfriend,
Vincent Salgado, of damaging her car.
He says he borrowed the car but did not cause any damage.
Okay, how much were the tools?
- [Gina] This one is five... - And what...
- ...five hundred thirty nine dollars. - [Judge Judy] And what month?
- What? - This one's $539.
- [Judge Judy] In what month? - [Gina] In April.
No, February and April.
Okay. What was it in February?
'Cause you say January.
[Gina] That s...well, no, from January, it was like little...
- Just...I don t want little. - [Gina] But that's not the tools.
- So the tools started in February. - [Judge Judy] I want tools.
[Gina] So he was gonna start work in March.
- So...he, he... - [Judge Judy] Ms. Salazar.
- I gave him the money in February. - [Judge Judy] Ms. Salazar.
Yes.
How much money did you give him for tools?
$539.
[Judge Judy] Okay. Five thirty-nine. Perfect.
That's what she says she gave you for tools
that you intended to return to her.
But she wasn't on your shortlist.
She was on your longer list.
She was on the list.
[Judge Judy] On the list.
Okay, now the next thing that you claim
- is that he damaged your car. - [Gina] Correct.
And he damaged your car on what date.
- May 4th. - [Judge Judy] Now in May,
you were no longer together.
[Gina] No, we were.
- Were you living together? - We...he wasn't living with me though.
- [Judge Judy] Hmm? - He wasn't living with me at that time.
But we were together.
- Because it was my birthday. - [Judge Judy] Where?
Where were you together on May 4th?
In Santa Monica. At the Holiday Inn.
- [Judge Judy] Do you remember that, sir? - Uh, yes.
If my memory is correct from reading the papers,
- that was your birthday. - [Gina] Correct.
[Judge Judy] So we both acknowledge
that we were there at the Holiday Inn on May 4th.
When did you get there, Mr. Salgado?
The day before?
Were you spending the weekend or just the night?
I was working.
Yeah. I was working out that way.
[Judge Judy] So you were just going for the night?
[Vincent] It was her birthday.
May 4th was a Tuesday, Your Honor.
[Judge Judy] May 4th was a Tuesday.
- Yeah. - So you were just spending the night?
Uh, yeah.
How far is that from your construction job?
It wasn't too far. It was in the same...
- Who got the room at the holiday Inn? - I did.
- When did you get it? - [Gina] On the 3rd.
Because he just started work on the 3rd at that company.
So instead of driving back and forth,
I got a room next to where he's working.
[Judge Judy] Okay. And you say at some point,
- something happened with your car. - [Gina] Right.
You wanna tell me what happened with your car?
Yes, he was hungry. He wanted to get something to eat.
- I didn't wanna go. - [Judge Judy] When was that?
- On the 4th? - On the 4th. Uh-hmm.
- [Judge Judy] Uh-hmm. - Around 8:00 and I didn't wanna go.
So, he grabbed my keys and walked downstairs and I followed him.
And by the time I got downstairs, he was already backing up,
like, to leave and he hit a pole
and like it's a brand new car.
That wasn't me.
- Okay. Did that happen, Mr. Salgado? - [Vincent] No, I didn't do it.
I don't know who did that.
- What? - Did anything happened on May 4th?
Um, no.
When did you no longer have contact
with the plaintiff?
Uh, like a week or so after that.
- Wow. - [Judge Judy] Did you spend the night
- at the hotel on May 4th? - I did.
[Judge Judy] Did she?
- Yes. - Did you stay together in the same room?
- Yes. - [Judge Judy] Did you leave on the 5th?
The following morning, yes.
[Judge Judy] After that,
which was May 5th,
did you see Ms. Salazar again?
We'd seen each other a couple of times.
And, um, some things happened
and I kind of, like, went my way.
Tell me when the last time was that you saw her.
The beginning of June maybe.
So, the whole month of May, you were in fact in touch.
Would that be a fair statement, Ms. Salazar...
- [Gina] Yeah. - ...that you were in fact in touch
- and did see the defendant? - Correct.
And when you saw the defendant
between May and June,
when he decided that it was over.
It wasn't over in June.
- [Judge Judy] It wasn't over in June? - No.
- [Judge Judy] When was it over? - In July.
- The end of July. - [Judge Judy] Okay.
So for those two months...
excuse me, three months,
May, June, and July,
- you continued to see him. - Yes.
- But you didn't live together. - [Gina] No.
[Judge Judy] Did you have your car fixed?
- No, not yet. - I would like to see any communication
that you have with Mr. Salgado
with regard to the car damage.
He says that never took place.
He says, "I never drove her car into a pole.
I never caused any damage."
So I wanna see anywhere in those three months when you say to him,
"Hey, I wanna get my car fixed."
[Gina] Well, it wasn't through text.
- We didn't text about my car. - Just a second, just a second.
- You have a lot of text messages. - [Gina] Oh, yeah,
I have a lot of text messages for money that he asked for.
[Judge Judy] So you had no conversation
- about the car? - In person.
[Judge Judy] In texts?
- No, in person. - [Judge Judy] Fine.
And...you can't prove that to me because he says it never happened.
He says, "Backing into a pole never happened."
And clearly it wasn't that urgently important to you
because you continued to see him for the next three months.
- We have. - Now after the three-month period
and after you were no longer together,
do you have any text messages
that discuss with him
let's do two things,
either the tools or the car.
- From after? - [Judge Judy] After.
No, I stopped contacting him after July.
So it would be fair that you have no communication with him
- with regard to the car. - In person only.
Okay. Did you drive her car into a pole?
No.
[Judge Judy] Did you take her car out?
I did drive it that day.
[Judge Judy] Where did you drive it?
I went to go get something to eat.
Okay, was there an accident?
Did you hit a pole? Did, did you touch an object?
- I did not. I... - Do you have a photograph of the car?
- No, I don't. - [Judge Judy] Just a second.
You don't have a photograph of the damage that you say he did to the car?
[Vincent] No, I just have the quote from the...
No. Okay. Not enough for me.
Okay, so $539.
Judgment for the plaintiff, that's what you owe for the tools.
- We're finished. Thank you very much. - [Kevin] Court is adjourned.
He wrecked my car, I didn't wreck my car.
I think the, um, the judge did what she's supposed to do
and, uh, I'm pretty much happy with it.
He was supposed to be fixing it.
I wasn't gonna fix it. I didn't do it.
Uh, I went to go to something to eat and I brought the car back.
I saw him.
Yeah. I was in front of him when he did it.
It's a brand new car.
Just be done with this and go get something to eat, I'm hungry.
And right when I got outside,
- he hit the pole. - I didn't.
You know, Sarah, I really think
that the defendant in that case
was trying to get himself together.
And I think the plaintiff really loved him.
Sticky situation that we've seen before.
Yeah, I really wanted him to be able to be self-sustaining...
and self-supporting or you know do all the right things.
I was glad that he said, "I didn't say it her,
but I was going to pay her back for the tools
because it was the right thing to do."
It was just not the top priority.
She was a non-pressing creditor.
I really don't think that anything happened with her car
'cause if something happens with your car
- and there's damage to your car... - Take photos.
...you take a photograph so that you can see
what happened to your car.
I mean, he may have tapped a pole when he went out to get something to eat.
But that didn't make a lawsuit without a photograph.
I wonder what those sad,
sad cases of unrequited love.
Hmm.
I hope he continues to do well.
- Seemed like a nice enough man. - Uh-hmm.
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[theme music playing]