When you moved out, there was nothing but normal wear and tear.
That's exactly the way it happened.
The bathrooms were like nasty and filthy.
There's a hole in the door,
the carpet was dirty,
- and there was a horrible smell. - Absolutely not.
Oh, my God.
Normal wear and tear?
I mean, maybe if the house were located in hell.
[announcer] Now on Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
[announcer] Today's case was filed in Kansas City, Missouri.
Your Honor, this is case number 2062, Hamilton versus Shell.
All parties have been sworn in.
- Thank you, Cassandra. - You guys may be seated.
Mr. Hamilton, you're a landlord.
You rented your home to the defendant.
And you're seeking $4,920 from him
for breaking the lease
and for causing excessive damage to your home.
Yes, Your Honor, I am.
And according to your answer, Mr. Shells,
you gave proper notice before you left.
You say that you hired a cleaning service.
- I did. - [Judge Levy] And when you moved out,
there was nothing but normal wear and tear.
That's exactly the way it happened.
[Judge Levy] And what we're gonna find out today, Mr. Shells,
is whether your idea of normal wear and tear
is like everybody else's idea of normal wear and tear.
- Makes sense? - Makes sense.
All right. So, Mr. Hamilton, why don't you tell us,
how do you know the defendant?
[Darren] I've been knowing him maybe ten years or so.
He was a mechanic.
He used to work on my vehicles at one point in time.
I knew that he was--had-- was in a bad situation,
staying in a hotel so I offered him my place.
So I was trying to help him out.
[Judge Levy] The place that you were gonna let him rent from you, where was it?
[Darren] It's in Kansas City, Missouri.
I stay across the street and he stays directly across the street from me.
[Judge Levy] And what year was it that you rented the home to him?
It was, uh, 2018, I believe.
[Judge Levy] Is that correct?
I think it was 2017.
[Judge Levy] So just so we all know,
before you guys came in,
you were able to provide us with any evidence that you had to support
- your case and you did that, correct? - Yes.
And, Mr. Shells, you, however, did not have any evidence to present to us
'cause you said what you had was on your phone and you lost your phone.
- That is correct. - [Judge Levy] Luckily, we have a lease
from Mr. Hamilton, and if you can please show that over to Mr. Shells.
So, Mr. Hamilton, why don't you tell us what the terms and conditions
of the lease were?
The terms and conditions of the lease
were it was a one-year lease
and to break the lease,
you have to give a 30-day notice
or else the lease renews itself every year.
[Judge Levy] That's correct. So it was an auto renewal.
It was $650 a month,
$650 security deposit that you took.
- Yes, sir. - [Judge Levy] There was a $700
termination fee and the tenant was required to pay damages
beyond normal wear and tear.
Yes, sir. That what it says. Uh-huh.
[Judge Levy] And according to that lease, Mr. Shells,
you also remember signing that you did agree to keep the property free
- of trash and to mow the grass. - Absolutely.
Now, would you please, Mr. Hamilton,
tell us the condition of the house
before Mr. Shells moved in in May of 2018.
Oh, the condition of the house?
It was in great condition.
The carpet was clean, everything was in order,
because The Salvation Army paid his deposit
and maybe like ten months of his rent.
They came in before they start paying
and did their own inspection of the property...
[Judge Levy] Do you recall that, Mr. Shells?
- ... which it passed and everything. - I do recall that.
Okay. By the way, you moved out November 10th, right?
I moved out in October.
[Judge Levy] It was October, but according to your complaint,
Mr. Hamilton, you say it was November 10th
'cause he still had an acquaintance of his living there.
- Yes. - [Judge Levy] So November 10th,
did you have someone that you were in acquaintance with stay there
- even after they... - Not after October.
[Judge Levy] No one there after October?
- [Rickey] Absolutely not. - [Judge Levy] Okay.
So tell us how much you paid to clean the house before you left.
In the--in the amount of $400.
It was through people that I work with at my shop.
I paid those guys to clean...
- [Judge Levy] Okay. - ... the house after I moved out.
- $400? - [Rickey] Yes, sir.
Okay. So, Mr. Hamilton, I want you to describe
for us the way the house looked when he vacated the home.
Oh, my God.
Okay. We have--
every blind in the house was like torn, ripped, or broken.
[Judge Levy] I think we have those photographs.
[Darren] Yes, sir.
That's where the front window-- they had a shooting in the house.
He repaired the glass but never the blind
and he just left everything like that,
- you know? - [Judge Levy] Go ahead, Mr. Shells.
You wanna say something about the shooting?
- Go ahead. - [Rickey] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because that stuff happened after I moved in there,
about a year after I moved in there.
And that happened, I believe, because of the tenants he had in there before I did.
[Judge Levy] Listen, no one's blaming you
for someone outside shooting in.
- No one's blaming you for that, so stop. - Okay.
[Judge Levy] So all I want you to continue with, please, Mr. Hamilton,
is the way the house looked after he left.
The carpet was dirty.
Looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years.
These are the stairs, is that right? That's the carpet going up the stairs.
[Darren] That's the carpet.
[Rickey] The carpet downstairs was in fair condition.
Going up the stairs, there were already tears in it when I moved in there,
- so... - I disagree with that.
Before October of 2023, when you moved out,
when was the time before that that you had the carpet cleaned?
It'd been over a year.
And after four years, almost five years,
he want me to replace his carpet?
So--just so we're clear, Mr. Shells,
so it's your testimony that those stairs, ripped up as they are,
that's the way that the carpet cleaning people came in a year before?
Yup. Those two bottom tears that you see, they were already there in the beginning.
[Judge Levy] And you would disagree with that?
- I would disagree 'cause the... - [Judge Levy] I get it.
What else? What about the bathrooms?
Anything about the bathrooms
- you wanna tell me about? - [Darren] Oh, yes.
The bathrooms were like nasty and filthy.
You can see the tub, it don't look like nobody took a bath in that tub.
The sink was like filled up with water,
just backed up and there was a horrible smell.
- I mean, it was terrible. - That isn't true.
[Judge Levy] Mr. Shells, is that the way you left the tub in the house
- in October of 2023? - No. I wasn't there a year before.
I moved out of--my ex-girlfriend was still staying in there
but that was not like that.
Now, that stuff right there...
- She wasn't even on the lease. - [Rickey] ... on the side--
on the side, it was like that all along.
I had that repaired once before.
So you're saying that that was done after the cleaning company came?
Absolutely, it was.
[Judge Levy] Can you tell me how that happened?
- I don't know. - [Judge Levy] Okay.
What about outside?
We have apartments behind the place where he lived and his dump is back there.
He'd put his trash in their dumpsters.
They called him.
They removed the trash out of their dumpsters
and threw all the trash back into my backyard.
He told me that he had paid some guys
to help him move out or whatever
and he wasn't paying-- and he's not gonna pay them
- anymore money to clean that. - [Judge Levy] Okay. Mr. Shells,
I could see you out of the corner of my eye.
- Yeah. - [Judge Levy] So is it your testimony
that you complied with the terms of the lease
by keeping the outside of the home well-kept?
- That's exactly right. - [Judge Levy] Okay. Very good.
Let's play the video.
I think the video speaks for itself, Mr. Normal Wear And Tear.
So tell us what's going on here, Mr. Hamilton.
- [Darren] Okay. This is... - [Judge Levy] First of all,
- what date is this? - [Darren] November 4th.
- [Judge Levy] Okay. - [Darren] After they were supposed
to be gone.
And this is like the videos
- I took of just... - [Rickey] That ain't true.
[Darren] ... everything that was out there.
Well, this is like in the basement, still things down there.
Was there anyone still in the house at this time?
- Yes. - Who?
[Darren] His lady.
- Okay. - That's how I got to get in the house
because I seen the door open.
I didn't have a key to...
How about this? What are we looking at here?
[Darren] Okay. Now, we're looking at the kitchen cabinets.
The whole door is gone.
He didn't even save the door so I could try to fix it...
- What are we looking at now? - [Darren] ... you know?
Now, we're going into the bath.
There's a hole in the door like somebody punched it.
Then we go in. That's the sliding glass shower door.
He removed that,
took it down, bent it up so bad I couldn't put it back up.
The sink was clogged.
The sink was clogged to death.
It was just so funky and smelly, I threw it out.
- It looked like water had been... - [Judge Levy] It wouldn't--
- it wouldn't go down the drain? - [Darren] ... sitting in there
for I don't know how long.
I remember seeing some bugs when I looked at...
- [Darren] Oh, my God. - Hold on.
[Darren] There was no roaches in the property.
It was--there's roaches, kitchen, bathroom.
I mean, I done bombed it twice
and they're still there.
I mean, I may have to do it one more time.
[Judge Levy] All right, Mr. Hamilton.
Normal wear and tear? Judge Acker.
- [Rickey] He didn't... - Just--
- I'm so sorry. [laughs] - [Rickey] He didn't...
- Hold on, sir. - [Rickey] ... pay nobody
to get that stuff cleaned up.
- [Judge Acker] Hold--no, no, no. - I paid to get all that stuff
- cleaned out of there. - [Judge Acker] Stop, stop, stop.
Because what we've established is that on November 4th,
you left the property but your former partner or girlfriend
- was still living there, yes? - She was not.
Didn't you say that somebody was still in the house...
I gave him the keys myself to the house in October.
[dramatic musical sting]
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
How do we know that the shots didn't come from inside the house going out?
Ask him.
- [Judge DiMango] I'm not asking him. - He knows what...
What--how would he know? Were you there during the shooting?
If you ask me, it was another shooting where he came out shooting.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Landlord Darren Hamilton
is suing former tenant, Rickey Shells,
for damages Darren says went well beyond normal wear and tear,
but Rickey claims he left the house in perfect condition.
You took all of your things out of the home in October?
All of the stuff that I put in-- out of the house, I put them through...
[Judge Acker] And there was no one living in the home
- after you left? - After I left. No.
- Mr. Hamilton... - [Darren] Yes.
... you say on November 4th,
there was still somebody living there.
- That... - [Judge Acker] Who was it?
- It was his girlfriend? - [Darren] Yes, ma'am.
When I seen the door open,
I went in there and she was in there.
And she was saying that like the mice put the holes in the wall and...
- The mice? - [Darren] Yeah. And when...
- I saw that. - [Darren] ... I went in the basement,
I asked her, I said, "Well, is this all your stuff in the basement?"
She was like, "No. That's Rick's stuff."
So I disagree with what he's saying.
Let me--I'd like to speak to your witness, please,
because as I understand, your witness was there on the 4th?
She was in--she went in also.
[Judge Acker] Ma'am, would you take the stand?
How do you know the plaintiff? What's your relationship?
We're boyfriend and girlfriend.
[Judge Acker] So you're not an unbiased witness?
- Absolutely. - [Judge Acker] I have to take
your testimony with a grain of salt.
That doesn't mean that I think you're lying
- but you have an interest in the case. - Right. Okay.
Did you accompany the plaintiff to the property on November 4th?
- Yes, ma'am, I did. - [Judge Acker] And did you see
somebody else still in residence there?
- Yes, Your Honor, I did. - [Judge Acker] Was the defendant
- in residence there? - No, ma'am, he wasn't.
Talk to me about these holes in the wall that were allegedly
- created by the rodents? - It was a lot of holes in the wall.
- One hole. - The main bedroom
had a big old hole in the wall.
He asked the defendant's girlfriend how did the hole get there.
She said the mice did it.
Those are some strong mice.
Yeah, that's what we said too, so--yeah.
Can we please put up exhibit two, the broken blinds?
So, Mr. Shells, I just have to tell you.
Normal wear and tear?
I mean, maybe if the house were located in hell
but this place is a mess.
You're a grown man.
- How does that happen? - [Rickey] That happened when the house
got shot through the windows.
And the blinds, I will agree that they are messed up.
- I know. You should agree. - [Rickey] Somebody shot
through the house from the outside. I don't know who did that.
And I put those blinds up there.
He--no blinds were in there in the beginning.
[Judge Acker] Is that true, sir?
- He put the blinds up? - No, ma'am.
He did fix the glass.
And then I asked him plenty of times about, "Hey, man,
are you gonna fix the blind?"
And it never got fixed.
Let's go back to exhibit three.
I wanna talk for a moment about the carpet because, Mr. Shells,
you said that the damages on the bottom
- two stairs were pre-existing? - [Rickey] Yeah. Yes.
It was already pre-ripped,
and I almost tripped and broke my neck on that.
[Judge Acker] Now, here's a point for you,
Mr. Hamilton, and I think this is something that you have to prove to us,
- that he caused all of that. - [Darren] Well, they--like I said,
The Salvation Army,
they did an inspection.
It's like a second-hand inspection.
You can't have ripped carpet,
holes in the wall, or any of that or it won't pass the inspection.
[Judge Acker] Mr. Shells, you mentioned that the people
who you hired to clean the home when you moved out...
- Uh-hmm. - ... were from your shop.
What sort of work do you do, sir?
I own a mechanic--
- automotive repair shop. - [Judge Acker] Mechanic repair?
- That's how you met the plaintiff? - Yes.
[Judge Acker] Can we put up the picture of the bathtub again, exhibit four?
Now, sir, you are a grown man. How does this happen?
Well, listen, that bathtub was never operable really from the beginning.
I only use the shower.
I never used it. And that wood stuff--
- now, the shower... - [Judge Acker] Wait, wait, wait, wait.
I gotta believe you didn't take a shower in a tub
that look like that. I mean, that is just...
- It did not. It did not. - [Judge Acker] You'll be dirtier
after the shower than before.
Yeah, well, it didn't look like that.
Why would he just dirty up and sully his own home
then come to court and try to make a little extra money off of you?
I'm not saying that he did that, but, see, he had some roofers up there,
and I even told him--you know, when they're banging on that roof,
all that stuff was falling down in the restroom.
But by that time, I was barely there.
It sounds like a wild house, sir.
- Just a wild place. - [Rickey] Wild--
- no, it was our wild place. - [Judge Acker] Judge DiMango?
I have to tell you, Mr. Shells, I think there's truth in what you're saying
- and there's truth in what you're saying. - [Darren] Uh-hmm.
Because you see those pieces of wood in there?
There's no way that he was standing in that tub for any purpose,
even if he was willing to wash in filth,
there was no way he was doing that with two pieces of wood in there.
So that had to come in after he and/or his girlfriend left.
Second thing is you lost your phone
so there's evidence that you can't supply, correct?
- Exactly, yes. - Okay. But the shooting--
obviously, the shooting, that was awful,
- I would imagine, right? - It was very awful.
[Judge DiMango] There were several bullet holes or one?
Yeah. It was like five of them.
- Five? - [Rickey] Yeah.
- Where were the... - Two of them came through the door
and right through the couch where I used to sleep.
[Judge DiMango] You called the police?
- I did. - [Judge DiMango] And they came, right?
They came, yeah.
[Judge DiMango] You didn't know who did it, right?
- [Rickey] I have no idea. - But, you know what?
You could've gotten that police report even without your phone.
And so you don't have a police report,
so how do we know that the shots didn't come from inside the house going out?
- Ask him. - [Judge DiMango] I'm not asking him.
What--how would he know?
- Were you there during the shooting? - If you ask me,
it was another shooting where he came out shooting after the first shooting.
He said somebody was in there trying to rob him.
[Judge DiMango] That's my point. You could have had documents
to substantiate your position
even though you didn't have a phone
and yet you don't have them.
So you leave before your girlfriend leaves--or your ex-girlfriend, correct?
- Correct. - [Judge DiMango] And where do you go?
I purchased another building across the street from one of the shops I own.
- I'm sorry. What did you just say? - I purchased another building.
[Judge DiMango] You purchased a building?
- Yeah. And I turned it... - You said when you met him
he was homeless living in hotels.
You're telling me you had enough money to buy a building?
- Yeah. - Two? Two buildings?
- I saw the two go up. - [Rickey] No, I...
Unless you're giving me the peace sign. Peace to you too.
- [laughter] - Since I rented his place,
I purchased the place where I started working at.
And the guy passed away across the street, then I bought that place.
- So now I have two places. - [Judge DiMango] So you have two places
and you can't afford new blinds?
- [Rickey] Yeah, I could. - [Judge DiMango] Yeah, you could.
- Yeah. - [Judge DiMango] But you didn't,
'cause the blinds, to me, are really a sign of wear and tear.
The backyard, the filth, and the dirt,
and the boxes, and the clothes, and the wood...
[Rickey] I had it all cleaned.
He took those pictures before I had it moved.
[Joanna] Uh, no, ma'am.
[Judge DiMango] One second. Would you like to step up?
[Joanna] Yes. I can honestly say
he did not have anyone to clean that trash up in the back.
- We cleaned that trash up. - Me and her cleaned all that trash.
Nobody is saying that you didn't clean it.
What he's saying is that it wasn't his.
But I'm aware that there was man boots out there, there was man underwear.
Even his mail was out there, as well as his girlfriend's.
Okay. So you can have a seat.
- She was not my girlfriend at that time. - [Judge DiMango] Because you broke up.
Yeah. I was helping her out because her house...
So you leave her there.
- That's the whole point. - [Rickey] Yes, I did.
- You leave her there. - I did.
[Judge DiMango] So maybe you can't testify to some of what happened
but you certainly can see that that was how it was left.
- Judge Levy. - [Rickey] Yeah.
Yeah. Thank you.
If I could, Mr. Hamilton,
when we looked through that video,
we saw the video of the way the house looked after November 4th.
This is what we're talking about right here, right?
[Darren] Right. Me and Joanna, we cleaned that up personally ourself.
[Judge Levy] There was actually a summons that was issued.
Do you recall getting summonses from the city about the trash
- that was all over your property? - I do, yes.
- I have them. - No. Never had a trash summon.
[tense music playing]
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
You see, I have a video of how it looks after I got through cleaning it up.
[Judge Levy] Let's go to the video now
of what the place look like after you and your crew cleaned it.
Okay.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Landlord Darren Hamilton claims that former tenant,
Rickey Shells, destroyed his house,
but Rickey says the drug dealer living there before him
is responsible for most of the bullet holes.
Do you recall getting summonses from the city about the trash
- that was all over your property? - I do, yes. I have them.
No. Never had a trash summon.
- See... - [Judge Levy] Hold on. Hold on.
- I have them right here. - [Judge Levy] Hold on. I--I've seen that.
- I turned them in to you guys. - It was June of 2022.
It was $147.
- You paid that. - Yes.
[Judge Levy] Okay. And then you go back in
- and you cleaned. - [Darren] Yes.
[Judge Levy] We have a video of that?
- We do. We sent out a video... - [Judge Levy] Of what...
... of how it looks after I got through cleaning it up.
Let's go to the video now of what the place look like
- after you and your crew cleaned it. - [Darren] Okay.
That's---we're in the basement right now.
I'm done with the doin' of the house.
This is how it look. I just got to put that back up.
[Judge Levy] That old washing machine was gone?
[Darren] I took everything out of there.
[Rickey] I put that hot water tank in there too.
[Judge Levy] That cabinet is still broken.
[Rickey] I paid for that out of my pocket.
[Darren] They say it cost like $800 to fix the cabinets,
but they won't really know till they get here.
[Judge Levy] These are the front steps with the new carpeting?
[Darren] Yes. Those are the steps upstairs.
- That's the only thing I had retained. - [Judge Levy] Yeah, the front steps.
[Darren] Now, you could see-- look at this carpet here.
That's the same carpet that was in there already.
It's still good.
- Yeah, I kept it good. - [Darren] [indistinct].
No, you didn't keep it good.
- Oh, yeah, we're not gonna... - [Darren] We got videos of you
not keeping it good, sir.
[Judge Levy] The hole in the wall that we saw before is now fixed.
- [Darren] Blinds back up. - [Judge Levy] The blinds are back up.
[Darren] Let me go in the bathroom.
[Judge Levy] There's no more water in that sink.
[Darren] That's the same tub.
Three hours of scrubbing, maybe four, I got the tub--and it works.
He said it didn't work but the tub still works.
[Judge Levy] Okay. Now, you provided us with copies of receipts
for the work that you had done,
the materials that you bought. Is that right?
- Yes. - [Judge Levy] So, in total,
that was $4,550.
- You have a $700 break lease fee. - Yes.
[Judge Levy] And then you said you were looking for $500
for half the rent of November since he left on November 10?
[Darren] The 10th, yes.
[Judge Levy] And then you got the $146 for the city citations.
And then you subtracted the 650 security
and that's how you got the 4,920, right?
- [Darren] Yes. - [Judge Levy] Okay.
I have nothing further.
We're gonna retire to deliberate. Thank you both very much.
- [Darren] Okay. Thank you. - [Cassandra] Court is now in recess.
Parties are excused.
[dramatic musical sting]
All right. So let's end up where we started.
I think that Mr. Shells' idea of what is normal wear and tear
is different than what most other people's definition is.
- [chuckles] - [Judge Levy] That video does justice
to what that place looked like.
The garbage outside was just indicative
of how little Mr. Shells was prepared to take care of that property.
And, quite frankly, I don't doubt for a second that there were rats the size
of small dogs around there at all.
If I was a rat,
- that's the place I wanna live. - [laughs]
It was like Disneyland for rats over there.
So the issue is, whether or not it was normal wear and tear.
I don't believe it was.
Pat, you asked a good question.
You know, how do we know what the place looked like before?
How do we know that those stairs weren't like that before?
There were no photographs.
That's the best evidence of the way the place really did look.
But based upon my credibility determination,
I believe that the plaintiff's testimony
was much more consistent with the evidence.
I think the defendant was soft-shoeing a lot of his testimony,
and so I would weigh the credibility of the plaintiff higher.
And I don't believe that his request of $4,920 is unreasonable.
That's what I would suggest we award him.
I would join you in that.
I also found him credible.
I found the defendant--bless his heart--
you know, I don't think he is a bad person who was out to do intentional destruction.
He was careless.
Yeah, I think he was living at the shootout at the O.K. Corral.
- [laughs] - I mean, five.
You say two shots. He goes, "No. There were five.
They were shooting from in and out." You know? So--
and I'm gonna go out on a limb also and say that not just most people
wouldn't think that that was normal wear-- I'm gonna say I can't think
of anybody who would think
that that was normal wear and tear.
I mean, he was doing anything he possibly could
to kind of backpedal his way out,
so I'm pretty sure that that damage was caused by him.
But you're right, the plaintiff met his burden.
- I'm with you. - Super. All right.
[dramatic musical sting]
Court is back in session.
All parties are reminded that you're still under oath.
Thank you.
Mr. Hamilton, we credited your testimony and that of your witness.
We believe that the way that you handled this matter,
the way that you provided us with your evidence,
the photographs, the video, the receipts,
the work that you did to repair
and to bring back that house was nothing short of incredible.
- Thank you. - [Judge Levy] Mr. Shells, you know,
that garbage that was outside the house,
on the stairs going down to the basement,
it was clear that it was an indication
that you really didn't care too much about the property.
You didn't care about your neighbors.
You didn't care about the way that that property affected them.
Forget about the inside.
And we hope that you treat your own properties
better than you treated that
of your former friend, Mr. Hamilton.
Having said all of that, Mr. Hamilton,
that is the unanimous verdict of the court
that you should be awarded $4,920.
- Thank you both. - [gavel bangs]
[Cassandra] This case has concluded. All parties are excused.
[theme music plays]
A lot of that is normal wear and tear
but we couldn't come to an agreement on it, so, hey.
Oh, I was [bleep] excuse my language, but I was hot.
It didn't fall apart when I was living there.
He came in here and told a bunch of lies.
I think it was wrong.
I'm fine. I'm not mad.
I'm getting ready to rent my place out to somebody else and, hopefully,
they'll take better care of it than he did.
I'm just ready to move on.
No good deed goes unpunished.
[announcer] Have you been scammed?
Let the majority rule in your favor on Tribunal Justice.
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["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]