You hired the defendant to remodel your bathroom.
And never did any of the work.
He literally was never there.
Are you a licensed contractor?
"Licensed" really is not anything that's ...
... I don't think particularly means anything.
It doesn't--it--it's not--it's not a--
- I don't know how to... - What?
You are saying absolutely nothing.
This guy is a scammer every day and twice on Sunday.
Next on Tribunal Justice...
Today's case was filed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Your Honor, this is case number 2026
on account in the matter of Herron versus Jacobson.
Parties have been sworn in.
You may be seated.
- Thank you, Byrd. You're welcome, Judge.
So Ms. Herron,
you hired the defendant Joshua Jacobson, "Handsome Hammer,"
to remodel your bathroom.
The total cost of the job was supposed to be about $8,000.
You paid him a $6,000 deposit.
- Yes. - You're now suing him
for $10,000
because you want the $6,000 back that you paid him as a deposit.
You claimed he also damaged your home
and you also have a claim for emotional distress.
So the total amount of your claim
is for our jurisdictional maximum of $10,000.
Mr. Jacobson, your defense says you had to quit the job
because you were threatened and harassed,
so you really don't owe her a refund of anything.
Yes, more or less.
More or less?
Well, we'll get to what's more and we'll get to what's less.
Just out of curiosity, where did you come up with the name
"Handsome Hammer"?
Um, just kind of wordplay on a bunch of different things.
Doing kind of wordplay scramble and it sounded catchy.
I was playing around with the name and I was working with a real estate agent
and she said, "Hey, I like that name."
So I went with it.
So Ms. Herron, how do you find him, ma'am?
So, um, he was recommended by a friend from high school
and I went with him
because his design ideas were like in line with mine and...
- You were really pleased. - Yes. Extremely.
He said, "This is gonna work.
- I'm so excited for my new bathroom." - Yes. Uh-hmm.
January 25th, the original contract price
was $7,950.
According to the contract,
the deposit due was $3,975.
Yet, I note that you paid $6,000 down.
- Yes, I did. - And you don't dispute
- that you received $6,000 from her. - That's correct.
Why'd you give him so much extra money for the deposit?
So he requested $6,000
because he said he was short on some money
that he was gonna put down for a truck for his business.
So because he came highly recommended,
I decided to go ahead and give them the extra money.
Sir, when you took on this project,
were you licensed and insured
- as a contractor? - Um, I--
I'm not positive on that.
- And I did... - I am. I'm positive.
I know--I know I did get insurance.
And you got the insurance after I believe your father
had a sit-down with him.
And Dad said, "What's going on with this project?"
- Yes. - But I'm getting ahead of myself.
- So you signed... - Right.
... the contract the end of January.
Demo starts in February.
Now here was an interesting fact.
You had family members.
I think your son and your significant other
were helping him with the demo.
Why did you do that?
I asked because I knew he didn't wanna do the demo at first.
Um, I couldn't find somebody that could, um, do the mold removal.
He said he was educated with that, knew what--how to do it
without going throughout the house.
My son said that he would help to minimize the amount that I had to pay him.
- True, sir? - Yeah.
She was cutting down the cost.
I was helping her out by using family members
which I was not--did not want to do,
but I was trying to be helpful in the case.
He was supposed to work with my son,
and it ended up he would instruct him what to do
and he'd leave for the next job.
So he literally was never there.
Now, this is what would be helpful.
Can we put up the picture of the plaintiff's bathroom
before any work was done?
So you want a new bathtub, new backsplash.
And so the first thing to do is to have him
- demolish all of this. - Yes.
So now, sir, tell me what you did.
So, we took out the walls.
That's--so we started with the tile. There's tons of tile.
You could see on the left side, that whole vanity,
the whole counter, that all had to go.
The subwall, the toilet, all the drywall on the side of the walls.
As of what was left there, it was little scrapings
and little stuff that take off and that's primarily what her son did.
You don't have to be a licensed, you know, guy to do that.
How much of the demo work was completed?
I know he removed the toilet and put it on my carpet.
That definitely is not the way to do it.
It stained my carpet.
Then he's taking a wheelbarrow
through my house to get the debris out
when we discussed going out the window.
This--like, it was not done anything like we discussed.
We put up exhibit for the plaintiff's floors.
She just gave testimony about damage that we are seeing
on the left side of the photograph, is that right, ma'am?
Yes. So that's right to the left you see that frame.
And that's like right where he was going in and out,
and that's what it looked like before.
Do you take responsibility for this?
Yeah. Yes, I do. I do.
This is why I didn't wanna have her son working with me
'cause a lot of those scratches happened over miscommunication
what was supposed to be done, what was going on.
There's a lot of stuff happening.
These are only small aspects of the problem
and really only a small aspect of your claim.
- Right. - That original contract
called for new tile, backsplash.
Did any of those things happen?
- No. - The critical point
at this case were things seemed to have broken down
was somewhere around March.
Now, in March, you're reaching out to him,
asking him if he's gonna come back
- and complete some work. - Right.
And I know, sir, at one point,
you told the plaintiff that you're in the hospital.
- You were having some... - Having asthma issues.
I was in there for a couple days, didn't get an Albuterol.
what they do is give me a treatment.
Right around Saint Patty's Day?
- Yup. Now, what I also note
is that there's evidence in the record that right around Saint Patty's Day,
you were hosting a party bus for a Saint Patty's Day party.
Yeah. That never happened, so...
Is that right, ma'am?
Well, when he didn't show up and, like, I was like, "Where is he?"
So I just went on his Facebook
and I found that he had bought this party bus.
And I'm sure that's where my money went and he was working on this bus
while he was supposed to be at my house.
I am going to stop right here
because the party bus is a great place
for me to turn the case to my colleagues.
Judge?
Uh, when I read the complaint
and you said that he needed money for a truck
and then I read further and I saw the evidence,
I said, "Well, he really wasn't lying to you."
- Oh, yeah. Definitely. - He needed the money for his party truck.
And I looked at the dates and I said, "He was hungover."
- Yup. Uh-hmm. - He was hungover
- from Saint Patrick's Day. - No.
- Partied a little too hard. - He had the--
you partied a little too hard. Yeah.
- You couldn't do what you were promising. - So...
Why couldn't you come through with what you agreed to do?
So, basically what had happened was that after Saint Patty's Day,
she threatened me with legal action
and the cops, and a bunch of other things.
And then there was other threats and I was in the hospital.
I don't know about the hospital
because I didn't see any hospital records in here.
I don't think I have to admit those, do I?
You don't have to do anything
that you don't feel you can prove other than by word of mouth.
But we don't have 'em, so...
I could--we could-- we could have done that.
- No. You know what? - It didn't cross my mind.
I had to prove I was in the hospital.
Listen, I'm just pointing out that, you know...
- I get it. - ... if you wanted to show
the bathroom that you finished,
you might have a picture of that.
Coming up on Tribunal Justice...
Let's talk about this fake Facebook profile,
because this guy looks just like you.
People have all kinds of Facebooks.
- We've been fake... - Yeah.
And here's Calvin Kohlbeck
who is recommending to everyone on their Facebook,
"He did my floors fast, and everything looks fantastic."
That's you recommending yourself!
Because I did my own floors.
That is freakin' laughable.
Homeowner Sheila Herron
claims contractor Joshua Jacobson
took her money,
started a bathroom remodel,
then bought a party bus and never returned.
Joshua says he was threatened,
harassed, and owes Sheila nothing.
I'm gonna say that the picture that you
submitted kind of makes it look like it's a great floor,
but how long was the last time before you had the floor sanded?
I had just finished it.
I just had it sanded and stained before he started working.
She had just had her floors redo--yup.
- It was? Okay. - Yes.
Because there is also a receipt in here
for the floors which says $2,900 approximately.
- Yeah. - By the way,
he did do some work in the bathroom.
Do we have pictures of that?
Well, that's finished, but...
Is that-- that's not what he did.
When he left, 'cause he couldn't find anybody to help him.
But this is work that was done by the second contractor
- that you hired. - Correct. Yes.
You know, this is the problem I had when I was reading
through the volumes of evidence that you both submitted.
She relied on representations from you...
- Uh-hmm. - ... about a list of things that
- you were going to do for a bathroom. Correct.
It was your main bathroom in the home, ma'am?
- Yes. - You had a second bathroom,
however, in the basement?
In the basement but there was no shower.
I literally had to go to my dad's house, to friends' houses, like,
- we had to scramble and find... - You get that, right?
- Yes, I do. - I mean, you know there was no shower...
- Yes, ma'am. - ... so you were there to see that.
We had other issues going on that we haven't even,
you know, brought about in this.
Well, you did do work.
You did do while you're doing .
And I'm also the owner of this company.
I was--I don't have to do all the work.
That's--we have to understand I think.
When you're the owner of a business, you have workers that work for you.
I had people quit, and that was the issue I was dealing with
that she had mentioned earlier.
Are you a licensed contractor?
Do you know what "licensed" means?
Uh, well, why don't you tell me?
- Just in case. - "Licensed" really is not
anything that's I don't think particularly means anything.
I mean, it's not a real thing when you--when you tried to ask
contractor, "Are you licensed?"
- Yes. - It doesn't--
it--it's not--it's not a-- I don't know how to...
You are saying absolutely nothing.
I'm gonna ask you something.
- When you were in the hospital... - No, I am not a...
... did your doctor have a license?
Because maybe it doesn't mean anything.
Maybe that's why you were there so long.
I mean, would you want somebody who was not a doctor working on you?
No, it doesn't mean anything in the construction world
to say you're licensed, honestly.
Well, what it does mean is that somehow...
It's just you throwing around words that make me look like
I'm not professional.
That's all it is. That's all it's happening right there.
Well, I'm gonna tell you exactly what it means.
I am insured and I don't have to be a...
- You wouldn't... I don't have to be a general contractor
to do any of this. That's what's you're asking.
Is that you're asking if I have a general contractor's license?
I am asking, do you have any,
for lack of a better word, even though it might be useless in your book, license?
I was--I was in school for--
getting my general contractor's license at the time.
I did not have a general contractor's license at the time.
- Okay. So now... - And that's it.
... let me tell you. In some jurisdictions,
if you don't have a license and you don't get paid, you can't sue.
- Judge Levy? - Yeah.
So Mr. Jacobson, I just wanted to make sure
that I understood you correctly.
You said that it really doesn't mean anything
not to have a license, a contractor's license.
No, I didn't say a contractor's license.
That's--I was--I was basically talking about something
- completely different than what... - Okay. Okay.
So let me start fresh.
You know it's a felony.
You go to prison where you live in Wisconsin
if you take money from a homeowner to do contracting work
and don't put their money in a separate account
and spend it on anything else except for their job.
You know it's a felony to do that, right?
- How about that for a direct question? - No.
What? You don't know it's a felony?
- I just... - You spent time with this...
- I just left a court case... - You spent time...
... that I was dismissed. There would have been a felony there.
Oh, no, no, no. We're gonna get into that.
Because that's what this lawsuit's all about.
Whether or not you committed a felony
and just were lucky enough
to have some lazy assistant DA
who didn't wanna take the time or effort to go through her material
- because he or she, because--well... - That is baloney, man.
- They brought this to me three times. - Hold on, hold on.
February 23rd, 2023.
Prosecuting attorney.
This is all public record.
Get it right online in the great state of Wisconsin.
Defendant advised that court reviewed the complaint
and found probable cause.
Because you took $6,000 of her money
and you did not put it into a segregated account.
- And because she had... - Who she had--how do you know
I did not have it in an account?
Where is that coming from?
- Do you have proof of it? - Did you--okay. Great.
- Show me proof that you have it... - I don't have to.
That's--what?
You don't--okay. So listen, Mr. Jacobson.
This ain't my first rodeo.
I've dealt with scammers, criminals, liars, manipulators, fabricators.
I prosecuted these cases.
- $6,000, you paid them, right? - Yes.
Did she send it to your business account or your personal account?
- I don't--I'm not gonna answer... - Boom.
- ... your questions. - Joshua Jacobson.
Joshua Jacobson.
That's not your business account, is it, sir?
- No. This guy is a scammer to the... I'm not a scammer.
This guy's a scammer every day and twice on Sunday.
And he took that money and he was supposed to do what?
Buy materials with it?
- Yeah. Well... - No. If you could read the--
if you read the invoice, she's responsible for materials.
She is. Wait, wait, wait.
You were collecting receipts for the materials
that you were spending on the job.
You were gonna give her those receipts and she was going to reimburse you, right?
- Yes. - Great.
And that is what you actually told the police officers July 14th, 2021.
Jacobson sent an itemized list for the materials used on the job
which cost $2,489.50.
Jacobson stated he purchased most of the materials in cash
and did not have receipts any longer.
Explain that to me.
- Knowing... - I have no problem explaining it to you.
Wait a minute. Knowing that you have to provide her with receipts
in order to get reimbursed, which you just said.
But yet when the police say to you, where are the receipts?
All of a sudden, you don't got them.
You paid cash.
And for you to say that the DA's office and the judge dismissed
the case because you were innocent, that is 100% inconsistent
with the file jacket from the court that you were there with.
Then why was it dismissed three times?
I'm telling you exactly why it's dismissed.
They got DUIs. They got drugs. They got domestic cases.
They get burglaries, robberies, murder cases.
Well, you can't just say this is all happening.
Yeah. I know exactly what happened.
- You're a bunch of baloney, man. - You know what?
Let's talk about this fake Facebook profile.
Who's Calvin Kohlbeck?
Who is that, sir?
Calvin Kohlbeck. Who's that?
Because this guy looks just like you.
- Yeah. You did that?
I--people have all kinds of Facebooks.
- What do you mean fake profile? Yeah, of course. Of course.
- Why is it fake profile? That's what they do.
And here's Calvin Kohlbeck, who is recommending to everyone
on the Facebook, "He did my floors.
Custom Glacier white.
Fast and everything looks fantastic."
- That's you recommending yourself. - Because I did my own floors.
That is freaking laughable.
Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
Tell me about that. What was that all about, mister?
- I didn't do anything for... - I didn't.
- ... St. Paddy's Day. - Nothing ever happened.
This is your real account, Joshua Jacobson.
And it begins, building the party animal.
Building the party bus.
Where'd you get the money for that?
Sheila Herron hired Handsome Hammer, Joshua Jacobson,
to remodel her bathroom.
She claims he took her money and never returned to finish the job.
Joshua claims Sheila posted threats online,
so he owes her nothing.
So getting back though to your St. Paddy's Day bus.
March 7th, roll call.
This is you now. This is your real account.
Joshua Jacobson. March 7th.
"I have 15 spots on the party animal shuttle for St. Paddy's.
Includes coolers for ice and beverages."
Tell me about that. What was that all about,
Mr. "I didn't do anything for St. Paddy's Day."
- Tell me about that. - I didn't. Nothing ever happened.
It was just an idea.
Dead to rights.
Joshua Jacobson, March 10th.
And it begins, building the party animal.
Building the party bus.
Where'd you get the money for that?
Done.
I'm done. I got nothing further.
I got you dead to rights.
I have a few questions.
Part of your defense is that you had to quit
in order to protect your mental health.
And that's where all of this sort of started this spiral,
because she wanted money back
and then you also have made this court aware
of threats made either by her
or those working on her behalf or at her behest.
Would you like to explain?
Um, yeah.
The original post about me that was basically lies,
said I never showed up.
That I took her money. I'm a thief. I'm a crook.
That then turned into all kinds of people biting in and sharing it
obviously and affecting my business, my family life.
- And then... - When did you become
aware of the Facebook post?
Uh, my girlfriend at the time showed it to me.
So Ms. Herron, here's what you said,
"I hired Joshua Jacobson,
Handsome Hammer, to renovate my bathroom
and he took $6,000 as a down payment
and never did any of the work
and decided to bail on me and keep my money.
He is a thief.
Please share and spread the word so no one else has to go through this."
And then some other people are asking you,
"Do you know where he lives or hangs out?
I'm gonna come find him."
Didn't I see a threat that was actually directed toward you?
He put a review on my Facebook page, um,
that said, um, "You are a crook and we will meet."
Did anybody ever contact you or engage with you personally or...
- Yes. - ... just online?
Yes. I did have some issues with, um, some, uh,
drive-bys around the house.
I did receive some, um, damage to my vehicle.
There's some key marks.
Some, uh--just some dents that just weren't there.
Well, wait. There is nothing to connect
the plaintiff or anyone acting on her behalf
to the damage to your car.
- Is that your testimony? - I never looked--
I never--I never--I just assumed.
I never really looked into it, uh, as of that.
Okay. Thank you both.
Okay. Then we're gonna retire to deliberate.
Court now stands in recess.
This case will be recalled.
So she's suing for $10,000.
I think there are parts of the claim that we can dispose of easily.
He admits the damage to the floor.
He admits to damaging the carpet by putting the toilet on the carpet.
That certainly is gonna make that carpet most unusable.
And look, not only did he not substantially complete,
he didn't do most of what was on that original invoice.
I'd give her everything absent the emotional distress.
I think she got her venting on Facebook.
I mean, he did do something.
You wanna not accredit that with anything?
He's not given us any evidence whatsoever of anything that he did.
In fact, she was actually generous by I think making some concessions.
I think there's no substantial completion here.
I wasn't looking for substantial completion.
But I was wondering if to some extent when she had the new carpenter come in,
there was some benefit that she gained from that like an almost
on the form of unjust enrichment. I don't know.
I--he was doing a lot of talking in circles,
so I really had a hard time with what he was doing...
You mean when he was talking about the license thingy...
- Yeah. - ... which is not a thing?
We shouldn't just call a license a thingy.
- No, that's not a thingy. - I mean, I don't--
he didn't know how to explain it.
You see, you didn't give him a chance.
He could not figure out how to explain that.
$10,000 is fine. She gets it back.
I agree. What really set this apart
from my perspective is one of the first things
that he was asked by you was whether or not he was licensed.
And his answer was not sure.
Well, he very clearly told the police he was not.
That's all in the police report.
Then the issue came up about, one of you said,
"It looks like everything kind of really broke down in March."
And he says, "Yeah. That was when I was having my asthma issues."
And then she goes on about, "No.
This was the St. Paddy's Day bus."
Quote by him, "Never happened."
He just didn't know that she provided us with those Facebook posts.
I mean, he creates a fake Facebook post and then uses
- that fake name to give a good... - Ratings.
... uh, rating to himself. To himself.
the Handsome Hammer.
To himself.
I can laugh about it.
But for a homeowner who has to scrounge together $6,000
to have a bathroom for herself and her kids, and it's weeks,
weeks before she can use her own bathroom,
she's trying to get help from the guy who's blowing her off,
lies about the hospital.
Right? Why should I bring in my hospital bills?
Well, listen, moron.
The reason you should have brought your hospital bills in is because you know
she's making a claim that you lied about those hospital bills.
He's just outright lying.
Unfortunately, it happens to too many people.
But everything she asked for, I'd be in favor of giving her.
You know, Adam, you reminded me of that police report.
And I think it's pretty unconscionable to just create
an entirely false narrative.
I mean, you know, you're giving a false statement to the police.
That's not the reason that he wasn't able to do the work.
And I think perhaps I might be even talked into that emotional
distress recovery simply because she then had to fight this false
narrative that he was creating with law enforcement.
I think we're at $10,000.
And I'm never a fan of giving emotional distress.
But there was something amiss about him that I can't put my finger on
that makes me uncomfortable about him.
Maybe it's that you don't really have your head around what a license means.
- I'm struggling... - Because it's just a little thingy.
I'm struggling with that still. Thank you.
Court is back in session.
Parties are reminded you're still under oath.
- Thank you, Byrd. - Uh-hmm.
We have deliberated and we've reached a unanimous verdict.
So I'm gonna start with this, which is where I ended with you.
Did not like that Facebook post.
Not one bit.
However, Mr. Jacobson, did not like the fact
that you gave a completely false statement
to the police about why you walked off the job.
It wasn't because she didn't pay for materials.
There were other things going on.
I think that that's something that we see far too much of.
You know, people just play fast and loose with what they can say
on social media and what they say to law enforcement.
That being said, we have reached a unanimous verdict.
And as we see it, she didn't get what she paid for.
She barely got anything.
And it's for that reason, ma'am, that we are awarding you
the full $10,000 that you've requested.
So that is the verdict of this court.
Good luck to you and good luck to you, sir.
Thank you for bringing your matter here.
This case is now concluded.
Parties are excused.
You may step out.
I've learned a lot to look into people.
I'm not a crook.
To not take other people's word for it.
Um, I've never lied to the cops.
Not, uh, post on social media about stuff like this.
Oh, yeah, no, she did hit below the belt.
Glad to put this behind me.
Handsome Hammer keeps staying alive hopefully.
No, no, I will not be working with the Handsome Hammer ever again.
I'm just ready to keep on rocking.
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