[announcer] Now on Tribunal Justice.
You had a driver's license when this, uh, when this accident occurred?
At the time, yeah.
- You sure about that? - We're not talking about today.
You come on Tribunal, we'll get to the truth.
- Period. - I don't care about this no more.
You wanna leave? You leave. I'll finish this case without you.
Instead of getting all huffy,
she should've stayed here to defend her case,
'cause your case is not airtight.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
[announcer] Today's case was filed in Compton, California.
Your Honor, this is case number 11/27 on the calendar.
In the matter of Wright versus Horn.
And parties have been sworn in. You may be seated.
- Thank you, Byrd. - [Byrd] Uh-hmm.
[Judge DiMango] Ms. Wright and Ms. Horn,
you have been longtime friends, since high school actually.
And when you were having some trouble getting over your divorce,
Ms. Wright, you encouraged her to go online and look to date.
- Right. - [Judge DiMango] And she did.
And she met a guy. And you say he was just bad news.
- Right. - [Judge DiMango] I don't like him.
I don't like the neighborhood he lives in.
But she wanted a car.
You had an extra car.
Then you said you would lend her, but you gave her a condition.
And you said, "I don't want you going near his neighborhood."
Well, it's like falling on deaf ears, she then decides she's gonna go visit,
and apparently, she's confronted by another girlfriend,
and there's an argument.
You say she intentionally hits you on the driver side of the car
with the passenger side of her vehicle.
The damage to your car, you say, is 2,500.
You told her not to go, she went.
That's the end of the story for you. She owes you $2,500.
You said that while you were using the car,
you did go to see your boyfriend and some lady pulled up,
and then you got into an argument.
You both got in cars. There was a collision.
You say she drove into your side of the car,
ramming into your vehicle.
At the same time, you were on the phone together,.
According to you, Ms. Wright said to you,
"Go to the police station."
So you left the scene to go to the police precinct.
When you got there, they already knew what happened
because the other woman, she had already made a report.
You say that you don't know why she's not suing the other woman.
You didn't cause the accident.
And you think this is really that she's just disappointed in you.
You owe her nothing.
That's the story of how your 20-year friendship is gonna end, ladies?
Well, I just think she owes me the money,
and anything after that, we can talk about.
- But she needs to pay me first. - [Judge DiMango] Okay.
First, let's take a look at the damages on your car.
[Danielle] Okay.
Let's see if we can bring that picture up.
So what I see are some black marks on top, right?
- [Danielle] Then there's a big dent… - [Judge DiMango] Am I right?
[Danielle] … at the bottom, going all the way inside.
[Judge DiMango] And this is the damage that you say was sustained
on November 18th, would that be correct?
- Yes. You can tell… - [Judge DiMango] No?
- [Danielle] … it's pushed in. - Why don't you tell us what happened?
It was on 18th November.
I drove to San Bernardino.
- We… - Do you have a driver's license?
What are you thinking about? You either have a license or you don't.
I don't now. It's suspended right now.
But at the time, I had my driver's license.
Okay. So I drove to San Bernardino
and I picked up my boyfriend at the time
to go to a work agency.
And we pulled up to the agency, we got out, and we walked inside.
He said, "I'll be right back."
Um, he turned around and walked back out the door, like, towards the street.
And I saw, um…
- [Judge DiMango] Madame… - We're gonna call the lady a cougar lady.
Her name--she-- we can call her cougar lady.
- You're gonna call her cougar lady? - [Shawnte] Yeah.
- Okay. We can do that. - [Shawnte] And so she got out the car.
'Cause it's like glass, so I saw her through the glass.
She was getting out of her car. She walked in.
She said, "Can I speak to you?"
Um, I said, "Let's go outside in the parking lot."
[Judge DiMango] Did you know who she was at that time?
I had seen her before.
- But I thought it was… - So you knew he had a girl…
No. I thought this was his auntie. She…
[Judge DiMango] You thought she was his aunt?
- Yes. - [Judge DiMango] Okay.
She was really older than me and him.
- [Judge DiMango] Okay. How old are you? - So I believe, um…
- [Judge DiMango] Just so I know. - I'm 37.
- And how old is he? - [Shawnte] Forty.
- Okay. - [Shawnte] And she's 59.
So, um, she said, um, "Can we speak?"
And we stepped outside.
She just asked me, "What's going on between you and the guy?"
- Uh-hmm. - I said, "We've been seeing each other."
She goes like, "You know, that's my boyfriend." Um…
Okay. Look, you knew he had two relationships going.
You knew it. That's why you gave her a name like cougar lady.
But that's not the issue here. The issue is…
No, I didn't know that that day, but okay.
[Judge DiMango] Okay. Whatever you wanna tell yourself.
The bottom line here is we have damage on the car
that you wanna blame on this woman.
But she doesn't have to sue her.
She could sue you 'cause you were the one driving the car.
Now, you went to the police station, and I don't know what happened,
- but there is no police report. - I didn't know there wasn't a report.
- [Judge DiMango] You brought this… - There's a report right here.
- You have a report there? - [Shawnte] Yeah.
- Uh, Byrd? - [Byrd] Sure.
[Judge DiMango] Uh, when was this report generated?
[Shawnte] I got it yesterday.
It says, "Damage on the passenger side of the vehicle," on this report.
It's on the driver side. It's not on the passenger.
[Judge DiMango] Well, that's what you're saying. I know.
But this report is the cougar's car?
- [Judge Levy] Yeah. - So, is there…
- [Shawnte] Yeah. Her… - … any report regarding her car?
I did make a report.
I don't know why they don't have the report,
but I went straight to the police station
and made the report right after she hit the car.
Yeah. But the problem is that when you got there,
they might have taken a statement from you,
but they didn't write up a report from you.
They took her report. And that's what we have here.
Not that that impacts on this because you were driving her vehicle
when the car was in the accident.
Now, did you have insurance at the time of the incident?
- I did not. - [Judge DiMango] You see, I can't.
In good conscience, for me to say,
"You know what, you should be recovering money for damages that she caused
when you gave her a car that was not insured."
I'm just troubled about that.
To help her so she can get on her feet.
To help her and her kids. So I did a good deed.
I know I didn't have insurance, but I was just trying to help her.
I wasn't using the car that often, so I--that's why I didn't have insurance.
I know, but you can't. That's not how people help each other out.
What if somebody were killed?
And you were driving an uninsured vehicle.
No. I don't even know her to not have car insurance on her cars.
- She gave me the impression that it was. - I told her that it wasn't insured.
So that's why I told her like, "If there's any…"
[Judge DiMango] Oh, I believe she knew. I believe…
- She knew. - [Judge DiMango] … it wasn't insured.
I believe she knew. I believe you shouldn't have given her the car.
- I believe you shouldn't… - How would I know?
… have been driving the car.
And based on both of those two things, I don't know what I wanna do.
I think I do know what I wanna do here actually.
And it really is not gonna make anybody happy.
Judge Levy?
Ms. Horn, did I understand you correctly when you said a moment ago
to Judge DiMango that you had a driver's license
when this accident occurred in November?
At the time, it was--yeah.
[Judge Levy] Show it to me.
If you don't have it right now, go get it.
The reason why I don't have my driver's license physically on me
is because when I went at the beginning of the year
to apply for my Social Security card,
because of the COVID situation, they had me put my driver's license
in the envelope at the Social Security building.
I never received my driver's license back.
So that was your only form of ID?
At the time, yeah.
'Cause you didn't have a license when you were driving that vehicle.
You just had a California ID that was…
- I had to go to the driver's… - [Judge Levy] That was issued…
I had to go to the DMV to get my driver's license fixed in order--
in order to buy the car…
- Uh, you know… - [Shawnte] … that I bought.
- You know, uh, okay. - Whatever.
I don't even care if you believe it or not.
- My license was fine… - Well, you know, it's…
- … when that accident happened. - I'm looking…
- [Shawnte] I had to go… - I'm looking right here at the copy
of the only ID that California has of you of record.
And it is a non-driver's license.
An ID card issued to you on May 14th, 2021.
- Uh-hmm. - [Judge Levy] No license.
Just an ID.
I'm just trying to figure out to what length you would go
to violate the law, to do what you wanted,
despite the fact that it was illegal, unethical, or immoral.
- That's all. - I would go into any length.
- [Judge Levy] That's all. You… - I would go to any length.
- I know you would. - [Shawnte] Okay.
And that's part of the issue, isn't it?
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice…
You wanna know why she never got a police report?
'Cause in that police report, she said she didn't want
to have the other woman arrested
'cause she knows that she was the aggressor.
And she didn't want you to find out.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Danielle Wright is suing her friend of 20 years,
Shawnte Horn, for $2,500 in car damages.
But Shawnte claims her boyfriend's other girlfriend caused the damages.
So Danielle is suing the wrong person.
Ms. Horn, you made it clear, you wouldn't drive the vehicle
that you knew wasn't insured.
I said I was under the impression she had insurance.
I never said I wouldn't drive…
- [Judge Levy] Oh, so… - … without insurance.
I said at the time she gave me the car…
- [Judge Levy] Okay. - … I had the impression
- that she had car insurance. - Ms. Horn, that's much better.
- [Shawnte] That's what I said. - So we could agree then
that you would have no problem
driving a vehicle without insurance.
- Right. I would have no problem. - [Judge Levy] Good.
So, Ms. Wright, you guys have been friends for 20 years.
Yes.
[Judge Levy] And you tried to do something decent for her.
And unfortunately, all she did was take your good will
and throw it back in your face.
You wanna know why she never got a police report since the time of this crash?
'Cause in that police report, she said she didn't want
to have the other party, the other woman, arrested.
She could've, she didn't want to.
And she didn't want to 'cause she knows that she was the aggressor.
That's why.
And she didn't want you to find out.
And she didn't think we were gonna find out.
You come on Tribunal, we'll get to the truth.
Period.
Now, you're very frustrated at the poor choices
that your friend has made over the 20 years, right?
Evictions. Homelessness. It's in your text messages, right?
This is crazy.
- Uh-hmm. - [Judge Levy] Yeah.
- Why y'all bringing up something that… - [Judge Levy] And evictions?
- … has nothing to do with this case? - [Judge Levy] Listen.
- Let me explain something to you, ma'am. - [Shawnte] You can explain whatever…
- No one forced you to be here. - [Shawnte] … you wanna explain.
- I don't care about this no more. - No one.
- You wanna leave? - I don't care.
You leave. I'll finish this case without you.
All right. Finish it.
There you go.
Talking about my personal business.
That is what we call a guilty mind needs no accuser.
She doesn't intimidate us.
She's not smarter than us.
She thinks she is.
That's the reason that she gets evicted from places.
It's the reason why her whole life is upside down.
- You gotta pick better friends. - Uh-hmm.
[Judge Levy] The problem however, Ms. Wright, for you,
is that despite your willingness to help her,
you broke a number of rules.
You knew she didn't have a license, right?
- I think so. - [Judge Levy] Of course, you did.
You can't help someone drive a vehicle that you know is non-insured.
You can't allow someone else to drive a vehicle that's unregistered.
And you acknowledge that had you had insurance on that vehicle
as you are required to have before you gave it to someone,
- insurance would've taken care of this. - Right. Correct.
[Judge Levy] And the reason why insurance didn't take care of it,
and you are out this money is because of a decision you made.
Right.
So why is it that we should then award you, in her absence,
money, when the circumstances that resulted in you
not being able to get your car fixed is because you broke the law?
Tell me why.
Hmm, simply 'cause I was just trying to help somebody.
[Judge Levy] I get that.
But you understand why that puts you on a tough spot?
- Yeah. - [Judge Levy] Uh-hmm.
Now, you didn't get the estimate that you provided us
with here today until after the vehicle that was involved in the accident
on November 21st was involved in a second accident, right?
In--yeah, in May. I was hit from the back on the freeway.
So there was no side damage. It was only back damage.
And in the estimate, it says, "Previous damage."
It says, "Previous damage."
Right. And even when you were driving in May, you still didn't have insurance
for that car, did you?
- I did not. - [Judge Levy] Yeah.
- You gotta make better choices. - [Danielle] Okay. I'm sorry.
[Judge Levy] All right. That's all. Judge Acker.
[Judge Acker] Thank you, Judge.
By the way, she has, to my mind, my colleagues may disagree,
she has a better defense than her attitude suggested that she had,
instead of getting all huffy and walking out on a judge,
she should have stayed here to defend her case,
'cause your case is not airtight
and you don't win just because somebody throws a tantrum.
At least not in my view.
Because you already testified that you are aware of the fact
that the collision resulted from an altercation
that the defendant was having with the third party.
In fact, I think you saw part of it.
- Yeah. - [Judge Acker] You were on FaceTime.
- Uh-hmm. - And don't we have some video
- of the incident that we can review… - Yeah.
- [Judge Acker] … right now? - Yes.
Let's take a look at it.
The defendant's not here to narrate. What's going on?
[Danielle] Well, just a moment before that,
she was rammed by the truck.
[Judge Acker] And that's you in the top left on the…
- Yeah. - [Judge Acker] … FaceTime?
So you knew that there was another vehicle, another driver.
You knew that your friend had no money
- because you teased her about it. - Right.
[Judge Acker] You said, "You've been homeless forever."
Why didn't you sue the other person?
Um, well, I did not know the lady's name.
I was asking for the information and she said she couldn't get it.
Let me check in my, um, the text messages.
Um, on page 17,
exhibit four, I asked her,
"Hey, are you able to check if the report is done?"
And then she said, "No."
She said, "They can't give me no information
out the report until it's done.
I'll call and check later."
So I've never seen the report.
I don't know this lady's name. I don't know her insurance.
I would have went after her, but I didn't know this lady's name.
I didn't know anything about her.
And I'm looking at these messages now.
Here's what you said to her,
"As long as the insurance takes care of it,
- I'm really not tripping." - [Danielle] Yeah.
Where did you think the insurance was going to come from?
The insurance fairies, since neither of you had any time
apparently to get insurance on the car?
Because her boyfriend told her that the lady had insurance,
- so what we're trying to do… - Oh, that the other driver had insurance.
- [Danielle] Yeah. So we were… - I'm on the fence about how irritated
I am with you over the insurance issue because Judge Levy reminded me
that you did facilitate something improper.
The flip side of that is you could have expected her,
the person who's getting the car for free, to actually get some insurance.
Like, if you make clear to them that they have to get insurance,
that wouldn't make you a facilitator.
I'm just not sure that you made that clear.
But let's go back to the really heated exchange that the two of you had.
She was begging you to go after the other person and you basically said…
- Yeah, it's in a very unkind of way. - … pound sand.
And she said that she gave you that other person's information,
but it's your testimony that you never received it.
She--Your Honor, um, she just said she got the report yesterday or…
Why shouldn't we just dismiss your lawsuit and have you go sue that person?
Because Shawnte said she was gonna pay me herself.
[Judge Acker] She did.
She actually did. I saw the text message.
I don't have anything further.
I just wanna point out that this police report that we have
has the other woman as the victim and the only victim in this case.
And that's why she doesn't have a police report
because this report has nothing to help her in it at all.
So, I just want you to be aware of that.
And you want her to get insurance on a car that she probably can't
because she's not a licensed driver.
So, I think that you should be fully aware of your circumstances.
And with that, I don't have any other questions.
We're gonna retire to deliberate. Thank you.
- Okay. - [Byrd] Court now stands in recess.
Parties are excused.
[dramatic musical sting]
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice…
I'm still on the fence…
But the defendant did say, "I'm gonna pay you."
The defendant kept representing she was gonna make those payments.
But she hasn't. And that speaks louder than her words.
[dramatic musical sting]
Okay well, I'm not sure that I even believe that the defendant went
to the police precinct. We don't have any evidence of that.
There is no police report.
I mean there is a statement…
-Uh, she did. She did. So… -There's a statement by her…
So the other woman, according to the police report,
-which we just got today. -[Judge DiMango] Yes.
-The other driver, called the police. -Right.
-They responded and took a statement… -Correct.
-…from her at the scene. -[Judge DiMango] Mhm.
At the same time, our defendant,
our fleeing defendant, went to the police station
and gave a statement to the police with the boyfriend in the car.
Right. And then he said he didn't know the person's name and then so…
So she did give a statement, but it was at the police department.
Okay. So the point here is that the police report that was made
was made on behalf of the other woman
who was the victim in this case according to the police report.
They've included the statement from the defendant
because she actually went in there,
but they did not make a report on her behalf.
This is very clear here.
There's one victim, the victim's name,
and the two statements from the two people.
- Correct. - So that's here.
The boyfriend goes into the precinct and they wanna know the information
and he refuses to give the information.
He's between a rock and a hard place.
[Judge DiMango] He's like in there and she's…
- He's got two women on both sides and… - And she's yelling,
"Give me the name. Give 'em the name. Give 'em the name."
Anyway, so I have a couple of issues.
One, I have an issue with the fact that I don't like uninsured.
I don't like uninsured.
There was no way that she thought the other woman was gonna go out
and get insurance on a car that she didn't have a license, et cetera.
And because of that, I'm not willing to give the plaintiff any money.
- So, I would like… - She…
… to dismiss the complaint.
- That's it. - Listen, I believed the plaintiff
when she said she was trying to make things better for her friend
who was just a mess.
Yeah. But look at the decisions she's making.
- Yeah. Yeah. - She's not making any better decisions.
I know. But as far as trying to help out her friend,
that's what she was trying to do.
The plaintiff gave the car to the defendant
knowing it wasn't registered, knowing it wasn't insured,
and knowing that the defendant didn't have a license.
Those were all bad choices.
But in trying to do the right thing,
at least my take is that she didn't follow the rules for herself.
And had she done that, had she had insurance for the vehicle
that everyone else driving on the road is supposed to have,
then she wouldn't be here, 'cause her insurance carrier
would've picked up the damage for the vehicle.
But because she didn't have insurance, she acknowledged it.
That's the reason she's in her bind,
and that's the reason I don't think she's entitled to any money.
- She has remained uninsured. - She's also not driving that.
But I'm still on the fence.
But I will say this, she wasn't driving that car.
So the plaintiff has three cars.
The whole reason the defendant was driving this car is 'cause she's not driving it.
So, there's part of me that says, you know, she's like,
"Here, take the wheels."
And then it's incumbent on the driver to do what's responsible in order…
But we don't know if she has any insurance at all on any car.
We don't know if she's got any insurance.
We don't. But is it material now for purposes of this?
No. But other than to paint her as an-- a really--like, she's got a good heart.
I get it. But the bottom line is we can't be risking the safety
and jeopardy of other people out there because she wanted to do a kind thing.
- Just… - I get it.
But I'm not giving her anything.
[Judge Levy] Tanya, think about it from the plaintiff's position.
She wants to help her friend.
She wants to give her the vehicle to use that she's not using.
But she, the plaintiff, knows all of these bad--
horrible decisions that the defendant has made
for 20 years that resulted in a criminal arrest
and evictions and homelessness, losing custody of a child,
inability to hold down a job.
That's who she gave a 4,000 pound car to
that, but for the grace of God, wasn't used to hurt someone.
But just think about that, this is like bumper cars.
This is the defendant's frame of mind.
That I'm gonna entertain this exercise
with this ex-girlfriend of my boyfriend and start banging into cars.
Someone could have gotten really badly hurt.
- And just… - Exactly.
And it's because I think
it's the defendant's bad choices that took us there.
Look, if I had stronger evidence that the plaintiff was fully aware
of the fact that her friend was never gonna get the insurance
and fully aware of the fact that her friend was not licensed,
um, I'd be more comfortable.
But I think I'm gonna have to dissent.
By the way, it was written up as an assault case.
So the police believed that the defendant
actually was using the vehicle to go into the other woman's car.
Another part of her bad decisions.
- But, um… - And I think just to put
another pen on my dissent,
I'm not gonna change anybody's mind, but the plaintiff…
- Not mine. - [laughs]
I know you, guy--I'm not gonna change you.
But the defendant did say, "I'm gonna pay you."
The defendant kept representing she was gonna make those payments.
But she hasn't. And that speaks louder than her words.
Indeed.
- So you're the dissent. - Yeah.
[dramatic musical sting]
Court is back in session.
Ma'am, I remind you, you're still under oath.
- Thank you, Byrd. - Uh-hmm.
You know, sometimes while we're so busy taking care of other people,
we don't look at our own choices
and we need a little introspection sometimes
because for whatever reason,
you didn't make some good choices here either.
I know you don't like her choices, but for your life and who you are
and where you've gone in life, um, what do you do for a living?
I work at a hospital as a transporter.
[Judge DiMango] Okay. So here you are.
You with a good job and you're making decisions,
giving uninsured vehicles to friends.
You know, just not doing the smartest thing.
Now, we're not a unanimous court, we're a divided court.
Judge Levy and I feel one way, and Judge Acker, who was dissenting
would have given you the money in this case
that you're asking for because the defendant
represented to you that she had done this and that she would've paid you.
And based on that, she felt that that would be the appropriate remedy.
But Judge Levy and I, we couldn't do it.
We felt that you were uninsured, that the vehicle was uninsured,
and that we cannot-- we cannot send a message
that it's okay to do these things,
that that should be a priority for you, regardless of the underlying case itself.
And so because of that, we're going to dismiss your cause of action
and you will not be recovering any money
from this court and that's the verdict of the court.
[gavel bangs]
[Byrd] This case is now concluded, you may step out.
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["Ride of the Valkyries plays"]