[Judge DiMango] You are brother and sister?
- Yes, ma'am. - You go to him for this car loan?
I was paying him payments when I could.
Not correct.
[Judge Levy] So she's willing to take from you,
but she's not willing to give an inch?
[Judge Acker] Your brother's tearing up thinking
about having to sue his sister.
I've always loved my brother.
I never wanted to disappoint him.
[announcer] Now on Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
[announcer] Today's case was filed
in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Your Honor, this is case number 2032 on the calendar
in the matter of Bolin versus Maxwell.
- Thank you, Byrd. - You're welcome, Judge.
Parties have been sworn in.
You may be seated.
Mr. Bolin and Ms. Maxwell,
you are brother and sister.
- Yes, ma'am. - Yes, ma'am.
[Judge DiMango] And Mr. Bolin, you cosigned a car loan
for a 2016 Chevy Cruze
on behalf of your sister.
She got in a car accident.
She stopped making payments on the car.
Left the car in the impound lot.
It started accruing impound fees.
At some point, you were notified you covered that debt
and you paid off her loan balance of $5,758.
You're here asking that she pay you that money back.
Ma'am, your defense is you never asked him to pay for the loan.
This is something you've never agreed to, so therefore you owe him nothing.
So I guess the gist of your defense is people-shouldn't-be-so-nice defense?
No, ma'am. That's not what I--
the gist of my defense is at all.
[Judge DiMango] So let's go through the story a second.
How many siblings are you?
Because it's interesting.
I have seven brothers and sisters.
- Eight--there's eight of us. - [Judge DiMango] There's eight.
- And you are what number in line? - I'm number three.
And she is what number in line?
She's the baby of the family.
- [Judge DiMango] You're number eight? - Yes, ma'am.
Okay. Who approached who about the car?
My older sister came to me
and told me that, uh, Margie would be asking me to cosign
because I had done it for my older sister.
And I just felt like I probably had an obligation
to take care of my little sister.
What do you do for a living?
I'm semi-retired.
I work for utility companies.
Okay. And you don't have to tell me if you don't want,
- but how old are you? - I'm 61.
[Judge DiMango] And ma'am, what do you do for a living?
I'm currently unemployed.
I lost my job, uh, two weeks before Thanksgiving.
Were you unemployed at the time of this incident...
- [Marjorie] I was not. - ... when you borrowed the money?
I was not.
[Judge DiMango] And, if you don't mind, how old are you?
I am 52.
- [Judge DiMango] Okay. Nine years... - Nine.
[Judge DiMango] ... between the two of you.
Okay. So now, do you go to him for this car loan?
- I did. - And you say, "Yes, I'll do it?"
Well, she went and found the vehicle
for her--uh, for herself,
just called me and said, "Hey, I need your--you cosign this."
[Judge DiMango] I think you paid almost $19,000 for this vehicle,
would that be correct on your payouts?
Yes, ma'am. At the time,
when I walked into the dealership,
it was, I think 17,500 for the vehicle by itself.
I talked him down on the vehicle.
Well, maybe you should've been a lawyer.
So anyway, now you get this car,
you sign for it, and you're making payments.
But I found something interesting.
Because you're an adult woman-- you said you're 52 years old--
and yet you felt the need to reward her with compliments
like it's an exchange of text messages.
Very nice, you just keep paying,
patting you on the back, correct?
There had been some loans in the past
that I had taken care of for her
that I need--just felt the need that I needed to encourage
to make sure that this stayed on track. Yes, ma'am.
[Judge DiMango] Would that be accurate, ma'am?
- No. - Did you ever had any issues? No?
[Marjorie] With all due respect, ma'am,
he checks his credit constantly
and anybody that he helps out gets the same text messages,
which he's my brother,
and he did me a favor before
and he had no reason to think I wouldn't pay him back.
That's why I was actually a little insulted
because I know my brother.
See, that troubled me too,
but not because I thought you were doing anything insulting,
because your daughter sees her
driving a different vehicle, is that correct?
Yes, ma'am. It was actually in November.
My daughter sees her driving a vehicle,
calls me, "Did you cosign for another loan?" No.
[Judge DiMango] Why would your daughter care
if you did another loan?
Mainly because I'm about a $150,000 out in loans
to different family members.
Oh, well, okay.
- So you're the one... - So, she sees...
- ... that needs the help here. - ... she has another vehicle...
- [Judge DiMango] Okay. - ... and thought maybe I had
cosigned for yet another loan.
And you were in a different car, ma'am,
and why were you in a different car?
Because I wrecked my car.
- [Judge DiMango] You were in an accident? - Yes, ma'am.
- [Judge DiMango] What is it your fault? - Yes, it was.
And we have a picture of the car now
and that's the accident.
And how did it occur, ma'am?
[Marjorie] I was turning, making a left-hand turn,
and I was going about five miles an hour,
and I fell asleep because it was like 4:00 in the afternoon,
I've been working like a hundred and twenty-five hours a week,
- I used to run a trucking company. - You can't justify falling asleep,
- uh, behind the steering wheel... - [Marjorie] I did. Well...
- ... of a car. - [Marjorie] Okay. Exactly.
- You're correct. - Like, no, I don't care
- how many hours you work. - You're correct.
I--and I hit a Dodge Ram heavy-duty pickup truck
at five miles an hour.
- I don't believe that either. - [Marjorie] Okay.
That's not a five-mile-an-hour car accident.
[Marjorie] Okay. But--okay.
- Not by any common sense. - I understand.
[Judge DiMango] But what else happened here
that makes this even more tragic.
How much insurance did you have on the car at the time?
- At the time, none. - [Judge DiMango] None.
Didn't have the money to pay it.
- I wasn't checking... - So you're working a lot,
you're working overtime, you have a job,
and you're not making insurance payments on your car?
It absolutely was not overtime.
- I was a salary... - [Judge DiMango] You just said you worked
a hundred and thirty-five hours, that's not overtime?
- Like what is? - [Marjorie] Ma'am, I work a salary job.
I was a dispatcher for 30 semi-truck drivers.
[Judge DiMango] Okay. So now, the insurance lapse,
where's the car?
It went to the impound lot--oh.
[Judge DiMango] It was towed to the impound lot?
Yes, ma'am.
[Judge DiMango] While it's in the impound lot,
it's accruing fees?
It's accruing charges, ma'am,
and I was never notified.
Those were the first pictures I've ever seen of the car.
[Judge DiMango] You never went to get the car out?
I wasn't notified the car had been in a wreck.
[Judge DiMango] Who paid the impound fees?
No one did.
The car stayed in the impound lot.
I kept asking her, "Where's the car? Where's the car?"
[Judge DiMango] And what was she telling you?
She--first she told me, "Yes, I have insurance.
- It's at the, uh, body shop." - Did you do that?
- I did not tell him that. - [Judge DiMango] What'd you tell him?
What was your first thing you told him then?
I told him that it was at the impound yard
and that I had taken care of it with the bank
and he did not find out that I've...
[Judge DiMango] How did you take care of it with the bank?
- I was still paying the payments... - Uh-hmm.
[Marjorie] ... because they were taking it out
- of my check every week and it... - [Judge DiMango] So, you have no money
according to you to keep up your insurance payments.
Did you ever tell anybody you had insurance?
Nobody ever asked.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
- What's your credit score? - It's not good.
Yeah. First truthful thing you said all day today.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Jonathan Bolin is suing his sister Marjorie Maxwell
after she totaled the car he cosigned for.
Marjorie claims her brother should never have paid off the loan
because she had made payments in advance.
Did you ever tell anybody you had insurance?
Nobody ever asked.
Your Honor, it's on the police report that she has insurance.
[Marjorie] The policeman did ask me.
I didn't lie to the policeman. I told the policeman the truth
but the impound lot never asked me.
But you're actually doing things
that just defy common sense and decency.
The reason they ask you do you have insurance
is because insurance policies often will pay for your towing,
they'll pay for a rental car.
And here you are, I don't know,
with the self-righteous kind of attitude that you have,
saying, "The cops asked me, I told them,
but, you know, why should I tell anybody else?"
So back to you.
You leave the car in the lot.
Ultimately what's gonna happen with that money?
So the impound company goes to the bank,
files for the title.
Do they actually keep the car if the bank is in the title?
Yes, the bank gives them the car the title.
The bank calls me because they said
they've been trying to get ahold of her.
They can't--that she wouldn't return the calls.
- Right. And then you say... - [Jonathan] We're calling the loan.
You're gonna call in the loan and you pay it.
And the balance on that loan is?
$5,757.63.
So--wow. So you paid a good portion,
you paid like $12,000 on this loan.
Could you please just tell me why you're not paying him back?
[Marjorie] Yes, ma'am.
The accident happened in November.
[Judge DiMango] November 29th.
My brother did not find out about it,
nobody in my family found out about that accident
until sometime in March.
Well, you excel at something. You're a good secret keeper.
[Marjorie] No, I wasn't keeping secrets.
I don't need to call my big brother.
He went and paid off this loan
without asking me my opinion on it
and then calls me up and says,
"You're going to pay me."
What am I going to say to him?
What's the difference who you pay?
You either pay him or you pay the bank.
But the bottom line here I still believe your defense is,
people shouldn't be so nice.
- [Marjorie] No, ma'am. That's not true. - Judge Levy?
I want to pay my brother
but I don't have the funds now to pay.
I was paying the bank and then my--
the--I had to leave a job because it was outsourced.
Well--hold on.
Well, what you said was that you were employed
up until two weeks before Thanksgiving of 2023.
So you were working all the way up
- through 2023... - Right.
[Judge Levy] ... November,
the accident occurred November 2021.
That's two years.
You've been working for the full two years.
And after the car was involved in the accident,
you paid him nothing back.
So with that in mind, what is your defense?
I was paying him payments when I could.
I was paying him payments.
So what I'm hearing is that
you paid the bank $5,758,
but that she was paying you payments
along the way to whittle that down,
- is that what you're saying? - Yes, sir.
- [Judge Levy] Is that correct? - That is not correct.
She paid two payments of $65 in two years.
[Judge Levy] Show me the proof.
I don't have any proof. I paid it to his bank
- and I sent him a text message. - [Judge Levy] Okay. So you do realize
you coming with no evidence, I'm telling you,
how I'm gonna take that-- I'm disregarding what you said about that.
- [Marjorie] I understand. - I don't find that credible, not one bit.
I did pay--make payments to him.
[Judge Levy] By the way, were you in violation
- of the purchase agreement? - No.
[Judge Levy] Are you sure about that?
I was five months ahead of that purchase agreement.
- You sure about that? - [Marjorie] Yes, sir.
- I'm pretty sure that I was... - [Judge Levy] Great. Let's take a look
at the purchase agreement.
- This was provided by you, sir? - Yes, sir.
- And you've had a copy of this, right? - [Marjorie] I've never seen that.
- I might have... - Of course you've seen it.
You have a copy of it. You signed it.
[Marjorie] Oh, I thought you asked if I had this with me now.
- Yes, I do. That's my signature. - [Judge Levy] All right.
That--so that is the purchase agreement
for the vehicle that you signed,
and it's your testimony under oath here today
that you did not violate the terms
of that agreement in any way.
I probably violated with it--
with--let my insurance lapse, yes.
- Yeah, you did. - [Marjorie] Yes.
- Yeah, you did. - I misunderstood what you said.
- [Judge Levy] Yeah. - I apologize.
[Judge Levy] You didn't misunderstand anything.
There is a direction on this agreement that says
you must insure the property.
And you violated that term.
And as a result of your violation, he's on the hook.
His credit is going to be affected.
By the way, you knew it had lapsed while you were driving
and got in that accident, right?
- Yeah. - [Judge Levy] Yeah, you did.
Yeah, you did. And then you lied to the cops
and you told them you had Progressive, right?
- Do I have to show you that form too? - No.
And you come in here, and what?
You think that we weren't gonna figure that out?
- No, I knew you would, and I know... - [Judge Levy laughs]
No, you didn't. You didn't know we would.
- [Marjorie] Sure I did. - No.
No. What's your credit score?
What's my credit score? It's not good.
Yeah. First truthful thing you said all day today.
[laughs] It's not so good.
You're a smart lady.
You consider yourself a smart lady?
I'd like to think so.
[Judge Levy] Right. So you knew,
without driving with insurance,
that if there was a crash and the insurance wouldn't pick it up,
they can go after your brother
as the registered owner of that vehicle
and wipe him completely out.
[Marjorie] I did know that, and that's why...
And you just didn't care.
The sad part is I could have added it to my insurance for $50 a month.
[Judge Levy] Sure. So she's willing to take from you.
Take, take, take.
But she's not willing to give an inch.
That's unfortunate.
Not all siblings are created equal.
- Judge Acker. - [Judge Acker] Thank you, Judge Levy.
Let's rewind to the point in time
where you have the accident.
I thought I heard you say that at the time of the accident,
you were five months ahead.
I was five months ahead.
- [Judge Acker] In November of 2021. - Yes, ma'am.
Is that true, sir?
I won't say yes or no
because all I know is what the final bill was.
I didn't ask about payments.
I just knew what the final bill was when we walk...
[Judge Acker] When did the bank contact you?
The bank contacted me in March.
[Judge Acker] March following the November of her accident?
- Yes, ma'am. - [Judge Acker] So a few months.
What was the substance of the communication with the bank?
[Jonathan] The bank calls me and tells me they're calling the loan
because the car's gone, so they have no guarantee
- for their money... - [Judge Acker] So they were--
they were notified after the accident?
Yes, the wrecker company notified, saying,
"Hey, we're taking the car.
We have this much owed on it. We're taking it." And I...
- You understand that, right? - [Marjorie] Yes, ma'am.
So that once the car is no longer available,
the bank has nothing to secure the money
that both of you signed for.
Now, one thing that really stood out to me in your complaint
was that you said that you cosigned for this car
against your better judgment.
Why was your judgment cautioning you
against making this loan to your sister?
Because we had had incidents before
where she had had to borrow money.
I know that she ran on a ragged edge all the time.
And I sat in the car dealership
and told her, my exact words,
"I'm doing this against my better judgment."
[Judge Acker] Did you have that conversation with your brother?
I don't remember that conversation.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
I've always loved my brother.
He was my dad growing up.
It's probably why he did this for you.
I feel so disappointed in myself
because I disappointed everybody in my life.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Jonathan Bolin is suing his sister Marjorie Maxwell
after she totaled a car he cosigned for.
Marjorie claims her brother should never have paid off the loan
because she had made payments in advance.
When the bank came to you
and said, "The collateral is gone. We're calling the loan,"
what were your communications to your sister?
- Did you do that? - I contacted her several times, actually,
and told her that the bank was calling the loan
and what I was willing to do,
would--I would go pay this loan off
and lower her payments
because I knew she had to have another car.
And I would lower her payments
and she could pay me directly at that point
so she didn't have any interest or anything else on the loan.
Just pay me.
[Judge Acker] So Ms. Maxwell,
I'm gonna give you a chance now to explain
what do you think your obligations are.
Well, I need to pay my brother back.
And I--and I always--I have the best of intentions of doing that, but...
So why did this end up causing such a big rift in your family?
Did you ever say to him,
"Hey, you know what, I'm really unemployed.
I was underemployed before,
- now I am unemployed." - I did.
[Judge Acker] "So, I'm gonna give you what I can,
you know, $50 a month, a hundred dollars a month."
- I did. - [Judge Acker] Did you offer that?
I offered $25 a week until I could find something.
I did.
And he said know at this point,
and I guess understandably, know at this point,
I'm gonna have to take it to court.
[Judge Acker] Because he didn't trust you anymore.
Absolutely. Yes, you're right.
And you think he was right not to trust you anymore?
I'm sure, yeah.
[Judge Acker] Is that what happened?
You didn't trust that she was gonna make
even the smallest of payments?
No, ma'am, because we had had three previous "I'll pay you" agreements.
And as she stated, she was working
and she even actually sent me a copy of her paycheck after I filed.
[Judge Acker] Do you have anything you wanna say
to your brother after all of this?
Do you think you owe him an apology?
I have told him I'm sorry.
I told him on the phone the day he called me
and told me he paid off the payment
that I was sorry that I lied to him.
I did. I love my brother.
I've never wavered on that.
I've always loved my brother.
He was my dad growing up.
He was the one I wanted to be with all the time when I was growing up.
[Judge Acker] It's probably why he did this for you.
I feel so disappointed in myself
because I disappointed him.
Except my kids, I've disappointed everybody in my life.
But I never wanted to disappoint him.
[Judge Acker] Well, I think now, I mean,
it's perhaps a better use of your energy
not to keep beating yourself up
because that's not gonna help him,
that's not gonna pay the bank.
But I hope instead of talking
about what a bad person you are,
you'll think about how to do better.
I have nothing further.
[Judge DiMango] I just have a few things
that I'd like to clear up for the record.
When you had the conversation with her about,
"Hey, listen, the bank called me.
I'm gonna pay this loan off."
What was her response to you?
- Don't pay it? - [Jonathan] No.
It was thank you because at that-- that's the exact time I told her,
"I'll stop the interest and lower your payments
so you can pay the payments on the new car you bought."
So she did say to you, "Pay it off."
That's the bottom line?
- Did she say to you... - She--we were back
- when I was paying it off, yeah. - [Judge DiMango] Great.
So your defense here, which is,
"He didn't talk to me about paying it off"?
No, he called me and told me he paid it off and that...
But he asked you first and you said, "Go do it."
If I gotta believe anybody in this courtroom
- between him and you... - I understand.
... who do you think it's gonna be? You've lied to everybody.
You lied to the loan company, you lied to him,
you lied to the police, you lied to everybody and us.
I've never lied to you.
[Judge DiMango] We're gonna retire to deliberate.
- Thank you both. - [Byrd] Court now stands in recess.
This case will be recalled.
Parties are excused.
[dramatic musical sting]
Ooh, this case certainly gives meaning to the expression
"No good deed goes unpunished."
That's for sure.
Because this man, I mean,
he was credible from beginning to end.
He was kindhearted from beginning to end.
I think he did everything he could
to help her keep herself above water.
I don't think she recognizes her own limitations,
although she speaks that she understands them.
I'm not quite sure she gets the big picture.
I don't see any reason why he should not get every penny
of what he paid off basically in the end.
Right. Her defense was no defense.
We tried to extract it from her on three separate occasions.
And by the end of the case, I think that she even recognized
that there was no defense.
She owes every penny of that.
And I think that he was even conservative in his request.
In some of those text messages, he said,
"If you don't pay it off now,
it's gonna balloon up to 6,000."
He went above and beyond.
It's an easy verdict for me.
For me as well. So we're unanimous.
Great.
[dramatic musical sting]
[Byrd] Court is back in session.
Parties are reminded you're still under oath.
- Thank you, Byrd. - Uh-hmm.
Could you be my brother?
[chuckles]
I am my sister's keeper.
[Judge DiMango] That text, it's funny. When I first looked at it, I said,
"There's something amiss here."
Why would this gentleman say to his sister,
"I'm proud of you, keep up the payments?"
And you know what? We saw why.
You owe him $5,758 for paying off
a loan that you should have done everything within your power
to compensate him for.
But instead, until this moment in this courtroom,
with that self-righteous indignation that you demonstrated
as to why you lied to everybody.
And then you'll say, "I didn't lie to everybody."
The one big lie, no insurance.
And to continue to drive that way,
knowing what was on the line.
So sir, we are unanimous
in awarding you the amount that you've asked for,
and that's $5,758.
That's the verdict of the court.
Change your attitude
and do something in return for what he's done for you
rather than drag him into a courtroom.
Do you have that much decency in you?
- Maybe? - We'll have to see.
You'll have to see. That's amazing.
It's amazing. That's the verdict of the court.
- Smarten up. - [gavel bangs]
[Byrd] This case is now concluded.
Parties are excused. You may step out.
[theme music plays]
I guess I learned a hard lesson.
Uh, luckily she's alive.
I mean, it looked bad.
It couldn't have killed me.
It's an emotional letdown.
As far as I'm concerned, everything's fine.
Hopefully we can get our family back together and start talking again.
I love my brother.
No matter what he thinks, no matter what anybody thinks,
I love my brother.
I want to cry, too.
She is my sister.
No more loans.
I have four sisters,
so I'm hoping I don't have to do it three more times.
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["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]