You did rent your horse barn to her, is that correct?
Yes, ma'am.
Power has turned off again, no notice. And the water's off.
It's not just once that the water goes off.
How many times was it?
It was five times.
- What is that? - One of the metal gates rusted and broke.
This type of an injury to a service horse,
and this is how a landlord treats a tenant
who has treated her so well.
[announcer] Now on Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
[announcer] Today's case was filed in Pasadena, California.
[Byrd] Your Honor, this is case number 2018 on the count
in the matter of Curry versus Reynolds.
- Thank you. - Parties have been sworn in, Judge.
You may be seated.
- [Judge DiMango] Thanks, Byrd. - [Byrd] Uh-hmm.
[Judge DiMango] All right, Ms. Curry.
You have a landlord-tenant relationship with the defendant,
but you're not really the tenant, it's your two horses
- that are the tenants there, correct? - Yes, ma'am.
And you did rent your two-stall horse barn to her?
- Yes. - [Judge DiMango] Okay.
You rent it for five years.
You say that she didn't provide you with those things that she promised.
She actually unlawfully withheld your security deposit,
and you're here suing for bodily harm and pain and suffering,
your horses' pain and suffering,
your horses' medicine, and that's $5,000.
What you say is that she was the one
that was taking exception to the terms of the lease.
And in fact, you've interposed a counterclaim here for $2,700.
- Your counterclaim... - 2,701.
- [Judge DiMango] Oh, let me... - That one is important.
- $2,701... - [Carol] Yes, ma'am.
... for her refusal to take out all of the trash that she had left there
and for other damages.
All right. Ms. Curry, your two horses
are Ruby and Flash, is that correct?
Yes, ma'am.
Let's see a picture of Ruby and Flash.
- Ruby is the white horse with you... - That is correct.
- [Judge DiMango] Service horse. - [Susan] She was my service horse.
- She saved my life. - [Judge DiMango] All right.
And Flash is your husband's horse?
[Susan] He's a buckskin, yes.
Where are your horses now since you did move out, correct?
We moved back to Albuquerque after 20 years.
- And did you bring the horses with you? - Yes, ma'am.
[Judge DiMango] But how did you find her location?
Actually, um, we met at a, uh, boarding stables in Glendale.
[Judge DiMango] I think we have a video of what it looked like before
- when you first... - That is correct. I did.
[Judge DiMango] So let's see what you saw
- when you decided to rent the property. - [Susan] Okay.
[Judge DiMango] Maybe you can tell us what we see,
'cause all I basically see is dirt.
You know, the allure there is missing for me.
[Carol] Well, number one, you know, this is a nice-looking barn.
It's large. It has indoor stalls and outdoor stalls,
and the indoor stalls were very large.
So you apparently have some prime horse real estate there?
[Carol] Yes, ma'am.
[Judge DiMango] And where do you keep your horses?
At the--well, at the barn that I met Susan at.
[Judge DiMango] But you don't keep your horses on your property.
Because that house there, that main house, is that your house?
- Yes. It was a rental. - Okay.
- But I moved back in.
[Judge DiMango] Okay. So you're there, and now what?
What happens? Everything's going fine, right?
[Susan] So my husband is a well-seasoned carpenter
who did a lot of the work
and she did always ask, you know, "Can your husband do this?
Can your husband do that?" And we did. And she...
Well, you're there. You're staying there.
You have your horse there. So let's get to stuff, that other thing.
That you're claiming Ruby was injured by the broken gate?
- [Susan] Yes. - Correct?
That happened, um, I was actually out of town
when that happened and the, um, horse mucker who took care of them,
she had, uh, one of the metal gates rusted and broke.
[Judge DiMango] You didn't see it, so all you can tell us would be hearsay,
but you did see that she had injuries that she didn't have before you left.
You're suing for those as damages, correct?
That's part of it, correct.
And did you read your lease in its entirety?
Yes, ma'am.
[Judge DiMango] And did you read the part where you signed release of liability?
Because, you know, as much as you love Ruby, it's property.
And any damage to property, you waived your right to sue the defendant for.
- Did you read that? - Yes.
[Judge DiMango] And you're also suing for the horses' pain and suffering,
and I don't wanna upset you but it's longstanding legal authority
that humans cannot sue for pain and suffering
on behalf of their animals,
no matter how much they think that they're family and they love them.
It's a case you can't prove.
But your pain and suffering, you were injured, according to you,
by an altercation with an employee of the defendant, would that be correct?
Yes, I was.
[Judge DiMango] Who was your employee, ma'am?
My worker.
[Judge DiMango] And that worker, you claim,
kinda knocked something out of your hand?
He smacked the phone out of my hand.
Now, the police, when they arrived,
they interviewed an independent witness to that incident.
-Yes. -And that person said two things.
One, he was provoked and was in fear of his own safety basically.
And second, that it was not for a half hour
that you pointed out what appeared to be a bruise on your hand.
- We have a photo of that. - Uh-hmm.
But there's another photo that does not show that,
because there's something over the top of that that was not clear.
There's another photo.
'Cause that was very different than this.
- [Susan] Yes. Can I state something? - Sure.
[Susan] So I suffer many health issues.
- So I do bruise easily. - [Judge DiMango] Yes.
And the bruises can start coming
and then over, uh, a day and two, it can get worse and worse. Yes.
And did that prevent you from doing anything?
[Susan] It didn't prevent me from doing anything.
I was also moving as she's doing construction,
I was preparing to move.
And, um, she kept turning off my power
and there are--there are all those documents in here as well
where I kept saying, "You need to give me notice."
Did you shut off the power?
Um, the power was shut off even though I had a notice,
an agreement with the power company, that when a tenant would move out
that it would just come over in my name.
So you think a major power company says,
"Oh, my God. Ms. Reynolds' tenant's leaving.
I hope we can transfer the electricity."
Well, it's the way it's been for 30 years.
[Judge DiMango] I mean, you really don't think they remember that, do you?
It's been that way for 30 years.
I mean, uh, I did have--I've had many tenants move in and out.
But maybe they didn't encounter this because they were not people--
other animals living in the barn at the time,
which was where she kept the horses' medicines.
- [Carol] Right. She was... - In the tack room.
Okay. Well, first of all, she wasn't supposed to have a refrigerator there.
I looked everywhere to see where it said that.
Where did it say you cannot have a refrigerator?
Well, I've been renting that stable out for many, many years
and no one has ever had a refrigerator there.
Tell me what is a tack room?
A tack room is room where you keep your saddles and your bridles...
- [Judge DiMango] What else? - ... your brushes.
And it's just enough room to pull your saddles in and out.
[Judge DiMango] But what--but there was room for a refrigerator in there.
Well, apparently, she put one in.
Yeah, she did have medicine for the horses that did spoil, right?
[Susan] Yes, ma'am. And I have it all right here
in every message between us
in which she did keep turning off the power
and the water for 24 hours.
My horse had no water and then I had...
[Judge DiMango] Did you turn the water off?
[Carol] Never. The longest that it was ever off...
- I had a message... - [Judge DiMango] Just a minute.
The longest that it was ever off was two hours.
[Judge DiMango] So you did--did you turn the water off?
"No, the longest it was off."
[Carol] No. You asked me if the water was turned off for 24 hours.
- I did--I said... - Yeah, you just asked me...
[Judge DiMango] No, no, I didn't. I said, "Did you turn the water off?"
And you went, "No."
Judge Levy?
So Ms. Reynolds, I wanna get an idea as to how often
did you go there and visit, if at all?
Whenever I had tenants move in and out.
Whenever there were things that needed to be done.
What year was it that you moved in?
I believe it was 2018 or...
- 2018, is that about right? - It was--the lease was in 2019.
[Judge Levy] So in 2019.
When did you buy the fridge?
As soon as I moved in, I had a mini fridge.
Right. And the first time that you complain about it
is when you get sued and you file a counterclaim
saying she's not supposed to have a fridge.
Explain to me how we're supposed to take anything that you say,
uh, at face value?
Well, I'm not going in her tack room.
There's no reason for me to go in her tack room.
There's no reason for me to go into her barn
unless there's a problem.
[Judge Levy] Listen, you file a counterclaim
and you're claiming that she's not supposed to have a fridge,
that that's a violation of the lease.
Number one, it's not a violation of the lease.
Read the lease.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
Can we put up the picture of the plaintiff's alleged bruise?
And I said "alleged" intentionally.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Horse owner Susan Curry is suing stable owner Carol Reynolds
for pain and suffering she and her horses endured
from hazardous stable conditions.
Carol is countersuing for damages done to her barn
by Susan and her animals.
I'm referring you now to exhibit three.
- This is your text, right? - Yes.
[Judge Levy] May 1st,
"We've been good tenants for almost five years.
Let's just say it could be the end of June or July.
I will let you know as we know more. Thank you."
She was moving out and your response was,
"Okay, not a problem either way."
So, Ms. Reynolds, it seemed like everything was good
between the two of you, is that right?
[Susan] Correct.
[Judge Levy] So then we know that something must have happened
after May 1st.
I wanna know what that was.
I had to move back into the apartment.
And so I started doing some remodeling of the kitchen and the bathroom.
[Judge Levy] And in doing that, she brings in subcontractors and contractors,
and what she never had the common courtesy to do was to give you notice
that there was gonna be shutoffs of electricity and of water.
That is correct.
[Judge Levy] And so in your text messages,
it's not just once that the power goes off.
It's not just once that the water goes off.
How many times was it?
It was five times on the power
and it was over 24 hours on the water.
And I'm asking her, "Please, can you just give me notice."
You also told her that there was medicine in the fridge,
and that's when she says to you,
"Well, you're not even supposed to have a fridge."
- Uh-hmm. - You've been a tenant five years.
- You pay your rent for those five years? - [Susan] On time.
Did she ever have to bring an action against you...
- Never. - [Judge Levy] ... for nonpayment of rent?
No.
And this is how a landlord treats a tenant
who has treated her so well?
I got it. Judge Acker.
[Judge Acker] Can we put up the picture of the plaintiff's alleged bruise?
And I said "alleged" intentionally...
[Susan] Okay.
... because on my iPad where I can enlarge the image,
I see what looks like a lavender
translucent piece of tape.
And then there seem to be some kind of brownish circles,
like something that was sort of stuck on your arm.
So you're telling me that this is a bruise or is this a picture...
- [Susan] No, it... - ... of your arm with something on it
that you dressed up to look like a bruise?
No, it--I mean, I wish I could bring you my hospital documents
- that show all the bruising, but... - [Judge Acker] I wish you had.
That's very interesting.
So you called code enforcement on the defendant?
- [Susan] Yes, ma'am. - And for what reason was that?
So the reason I called code enforcement was I called
when the water was shut off
and I was so upset it had been off for 24 hours,
and it actually was a very hot day that day.
They're the ones who advised me and told me,
"Well, she doesn't have a permit for this or that.
You need to call code enforcement."
[Judge Acker] Do you have a permit for the work?
- Yes, ma'am. - Did you submit that permit?
[Carol] No.
Well, you knew you were being sued.
Let's talk about your counterclaim.
Now you're suing her for $2,701.
Can we put up on the monitor the photograph of the graffiti?
Ms. Reynolds, tell me what we're seeing.
Well, the bottom left is where the horse kicked through the stall,
uh, the top pictures are graffiti.
And then this is all the junk that she left.
[Judge Acker] And it's your testimony, Ms. Curry,
that you didn't do that spray painting.
- [Susan] No, ma'am. - [Judge Acker] But why?
What I had stated is the mucker had marked a few things
to keep things organized that she--and the mucker I got from her.
You know, I never even really noticed or thought anything about it
because the whole barn was always kept immaculate.
I don't know that hole and that is not part of the barn.
[Judge Acker] I understand we have a couple of videos.
Let's see the move-out video.
[Susan] This is the horses.
I'm gonna hose them down.
He's taken all the shavings, the hay.
I'm humping the horse feeders and this wheelbarrow.
And then, I don't know, I guess [bleep] everything I can't fit.
[Judge Acker] That cement wall in the back, isn't that where the graffiti was?
[Carol] Yes, ma'am. Well, you'd have to go back.
[Judge Acker] Yeah, let's--can we rewind again?
[Susan] I guess [bleep] every...
[Judge Acker] Uh, did--had you seen that before?
[Susan] I probably didn't ever--it just-- you know, I'm so busy, I didn't...
You probably saw it but you're not sure.
[Susan] Honestly, I can't remember.
[Judge Acker] I don't have anything further.
I have a real big question and then I'm gonna end it.
If a horse kicks a hole in the wall,
is that normal wear and tear?
I think it might be.
So every tenant that I've ever had,
if they do something like that, they...
[Judge DiMango] But they didn't do it, it's...
Yeah, I mean, my last tenant had all the dirt refilled,
you know, I mean, it's...
[Judge DiMango] But everybody does something different.
What we're looking at is this specific set of facts here.
But based on that, I don't know if anybody has anything else to ask.
Just a couple.
There were three other videos that I think would be useful to see.
So let's take a look at P2, please.
All right. So give me a timeframe, please, Ms. Curry.
When is it now that the video was taken?
- 'Cause you took that video, right? - Yes, sir.
Um, I believe it was the week before June 29th
that I was actually gonna be leaving.
And the water was off and it was really hot that day.
[Judge Levy] Okay. And your horses were there
- without having any water then... - Correct. And I videoed all of it.
[Judge Levy] ... for 24 hours and the automatic system was...
- [Susan] Correct. - [Judge Levy] ... not operational?
- That's right. Yes, sir. Yes. - Let's take a look at the video.
I'm documenting that the power's been turned off again, no notice.
And the water's off.
Sorry for my language.
So they have no [bleep] water,
including the automatic waters.
So I'm sitting in the dark.
I have no electricity and it hasn't been on for the past couple days,
so you can see the fridges and freezers,
everything's thawed out.
Everything in my fridge is ruined. I had Banamine in here.
I know it was off Saturday 'cause I made a comment Saturday.
So my worker was working
and it was never off for 24 hours
because I--when she told me that the water was off,
I texted my worker and he told me how long it's been--it had been off.
Did you make any effort to communicate with the person who you knew
was controlling the health, safety, and well-being of her animals
to just give her notice since you weren't there?
Did you do that?
- No. - [Judge Levy] All right.
I have nothing further.
Uh, briefly, do you have horses?
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
Horses kick pipes, they break,
and the barn would shut the water off. Yes, they do.
Ah, so maybe that answers Judge DiMango's question
and about normal wear and tear for a horse.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Susan Curry is suing stable owner
Carol Reynolds for $5,000
claiming hazardous stable conditions her horses were subjected to.
But Carol says Susan is making a mountain
out of a molehill.
Do you have horses?
I've had hundreds of horses, yes.
- Do your horses have water every day? - [Carol] They do.
And they have buckets of water in their stalls
even though they have automatic waters because horses kick pipes,
they break, and the barn would shut the water off.
- [Judge Acker] Ah, horses kick things. - Yes, they do.
So maybe that answers Judge DiMango's question
about normal wear and tear for a horse.
- I don't have anything further. - [Judge DiMango] Thank you very much.
We're gonna retire to deliberate. Thank you.
Court now stands in recess.
This case will be recalled. Parties are excused.
[dramatic musical sting]
I wanna go through some of what the plaintiff is asking for
and you picked it up as I did when I first said it.
Those bruises were just weird.
There was a little bit of a minor bruise and then all of a sudden...
You can really see it on the--there's that.
Look, this is the clear-- this is the clear one.
You know what I thought she might have done on this?
You know how sometimes they have that healing stuff that you paint on.
- That's... - That's what it kinda looks like she did.
- She painted that... - Right. Yeah, like one of those strips,
- like, that has silicone ... - Yes, exactly.
... that can heal scars and the like.
And it kind of enhanced the coloring and all of that,
but there was no real pain and suffering.
She couldn't really attest to that.
So with regard to her bodily harm, the horses' pain and suffering,
I'm not willing to give her any pain and suffering.
I'm not saying that I'm in support of giving her any recovery.
What I'm saying, having had two dogs who I love very much
just as much as she loved her horses,
that if they were for a period of time in distress
because they did not have access to either food or water,
that would bother me, and I don't have those same
- eggshell plaintiff type issues... - Body issues.
[Judge Levy] ... that she has.
Well, I'm gonna just tell you.
It says here, "For bodily harm and my horses' pain and suffering,"
she wants $1,540.
Even if I wanna take it via your interpretation,
we can't quantify pain and suffering,
and I don't have any reason to believe
that this has anything to do with them not having water.
[Judge Acker] So I have to say, guys,
I am really, really, really troubled by the fake bruise.
-By the bruise. -[Judge Acker] That sort of speaks volumes
about how little I can put any faith in what anybody up there said.
So maybe I could find my way
towards some recovery
just because I think it was wrong for the plaintiff
and her animals to be deprived water without notice.
And I don't think that it was intentional,
but I think that the defendant could've given her a heads-up.
She was completely indifferent to it.
- That's it. She... - And it was over--and it was five...
- Her indifference bothers me. - And it was five times.
My inclination, if I was gonna give anything for any reason,
it would be the $221 for the medicine in the refrigerator,
if that was required within a certain, like, temperature time.
And while we didn't--and while we didn't get into it, the plaintiff did provide us
with a detailed list of the medication and how much it did cost her.
- Yes, she did. - She did do that.
So there is--so there is evidence to that.
That's why, so I'm willing to give that.
And as to the defendant, my feeling would be her $700
security deposit covered the damages.
So I think it's an outright dismissal for the defendant.
I think that they are both a little sensitive in their own way,
and I kinda think that they escalated it immediately on themselves.
- I'd give her the money for the medicine. - 221 for the medicine.
- 221. - [Judge Levy] Great.
That's for the horses' sake, not for anybody else here.
[dramatic musical sting]
[Byrd] Court is back in session.
Parties are reminded you're still under oath.
- Thank you, Byrd. - Uh-hmm.
We'll begin with the countersuit.
You did convince us that you had some damages
that you needed to cover including the trash removal,
which by your own statement in your video,
you said you didn't give a... [imitates popping sound]
... about cleaning up.
However, you did have her $700 security deposit
and so we are going to find that the $700 covered the damages
upon she and her horses leaving the property.
So with regard to your counterclaim, it is therefore dismissed in its entirety.
And then we reviewed the claims you made
with regard to both your pain and suffering,
the horses' pain and suffering.
And the bottom line is,
the $221 for the medication that was spoiled
was the only claim that we felt that you had
that warranted any merit and credibility.
And any other claim that you've made, we find that you did not meet your burden
by a preponderance of the evidence.
And so therefore, the verdict is in your favor for $221.
Your case is unanimously dismissed.
- Thank you. - [gavel bangs]
[Byrd] This case has now concluded.
Parties are excused. You may step out.
[theme music plays]
I think that she has anger issues.
I did at the very end get angry
because she turned off the water and power over five times.
You know, she was claiming that the water was off for 24 hours
and she wasn't there.
I'm glad I'm not there renting from her
'cause I wouldn't be able to stay there if she was there.
[announcer] Did someone destroy your property?
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["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]