The man that you hoped to spend the rest of your life with
was being unfaithful.
He had picked up his phone,
so I couldn't see who had messaged him.
Why didn't you leave him?
I wasn't gonna give up.
You had nothing.
You had a guy who's cheating on you.
She's cheated on me so many times.
[Judge DiMango] You see?
What would possess the two of you to not wanna get the hell away from one another?
[announcer] Now on Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
[announcer] Today's case was filed in Elk River, Minnesota.
Your Honor, this is case number 2043 on the calendar
in the matter of Taylor and Taylor versus Deadrick.
- Thank you, Byrd. - You're welcome, Judge.
Parties have been sworn in.
You may be seated.
Ms. Taylor, you and the defendant were in a relationship for eight years.
Mr. Taylor, you're also a plaintiff in this case.
Ms. Taylor is your sister and at one point you were living
- in the defendant's home. - Yes, that's correct.
[Judge Acker] So, here's how we got here.
At some point, Ms. Taylor, you and the defendant moved down
to Texas from Minnesota where you'd been living.
- Yes, ma'am. - [Judge Acker] You rented a storage unit
where you kept a number of your things during this move.
You go down to Texas, things do not go well,
you split up, you get back together, you split up again.
You've now maintained that after the last breakup,
the defendant broke into the storage unit
and took some things that belong to you.
He's withheld your brother's Chevy Blazer,
and in fact, ma'am, you say that the personal property alone
was worth $12,000
and you're now suing the defendant
for our jurisdictional maximum of $10,000.
Mr. Deadrick, it's your position that, in fact,
they were able to get back anything that you still had.
The vehicle, you point out, he basically abandoned,
he left the key there, he didn't come get the car, so the vehicle's towed.
You in fact have a counterclaim
for $10,000
because you maintain that they made
unauthorized credit card purchases
- on your card. - Yes, ma'am.
[Judge Acker] When did you move down to Texas?
In--um, he actually he moved down
in June of 2021.
We brought the camper down there
so he would be ready to start work.
And I moved down in September of 2021
so I could put stuff in storage and box things up
because my son was supposed to rent the house.
And you sir, Mr. Taylor, you stayed in the home
in Minnesota, in the defendant's home,
while the two of them relocated to Texas.
I was the only one there.
So, then there comes a point in Texas
where you see some credit card charges for Tinder
and you confront him about those charges. What happened?
Um, he did tell me
that he would get off the dating app
if I signed the paper and had it notarized
saying if he wanted me to vacate the camper, that I would.
And so I did do that and he did not delete Tinder.
I actually messaged all the women that he was talking to
and updated his status
that he should not even be on here,
and I deleted the app for him.
[laughing]
But then, there came a point in time
where you yourself went on the app,
allegedly, to try to track him down
and see what he was up to.
Yes, Your Honor. I created a fake profile.
I put my name as Sarah,
pulled a picture from online.
I did not know how that worked,
I asked my oldest, um, child,
and she told me how it worked that I can set the radius,
so every time he went on there
and I put it for like a ten-mile radius,
it would pop up that he was on Tinder.
I'm not saying this to poke fun at you,
but doesn't it feel weird having to explain
that you have to talk to your child
about how to track your partner on Tinder?
Isn't that a little backward?
Yes, it was very heartbreaking and I felt, um--
I felt very belittled and I shouldn't have to do that with my partner.
I should trust him and I didn't.
- [Judge Acker] True, sir? - Ma'am,
um, the way it actually worked,
I asked her to see her cell phone before I even moved down to Texas,
and she held on to it like a gold nugget,
would not let me see it.
Um, later on, she tells me that she was talking
to a schoolmate of hers,
and I've heard a, um, voicemail on her phone from him,
um, stating some very, um, intimate things
about massages and whatever.
That's when I made her sign the paper--
actually, before I made her sign the paper, I told her I was on Tinder.
So, you get back together
after all of the Tinder shenanigans.
And then, there turns out to be a physical altercation
that takes place in April.
- What happened in April? - Yes, ma'am.
Um, that was--um, he was talking about looking at my phone
and he had picked up his phone and he held it down
so I couldn't see who had messaged him.
Um, he tried to force me out of the camper.
In doing so, I had several bruises.
I called the cops because he was not gonna let me
take my possessions out of the camper.
So, the cops did come and let me grab all of my possessions,
and then I left and went to my friend's house.
May we see pictures of the bruises, please?
Sir, was there a physical altercation
where you grabbed her, resulting in this?
Ma'am, the physical altercation was,
I was trying to get her out the door.
I was trying to push her out the door.
She created the bruises by blocking herself
so she couldn't be pushed out the door.
[Judge Acker] So, this is in April.
Are you in Texas at this point
or have you moved back to Minnesota?
I currently still reside in Texas, yes, ma'am.
- [Judge Acker] So, you're still in Texas? - Yes.
When do you first advise law enforcement of your contention
that he's withheld or stolen some of your property?
I believe it was January of 2023.
And I have the report as well.
[Judge Acker] I have the report.
And, Mr. Taylor, you maintain
that the defendant evicted you from the home at some point.
When did he evict you?
I don't know the exact date.
That was the beginning of this year.
I was out the time he told me,
and then he calls me the next month,
middle of the month, and says, uh,
"Hey, do you got the rest of that rent money?"
I go, "I've been-- where do you think I've been?
I've been out a month. Just like you told me to."
When you moved out, did you leave your vehicles there?
I left the Blazer there, he told me, "Hey, no problem, no problem."
And I--that's why I left the keys in it.
[Judge Acker] So, what you need to show me on that front,
you need to prove that he had a responsibility to maintain this car.
When did you have the car towed?
How many months after Mr. Taylor moved out?
Uh, approximately seven months.
[Judge Acker] So, your property was there for seven months,
you knew things were bad between him and your sister...
I was told I can't be on his property.
- He told the sheriff that. - [Judge Acker] So, get it towed.
You get it towed to where you are. It's not that complicated.
Now, I wanna talk about the items that you maintain
the defendant stole from the storage facility
because at one point, ma'am,
and I'd like to pull up the police report...
Ma'am, can I say something just to interrupt for a second?
I don't love being interrupted,
but since I'm looking for something, I'll let you take it.
- I'm sorry. - Take your shot.
Originally, the storage unit was in my name.
She took over the payments
after I moved back home.
I still had some of my stuff in there too.
It was our storage unit.
And you told the police officers that you took
some things that belong to you.
- And in fact, did you still have a key? - Yes, ma'am.
[Judge Acker] You still had a key. That was something
that I found interesting about your complaint, ma'am,
because you said he used his key to break in.
He didn't use the key to break in, he used the key to turn the lock
and go in and get some of his stuff.
- Correct, Your Honor. - [Judge Acker] So, there was no break-in.
Well, he had two filing cabinets and a grill in there.
And in turn, he took out my antique bedroom set...
[Judge Acker] You don't know that.
- You gotta prove that. - I know that.
[Judge Acker] And we're gonna get to that.
So, were you raising your hand to tell me
that you saw him with your own eyes
- remove the bedroom set? - I've seen him carry it up to his bedroom
and I asked him about it and he said, "That's the way it's gonna be."
[Judge Acker] Because you were still living in the home at the time?
Yes, I was.
[Judge Acker] There were two bedroom sets.
- And did you take both of them? - [James] Yes, ma'am.
- You did take her bedroom set? - Yes, ma'am.
[Judge Acker] What'd you do with it?
Um, well, the one that I bought, she has back,
and then the other one I still have.
That's a curious new fact.
But I wanna move onto a couple of other points
because June 2023,
ma'am, this is several months after your initial report
- to law enforcement. - Yes, Your Honor.
The police officers made arrangements
for your items to be left at the end of the driveway at the home,
- did they not? - Yes, Your Honor.
He--um, I had spoken with him,
um, and he had left what items he wanted to,
including to be my dad's ashes at the end of the driveway.
[Judge Acker] So you were able to get some items,
and then there's another point in time--
um, can we put up the text exchange with the plaintiff
and one of the defendant's tenants?
Because you were getting a lot of help getting your items.
There were was someone living in the house who had permission to be there.
And she was taking pictures, showing you, "Is this yours? Is that yours?
Let me go check this room."
Uh, she was really helping facilitate your ability
to retrieve whatever was left of yours, wasn't she?
Yes, Your Honor. Um, she was-- um, he had told her to dispose of my items
- and... - [Judge Acker] Okay, but she didn't?
- Correct. She said... - She was being really, really helpful
where you were allowed to get your things,
- and it was painstaking. - Yes, Your Honor.
So my confusion is, one, what's left?
And for you, sir, you had many, many opportunities to retrieve your vehicles.
So I don't know if we're here in court now
so you all can continue to act out
what seems to be a pretty dysfunctional relationship drama.
- Judge DiMango? - I just wanna put him on the...
Yeah. You know, I'm gonna start
with this whole thing about the profile, the lying, the cheating.
See, the problem that you have is-- first of all, how old are you?
I'm 52 years old.
[Judge DiMango] And how old are you?
- Fifty-two. - [Judge DiMango] Okay.
So you stand there, a 52-year-old woman,
and you tell this to three other adults
as though this is normal, natural, healthy behavior,
that going through a man's phone, you're checking everything he does.
You know, "Who messaged? Who's he talking to?
Maybe he's talking to her, maybe he's not talking to her?
Maybe he doesn't love me." No, he doesn't love you.
But you're looking for reasons to believe he does.
He's not gonna do, "I'm gonna sign a document
so that I won't look at his phone anymore."
Do you hear the absurdity in that?
No, you don't.
And then she looks at your phone and she doesn't wanna leave
because the reason she's looking at your phone
is because she doesn't wanna break up with you.
Ma'am, she's cheated on me so many times.
- It's unbelievable... - [Judge DiMango] You see?
This is exactly what I'm talking about.
So what if she's cheating? So leave her!
I did.
But after how long? Signing papers.
Why didn't you leave him?
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
Mr. Deadrick, would you agree that over the course of the last 20 years,
you've had a very bad relationship with alcohol?
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Candice Taylor and brother Anthony
are suing James Deadrick for $10,000.
Candice claims after catching her boyfriend James on Tinder,
he kicked her out, threw her belongings away,
and had Anthony's vehicle towed.
But James says he gave them plenty of time to collect their belongings and leave.
Why didn't you leave him?
I wasn't gonna give up because I did love him.
- [Judge DiMango] Give up? - We had a lot together.
[Judge DiMango] You had nothing! You had a guy who's cheating on you.
So now, you. You leave this truck at the house.
What are you hoping he does with your truck?
I was gonna eventually get it.
[Judge DiMango] Eventually when? Three years?
- That's what--maybe it was three years. - [Anthony] No, it wasn't--
- it wasn't that long. - How does he know?
It was probably like four months after that.
- But it wasn't four months, wasn't it? - Well, in the winter--
it's winter, we got a lot of snow last year.
- And I couldn't just get the vehicle. - [Judge DiMango] But do you hear--
you and your sister were definitely cut from the same two parents.
You are saying the same thing.
"I was gonna get it out in four months. But then we had a bad winter.
And then we this." And what is he supposed to do?
Keep this thing on his property the whole time?
[Anthony] No. You're right, Your Honor.
I guess he could do whatever he wants with it.
[Judge DiMango] And he did. He had it towed.
Your Honor, I had it towed
because it was-- I was leaving for Colorado.
I told him at any point in time
if they want to come and get their stuff, they come and get it
but they blocked me, Your Honor.
They--I couldn't get ahold of them. I couldn't--nothing.
- And I... - [Judge DiMango] Did you block him?
Yes, Your Honor, because he posted actually
on my LinkedIn professional page something very nasty
and I didn't even know until I got a message from LinkedIn
that said I needed to remove the message,
so I just deleted the whole account.
But I'm not a fan of his, um, [bleep] words or calling me...
- [Judge DiMango] Uh-hmm. - ... different things
- and I said some... - [Judge DiMango] Well, it's about time
you stood up for yourself in some way.
So let me now ask you, you have one bedroom set.
- Yes, ma'am. - He does have the antique one.
- You have the antique one. - It's not. It's...
Whose was it first?
It was Candice's.
[Judge DiMango] You keep hers. Why?
Because you're spiteful, nasty people.
Let's go to the next thing. What about this jewelry box?
[Anthony] Jewelry box.
[Judge DiMango] Did he take the jewelry box?
- Did he take your jewelry box? - Yes, Your Honor.
It was in the storage unit with, like, my grandma's--
great grandmother's cameo and stuff in it.
Yeah, by the way, you valued that cameo at about $400.
I remember looking at it. They're not worth that kind of money.
- Take my word for it. - [Candice] And--Your Honor,
it has more sentimental value,
- the stuff that I want back. - Well, you placed everything you had here
was sentimental value.
You placed a hundred, 200, $300 values on property that aren't worth $25.
Where's the cameo? Where are all those things?
[James] Your Honor, I have no idea.
A lot of this stemmed from when we were down in Texas
- and she... - [Judge DiMango] Yes.
... she accused me of being on Tinder and I wasn't on Tinder.
Oh, stop it. You probably were both on Tinder.
No, no. I don't wanna hear it.
If you're that crazy that you think that everything he does
is because he's got another girlfriend,
then you get help and get away from him.
And if you are doing that, then get help and get away from her.
With that, I'm gonna give you all to Judge Levy.
All right. Mr. Taylor, let's start with your truck
because I think that that's the easiest
in addition to what has already been said by Judge Acker and Judge DiMango.
You left your property someplace,
you know, where you live in Minnesota more than 30 days.
- He can do anything he wants with it. - Correct.
[Judge Levy] But more importantly is that you provided us
with the title to that vehicle to show ownership
to say that you have a right to sue and request the value of that car,
- and here it is. - Yup.
And this says that the owner is a guy named Corlan.
- [Anthony] That's right. - [Judge Levy] That's not you?
[Anthony] No. That's who I bought it from.
Okay. So legally, you cannot prove
that you are the rightful owner of that vehicle.
So your claim for the value of that vehicle as far as I'm concerned,
based upon the lack of proof is gone.
Your Honor, I did not know that they towed, um, on the 27th.
He was e-served on the 26th
and I did not know until with help of the tenant
of finding out which towing company,
so I actually had to call them.
And they auctioned it off. They only hold it so long.
Okay. That kinda makes sense.
But what doesn't make sense is this spreadsheet of yours.
Again, I just wanna put this in perspective.
I wanna put this in a timeline.
So you're getting ready to leave
- down to Texas. - Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Levy] And while you're in Texas,
the man that you hoped to spend the rest of your life with
was being unfaithful.
I'm not saying whether it's true. That's just her mindset.
- You follow? - Yes.
[Judge Levy] Listen, you may have been hopeful,
but my sense is that you kinda knew they were over.
When he's trying to shove you out the door in April of 2023
and he's trying to shove you out and you're trying to stay in,
right, that's what was going on, right?
- That was over. - Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Levy] So now that's where you are down in Texas.
You have a storage facility in Minnesota
that has, according to you,
the most sentimental items on the planet.
We're talking about ashes. Whose ashes?
- My dad's. - [Judge Levy] Your father's--hold on.
A priceless antique chair,
a priceless antique foot stool.
My mom sat in the chair, used it when she was really sick.
These were really important to you.
But you would agree that you had over a year
to ask your brother while he was up here to get those items
and you made absolutely zero effort to do that.
You could have taken anything you wanted.
I didn't know what was happening down there at all.
Did you tell your brother that he got physical with you down in Texas?
He did not know anything. I did not elaborate that to anyone.
Hold on. How come you didn't tell him?
Because it was embarrassing.
[Judge Levy] Okay. And that's consistent
with women who've gone through that as you have.
Mr. Deadrick, the incident in April of 2023
when you were shoving her out the door, had you been drinking that day?
I don't remember if I was or not.
- I don't believe I was. - [Judge Levy] Was he drinking that day?
- Yes, Your Honor. - It was fairly early in the day.
[Judge Levy] It makes sense. And I'm sorry that you had to go through that.
But people when they drink,
they do things that they wouldn't do if they weren't drinking.
- And you know that. - Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Levy] Mr. Deadrick, would you agree
that you've had a very bad relationship with alcohol?
Uh, yeah.
You really had to think about that? Really?
Since then, Your Honor, I've quit drinking.
That's why I paused.
I didn't ask you that.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
Your Honor, the bedroom set that he has,
my mom's Bible and my dad's journal were in the nightstand of that thing
and I need my mom's Bible and my dad's journal back.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] After a messy breakup,
Candice Taylor and her brother
are suing former boyfriend James Deadrick
for throwing away personal property and towing their vehicle.
But James claims they have retrieved everything
and he owes them nothing.
For you, Mr. Deadrick, you also have a counterclaim here,
- don't you? - Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Levy] And that $10,000 counterclaim
is based upon credit card receipts that you supplied us with, right,
that the plaintiffs here used over a period of time?
Yes, Your Honor.
Credit card statements provided by you, Mr. Deadrick,
were from March 2020 to November 2021.
It was exhibits one through seven.
But you guys were still together all the way up until November of 2021.
- Correct, Your Honor. - Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Levy] So credit card charges
that she was making on that card were being made
while the two of you were living, may not be in bliss,
but it was most certainly as a family unit.
- Yes, Your Honor. - [Judge Levy] I have nothing further.
Thank you.
I'm gonna leave you with this on your case-in-chief.
There's evidence that either through the efforts of law enforcement
or through the efforts of his tenant,
you were able to retrieve a number of items.
- Yes, Your Honor. - Your Honor...
[Judge Acker] He only says that he has the bedroom set
and I don't know how you're gonna prove the rest
given that there was access that you had
either directly or through the help of others
to get things that you maintain were still there.
So I'll let you have the last word with respect to your case-in-chief.
Your Honor, the bedroom set that he has is actually an antique.
I paid $450 for the bed set,
um, but my mom's Bible and my dad's journal
were in the nightstand of that thing
and those are two items-- he can keep the bedroom set.
I'm not gonna fight over a bedroom set.
I need my mom's Bible and my dad's journal back.
There's nothing in the nightstand, Your Honor.
How could one reasonably believe that from you, sir,
when in your answer, you first said,
"I don't have anything. I just took my stuff"?
And then in court today, you changed your position
and you said, "Oh, well, I took some of the stuff."
And it was clear that you had some of her property
because your tenant was helping her
and your tenant was in fact pointing out that you were being a little difficult
and she wanted to help her.
[James] I--like I said before, Your Honor,
I told them that they could come and get anything they wanted to
as long as she was there and I was there.
[Judge Acker] I don't have anything further.
We're gonna retire to deliberate.
- Thank you. - [Byrd] Court now stands in recess.
Parties are excused.
[dramatic musical sting]
Let's first start with Mr. Taylor's claim, plaintiff two.
Putting aside the title questions that you pointed out, Adam,
you can't leave a vehicle in somebody's property for seven months
and then expect to then sue them for it when they finally get it towed.
And then he doesn't even have title to it, so that's easy to dismiss.
With respect to her claim,
I'm sure, and he admitted that he took some stuff,
but we also know that she had many opportunities
and much access to retrieve things that were important.
I love the point you made, Adam,
like, "Here are these things that are so dear and meaningful
but you're just gonna let them sit in a storage facility?"
Especially knowing that the relationship is crumbling
and that she could be tossed out on her ear at any time,
not to take any action.
I just found that to be a little inconsistent with common sense.
Yeah, he's, like, trying to get her out.
He's literally pushing her out of the door.
- I know. And she tried to stay. - Yeah, he's trying to push her out.
See, you don't understand love, Adam.
- That is your problem. - Well, unfortunately,
you know, that's all part of a DV,
you know, syndrome where she's just used to this behavior.
But back to your point, how long is he supposed to keep the stuff?
That's why the law where they are in Minnesota says 30 days.
I don't see that she's proven her burden, so I would dismiss her as well.
His counterclaim strikes me as a real tit for tat action.
I mean, he can't prove that they took anything from him either.
Well, with all the charges that are on there,
there's no way to actually say
whether or not they're her charges or not.
But to address all of your points, the abandoned vehicle,
the bottom line is, there was no agreement
that that vehicle would remain on that property indefinitely.
So he had it towed.
With regard to the plaintiff's property,
clearly the things that she was asking for,
she was placing much more of a sentimental value on
than an actual value.
And there's no reason for us to believe
that her most sentimental, sensitive items were left in a storage facility.
His counterclaim is also fraught with non-provable items and issues.
And so for me, their claims are all awash and I wanna dismiss everything.
So I think dismissing
- is the only way to go here. - So we're unanimous?
- Yeah. - Uh-hmm.
[dramatic musical sting]
[Byrd] Court is back in session.
Parties are reminded you're still under oath.
- Thank you, Byrd. - [Byrd] Uh-hmm.
We've deliberated and we've reached a unanimous verdict.
Kinda tell at the beginning of the case
that there's a lot going on between the two of you, a lot.
A lot of love, a lot of dysfunction.
But none of those components measure up
to meeting your burden of proof in a legal case.
I'm gonna start with you, sir.
We are unanimous in dismissing your counterclaim.
You know, it's not enough to simply show us receipts.
There's no evidence of any unauthorized purchases.
You lived together. You were a household.
You haven't made your burden, so we're dismissing that.
As to your joint complaint between the two of you,
with respect to the vehicle, sir, you don't own it.
You certainly can't sue for it.
And by the way, even if you did own it,
you can't leave property at someone else's home for seven months
and then expect them to be caretakers.
He had no obligation to do that.
He was perfectly within his rights in having it towed.
So we're dismissing your complaint.
And, ma'am, your inventory was just unreliable.
And given the access that you had to the property,
given the opportunity that you had to retrieve your items,
we just don't think that you have met your burden
and we have no basis for making any judgment
on behalf of either of you in this case.
Your lawsuits are dismissed. Good luck to all of you.
[gavel bangs]
Court has now concluded.
Parties are excused. You may step out.
[theme music plays]
He's a narcissist.
That is not a fair statement. Uh, she is the narcissist.
I did tolerate it.
I mean, he would drink from when he, you know, got up in the morning.
Did I have my share of alcohol in the evenings? Yeah, I did.
He would drive with a drink in the car.
No, I did not drink and drive.
He would drink till he went to bed at night.
I--very seldom did I ever drink and drive.
Life is a journey,
and he was part of my journey that I never wanna cross paths with again.
Just pick up the pieces and move on.
- He's in the rearview mirror. - Rearview.
[announcer] Are you being sued?
Let Tribunal Justice decide your case.
Find us on social media at Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]