He's got your truck. You say, "Fix it."
[Dena] Mm-hmm.
She verbally told me that it was stolen.
And I don't want anything to do with a stolen vehicle.
No, it's not stolen.
You don't have the bill of sale, you don't have any pink slip on it.
No, they got stolen.
[laughs]
What you just told me is a lie.
[announcer] Today on Tribunal Justice.
[theme music playing]
[announcer] This case was filed in Bakersfield, California.
Judge, this is case number 1078 on the calendar
in the matter of Vanscoy versus Walker.
Parties have been sworn in. You may be seated.
-Thank you, Byrd. -[Byrd] Yep.
[Patricia] Ms. Vanscoy. Mr. Walker.
About two years ago, you bought a 20-year-old Ford pickup truck.
You paid about $3,000 for it back then.
You said it ran for a while.
But after a few months, it started to make a slight knocking sound.
You and the defendant were good friends at the time.
You knew he was unemployed.
He does some side work as a mechanic.
You knew if you brought the car to him, it would be quick and inexpensive.
So you reached out.
You came up with an oral agreement where you would pay him $600
and buy the parts, and he would fix your car, check it out.
So you said it needed an oxygen sensor and a carburetor cleaner,
something like that.
-Would that be correct? -Uh, partially.
The prices started to add up. Things were happening.
You had a friend who went to jail,
and his parents said you could buy his car.
It didn't run, but you could've bought it for parts.
You bought the car.
Ends up that you needed that engine, you felt,
'cause it would be cheaper in the long run.
Well, it didn't turn out quite that way.
But the bottom line is, you said you gave him $600,
he only did $200 worth of work, you want 400.
You say you did at least $400 worth of work.
You don't owe her anything. She basically breached the contract.
So tell us about your truck.
Well, yeah, first, um, he said, "I'll work on the truck."
"I'll give you $600," to make his truck payment.
And you were gonna buy the parts too.
[Dena] Yeah, I was gonna buy all the parts and everything.
Okay.
And then right when he made his truck payment
or whatever he did with the $600,
then all of a sudden, my truck had to be towed away from his place.
Okay. So far, accurate?
No.
[Patricia] How could that be?
[Anthony] Well, the very first thing out of her mouth was,
after she dropped the car off, it had to immediately be towed away.
I had that vehicle for almost three and a half weeks,
first of all, and she brought this car and said it needed smogged.
[Patricia] But wait, did she pay you up front like she just said?
Yes. Yes, she did.
-So she gave you the 600 up front. -Yes, she did.
When you told her it needed the O2 sensor and the other thing--
That is incorrect. There was a whole lot more than that.
The O2 sensors behind the cat-- there was nothing there.
I had to literally weld a new piece in there to hold 'em.
-And I had no idea... Did you ask that it be fixed for smog?
-One second. -...about any knocking.
Did you get it? Did you need it smogged?
No, I just wanted the truck fixed and running again
so I could go back and forth to work.
But you can't drive a truck that's not smogged.
I needed it to be fixed before I got it smogged.
Were you going to do the smog test?
[Anthony] An O2 sensor is for smog.
I already knew that this vehicle had major issues.
What I didn't know, that the inside of that engine was shattered, basically.
Does he tell you you have an engine problem?
Well, yes, he sent me pictures of the cracked engine
after he took off the intake and the valve covers
and the rocker boxes.
Now you decide you're gonna put a new engine in.
Do you ever get an engine?
Yes, I have another engine.
Where did you get it? Is that from the--
-[Dena] I got it from my friend-- -The guy in jail, his car?
-Yeah, his parents sold me the whole car. -A stolen one.
No, it's not stolen.
And I don't want anything to do with a stolen vehicle.
What was the indication that the car was stolen?
There was no locks. One of the windows was broken.
The back rear window was broken out.
I mean, it was not rocket science that it was stolen.
Okay. How do you know it just wasn't abandoned by these people?
I don't know if it was or not. She didn't have a title for it.
Okay, so you decide it's stolen. You tell her, "I'm not putting it in.
I strictly asked her, "Do you have a title or any paperwork on this vehicle?"
-And she says, "No, I do not." -[Patricia] No.
Did you ever bring him any of the documents for that vehicle?
No, it was on my property. He just came to look at it.
I didn't, at the time, I didn't go,
"Oh, look, I got the pink slip" or anything.
I just didn't think it really mattered.
What kind of car was this that you bought?
It was a Ford Expedition.
[Patricia] How old was it?
[Dena] I don't know exactly what year it was.
Approximately.
It was maybe 2002.
And now you say that your landlord won't let you work on the truck
in your driveway, or was that a lie just to get her out?
She had a problem with me working on it.
Yeah, I would too. I don't want people fixing cars in my garage.
[Anthony] I worked on it.
[Patricia] How much work would you say you did?
I got 26 hours in that vehicle.
Twenty-six? You could've built the whole car.
I sure could've. You look at the wiring that had to be done, you would know that.
And she towed it because I told her,
"I cannot have this vehicle just sitting here
without you being able to pay for the engine or pay for the parts."
So once you had the car towed, you knew you couldn't do any work on it.
Me not being able to work on it there
had nothing to do with why she took that vehicle.
She took the vehicle because I said, "It cannot just be sitting here
unless you have the money or come up with these parts."
The problem is you just keep talking.
Okay, I'm sorry. Apologize.
[Patricia] You couldn't continue to work on the truck
because you said she wasn't paying you any more money.
That particular time when that vehicle was there, when I asked for the part
and what needed to be replaced,
she had no funds whatsoever to pay for anything.
But she brings you this engine, but you refused to put the engine--
Whether you're right or wrong about it, you just didn't wanna put the engine in.
So when she takes the car, it has had some work,
not enough to put it back into running shape.
You don't have it anymore. She's got it towed to a new guy.
Does he ever put that engine in?
The engine is not in. I put--
Me and my cousin put in half of that engine, the engine bock,
'cause there was more parts on it.
[Patricia] Does the truck run?
No, it does not run.
So what about the truck you bought from your friend's parents?
[Dena] I pulled the engine out of it,
and I sold the body to someone else who needed parts.
And I gave them the pink slip and the body and everything.
So you have the truck. It still doesn't run.
You have an engine. It's not in the truck.
-[Dena] Right, it's just-- -And you paid him six.
Right, I paid him six.
[Patricia] You agree he did 200.
I paid $200 more to have the other mechanic say,
"Oh, this engine's not, so you gotta get another engine."
-[Patricia] All right, I'm done. -So I got another engine.
[Patricia] I think I got it.
I feel like I'm not running on all cylinders anymore.
-Judge Levy. -[clears throat] Thank you.
Ms. Vanscoy, I just wanna bring you back.
Okay.
When was it that you purchased this Ford F-150?
The one that you wanted the defendant here to get up and running.
2020.
When in 2020?
I don't know exactly what month. I don't know exactly.
I don't have the paper that I got, the bill of sale.
It got stolen when my place got broken into.
So I don't remember exactly
without having the paperwork in front of me.
So this Ford F-150, you don't have the bill of sale,
you don't have any pink slip on it.
No, they got stolen.
[Adam] They got stolen.
You have the title to the car?
They got stolen after all this took place.
And you don't have registration to the car?
[Dena] No, I haven't went.
I'm not gonna go register a car that doesn't even have an engine in it.
Well, no, no, no. No, the Ford F-150, it has an engine in it.
It just wasn't able to get smog tested.
So you bought it in 2020.
And what I wanna know is-- 'cause you said it was running.
I wanna know how long you were driving that Ford F-150 for
before you dropped it off at his house.
Maybe six months, seven months.
And you're just guessing?
Yes, I am guessing.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
This is how we're gonna do this.
You're gonna say something. I know you're lying.
I'm gonna ask you questions,
and then you're gonna realize that you were lying,
and you're gonna move on to another point.
So either you're gonna admit what you can't deny,
or you're gonna deny it and you're gonna be looking foolish.
[theme music playing]
[announcer] Dena Vanscoy is suing her former friend,
Anthony Walker, for a refund of truck repairs
Anthony never finished.
Anthony claims he did plenty of work on her truck,
but refused to put in a stolen engine.
So that means that you bought it in 2020,
and then you drove it all through 2020 and all through 2021,
until you dropped it off at his place.
Yeah, until it started to break. Correct.
[Adam] No. Well, no, because what I'm hearing--
[Dena] I drove it for a little bit and it started to break.
What I'm hearing is that your truck was in such bad shape,
that you had to weld pieces together and do all new wiring to get smog tested.
So my point to you is, listen, you were driving a car,
you didn't have it registered.
It wasn't insured.
It wasn't smog tested.
You were just driving it around until it wouldn't drive anymore,
and that's why you dropped it off at his house.
[Dena] The truck was in great condition.
Here's a picture of my truck right here. It was in good condition.
[Adam] Oh, really?
[Dena] Yes, it was.
-It was in great condition? -[Dena] And it ran for a long while.
-It was in such great condit-- -[Dena] Then it started knocking.
-[Adam] It was in-- hold on. -And he was gonna fix it.
[Adam] Hold on.
It was in such great condition that you said that it needed a whole new engine.
So explain to me then approximately when it went
from being in such great condition
until it went to being this two-and-a-half-ton pile of junk.
Okay, okay.
All it had was a knock in it.
All he was gonna do is fix the knock.
I don't know where any wiring or anything came about.
-He-- -[Adam] A knock?
He sent me pictures of it.
Hold on. Stop! I'm gonna stop you.
I'm gonna stop you 'cause this is how we're gonna do this.
You're gonna say something. I know you're lying.
I'm gonna ask you questions,
and then you're gonna realize that you were lying,
and you're gonna move on to another point.
So either you're gonna admit what you can't deny,
or you're gonna deny it and you're gonna be looking foolish.
So when you say that you dropped it off to him,
you dropped it off because, what you're saying, it was knocking.
It had a slight knock in it, yes.
-[Adam laughs] -That's because--
-It had a knock. -[Dena] If you look at the picture...
-Oh, no, no, I'm not looking. -...the rocker arms were coming off of it.
Ms. Vanscoy, I'm not looking at a picture of an engine.
I don't know whose engine that is. I don't know care whose engine that is.
All I care about, number one, here are the facts.
You bought a truck, you don't have the title,
the registration.
You have no insurance information for it.
[Dena] I have the title and registration.
You have? Show it to me.
They got stolen, but I did have them at the time.
So you don't have them.
So I'm gonna take judicial notice of the fact you don't have them.
This is your big day in court to prove that this car was operational,
it was licensed, it was registered, it was insured.
You didn't bring any of that,
so I'm gonna take official notice of what I have to.
You then give it to him and you say that you want him to fix it.
Now, you know that he's not a full-time mechanic, right?
I guess he's not a mechanic.
Well, why don't you tell me, what did you think he did for a living?
Well, he wasn't doing nothing at the time 'cause he was unemployed.
[Adam] Oh, so he could've been like a librarian
who read lots of books on how to fix stuff.
You have absolutely no idea if he knows how to fix your Ford F-150.
[Dena] I knew he knew how 'cause he built his own little truck.
-Oh. -[Dena] Like, a '54 Chevy.
So you have absolutely no idea what this man did for a living,
but you feel comfortable giving him 600 bucks...
He works in an oil field.
...and to do the best he can with your truck.
Now, he tells you that it needs to be smog tested.
That's why you need the O2 censor.
I know absolutely nothing really about that, not from California.
I will, however, say that that is what an O2 censor is for.
That's what you know it's for. You know what it's not for? Knocking.
-That's what it's not for. -I know this.
[Adam] He's telling you that you've gotta get him parts and wiring
for smog testing.
So you never told him about the knock, did you?
He sent me pictures.
[Adam] Show me. You know what? I'll make it easy.
I'm gonna make it easy. Show me a text message.
-Ms. Vanscoy. -[Anthony] After I tore it apart.
Right now, you're doing okay. We don't need you.
-He tore it apart-- -[Adam] Ms. Vanscoy. Ms. Vanscoy.
-This is why it was knocking. -[Adam] Ms. Vanscoy.
You got a phone? You got a cell phone there?
-[Dena] If you would listen to me-- -Ms. Vanscoy, you got a cell phone?
[Dena] You're not even listening to me.
I know, because you're trying to show me stuff that I don't wanna hear.
-He's the one that sent me the pictures. -[Adam] I don't care.
So he knew it was knocking.
I'm gonna get to that in a second.
And you're not gonna like the questions
'cause the questions I ask him are gonna show
that what you just told me is a lie.
Well, then he sent me the pictures of this right here.
Let's take those pictures and put them away.
[Dena] Okay, well...
-Put them away. -[Dena] Why'd he send them to me?
-Is that a phone? -Yes, it is.
-[Adam] Is that your phone? -Yes, it is.
And does that phone send text messages
-and receive text messages? -Yes, it does.
I want you to show me on that phone
text messages from when you dropped the Ford F-150
in which you said it has a knocking and please fix the knock.
-Take a second. -I didn't text message that.
I was at his house talking to him about it.
[Adam] Okay, so--
And I gave him $600 to find out what the knocking was about.
So he sent me pictures after he took the intake off
and said, "This is why it's knocking."
And how long did he say, according to you,
that it was gonna take for your car to be fixed
when you first dropped it off at his house?
I can't believe the exact time he told me.
It shouldn't have taken him very long at all.
It should take maybe two weeks to fix it, maybe.
Not even that long.
Okay, my question, how long did he say it was gonna take?
Well, he said he was gonna have it done it within a week.
I said, "Can you do it within a week?"
So he did say how long.
Ms. Vanscoy, I pay very close attention to what people are saying to me.
Right? And what happens is--
But it changes. It changed after that one week.
-Well, Ms. Vanscoy, let's do this. -And I didn't know how long.
Let's do this 'cause these are the notes that I made
after looking at your complaint and the answer.
That you provided us with evidence prior to coming in today
that you claim supports your case and supports your request for $400.
And I wanna get back to that truck,
which we now know that you have no proof of payment for it.
You have no pink slips and all that.
Let's talk about proof of the other car,
this Ford Explorer I think you said it was.
-Yes. -[Adam] Ford Explorer.
You knew that his position was,
he's not going to work on a car that's stolen.
-You know-- -It's not stolen.
I'm not saying that it was.
I'm saying you knew that was his position, right?
-Yeah. -[Adam] Right.
So you, of course, came in today and you wanna have evidence
to show us that the car wasn't stolen.
Right?
Uh, right, I guess so.
Good. Show it to me.
Well, for one, the windows weren't broken.
I don't have anything 'cause I had to sell it afterwards.
Show me the bill of sale.
Okay, I don't have it 'cause I sold it and gave it to the guy.
[Adam] I'm done. Judge Acker.
[Tanya chuckles]
I mean, this is just quite a mess you've got here, Ms. Vanscoy.
Yeah.
[Tanya] I mean, but just take a step back,
and I want you to think about what it is you are asking us to do.
You have come to court with no proof that you own this car,
no proof of what you paid for the car.
This is just your version.
So then you've got this truck, you give it to your friend,
and you say, "I got $600, fix it."
He can't.
So why do you have a lawsuit?
[Dena] That was the deal in the beginning.
-Listen to me. Stop. Stop. -"Can you fix my truck?"
[Tanya] No, there's no deal.
You gave him money to work on a truck.
He was not able to fix your 20-year-old truck.
-I gave him-- -[Tanya] And stop interrupting me.
I've been so patient.
-I've been so patient. -Well, you got it wrong.
What you're saying is wrong.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
Sir, was there ever a point when you said this is just not worth it?
I told her that before the job even started.
So why'd you take the money?
Because I needed my truck payment and at that particular time,
doing the smog, I'd get her smog going.
I would do the wiring--
[Tanya] You actually just helped her a little bit.
I don't believe you either.
[theme music playing]
[Tanya] What part is wrong? Was the truck 20 years old?
I gave him $600 to make his truck payment.
Was the truck 20 years old?
Yes, it was.
And how am I to know that it was his incompetence,
his negligence, or just your old, crappy truck?
-How do I know what the problem is? -[Dena] If you take a look at the truck,
it was not crappy, for one.
Oh, my goodness, ma'am.
-[Dena] You got pictures, correct? -I do.
I do have pictures, but you understand how mechanics work.
You cannot show three decision-makers
a picture of a vehicle and say,
"Look, it's in great shape, and I had to get him to fix it."
Do we have a video of this truck?
-[Dena] Yeah-- -Did I hear that?
Can we play the video?
[Dena] That's how it sits now
'cause I'm trying to put another engine in it myself.
So what I'm trying to explain to you,
Ms. Vanscoy, is that simply by virtue of the fact that something is wrong
doesn't mean that it's his fault.
It's an old truck.
It is your burden to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence
that whatever is wrong with your truck is his fault
and he should give you the money back.
I have heard the testimony that it's his fault
and he should give you the money back.
There's no evidence to dispute that he spent 26 hours
on this 20-year-old truck.
I am not sure if I'm simply just wasting my time.
He only did $200 worth of work to the truck.
And you know it was $200 for what reason?
How do you come up with--
[Dena] 'Cause I have other mechanics who told me.
Ma'am, ma'am, listen, listen. Will you do me a favor?
It's super-disrespectful when I'm trying to ask a question
and you can't even let me get the question out.
And that makes me think that if you are communicating like this with me
and I'm trying to get information,
I wonder what these communications were like.
You threw him some money and you thought that he was just
gonna make your 20-year-old truck run like a brand-new vehicle?
No, I didn't think it'd run like a brand-new vehicle.
That was the deal we made.
"Hey, if I give you 600 to pay your truck payment,
can you get my truck running again for me?"
[Tanya] And it's your testimony that he said to you,
"For $600, I promise you, I'm gonna get this truck up and running"?
That's what he said to me.
[Tanya] He said, "I guarantee it"?
-[Dena] I said-- Ma'am, you're just winging it.
As a friend, I said, "Hey, if I pay your truck payment for you,
can you get my truck going again for me? 'Cause I need a ride."
He said, "Okay, not a problem."
-'Cause we were friends. -[Tanya] Okay, and you understand,
notwithstanding, their best efforts may sometimes fail.
And you understand that when someone's best efforts fail,
that doesn't necessarily mean that they owe you money.
It might mean that the truck was too old.
That's not the case, though.
How are you gonna prove that?
'Cause the truck had to be towed away from his place
before all this happened.
Sir, was there ever a point when you said this is just not worth it?
I told her that before the job even started.
So why'd you take the money?
Because I needed my truck payment and at that particular time,
doing the smog, I'd get her smog going.
I would do the wiring--
[Tanya] You actually just helped her a little bit.
So what I want to understand is what you told her when you took her money.
Did you just say, "I'm gonna get it smogged,"
or did you also say, "I can get it up and running"?
I said, "I will do the best I can to get it smogged."
I don't believe you either.
I don't. I just, I don't. That's not true.
I didn't know that it wasn't running when it was parked there.
[Tanya] Ms. Vanscoy, you have the burden.
I'm gonna let you have the last word.
So if you've got something that you want to close out on
that is going to connect the dots,
I'll let you try to get there,
but I am not yet able to connect all of those dots,
so why don't you do your best.
[Dena] There was nothing about any smog.
I said, "There's a knock. My truck is knocking.
Can you see what the knocking is?"
So he took the intake off and he took valve covers off
and he took the rocker boxes off.
And then he sent me some pictures of the engine,
which was cracked, and that's why it was knocking, he told me.
You have no evidence that he did anything wrong or that he damaged it.
[Dena] Yes, right here. It's the pictures of the engine right here.
Yeah, the pictures don't cut it. I don't have anything further.
[Patricia] We're gonna retire to deliberate. Thank you both.
Court is now in recess. Parties are excused.
[theme music playing]
Okay, so I wanna show you my notes.
[Patricia] I'm gonna show you my notes. I want you both to look at 'em.
-Dismiss. Dismiss. -[both laugh]
There wasn't a word that she said that was comprehensible,
that made any sense.
The fact that I still don't know what happened to this truck,
or her, or anything else,
tells me that she has not met her burden.
It wasn't truthful at all either, so I'm done. I wanna dismiss.
Yeah, in her complaint, for whatever it's worth,
she says that she brought the car to him to do the smog.
[Patricia] Mm-hmm.
She just failed to establish the necessary elements for money.
And I think that the case also needs to be dismissed.
Couldn't even establish that she bought the truck or that she owned the truck.
So we don't know anything about the care or condition of this truck.
Let's just make short work of this dismissal.
[Patricia] And it was a little fishy. He had to make a car payment.
So she said, "Here, I'll make your car payment, you make my car run."
And I don't think that... I-I have no idea.
I think he did a lot of work for nothing.
All right.
[theme music playing]
This court is back in session.
Parties are reminded you're still under oath.
All right, well, this case was as complicated to us
as I think fixing the truck was.
When we walk away from a case and we are basically all saying,
"I don't know what happened there," that tells us, guess what,
that you didn't make your position clear and you didn't meet your burden of proof.
If you're not making your case and you don't meet your burden of proof,
then that case has to get dismissed.
Now, even if we were to take you at your word that you gave him $600
and you still didn't get the car where you wanted it to be,
you know, I credit his testimony that he worked probably 26 hours.
I don't know why anybody would do that on a car that old,
but he apparently did because he had a deal with you.
So the bottom line is, everybody is saying something happened here
and we don't know how you can show us that he didn't earn what you gave him.
That being said, we're going to dismiss your complaint.
Though I'd love to say you could drive off into the sunset,
not only won't you have the money to do that,
but you don't have the truck either, at this point, that works.
So your case respectfully is dismissed unanimously by the three of us.
This case is now concluded. Parties are excused. You may step out.
I never had any idea that it had a knock in it
until I got the things that I knew was wrong with it
and went to fire it up and had a shattered head,
so that's where we stood with it,
and she wanted me to get a stolen vehicle and all kinds of other things
and replace it and just wasn't having it.
[announcer] Need to take someone to court?
Let Tribunal Justice decide your case.
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[theme music playing]