They came in, they booked
200 people, no food.
I did feel bad.
I can't believe that you haven't been sued before now.
I cannot imagine throwing a party,
much less having a wedding,
and not having my food show up.
Did the bartender show up, I hope?
- Yes, he did. - [laughs]
[announcer] Now, on Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
[announcer] Today's case was filed
in Houston, Texas.
Your Honor, this is case number 2082 on the calendar
in the matter of Thomas and Skillern-Thomas versus Dean.
Parties have been sworn in. You may be seated.
- Thank you, Byrd. - Have a seat. Have a seat.
Oh, this case, this case actually gives me anxiety
because of what happened.
Mr. Thomas and Ms. Skillern-Thomas,
you are newlyweds.
- Yes, ma'am. - We are.
[Judge Acker] You hired the defendant to cater your wedding.
- Yes, ma'am. - [Judge Acker] Your wedding took place
on November 2nd.
On November 2nd, you had no food
because the defendant didn't show up.
She thought the wedding date was November 3rd,
so you're now suing her for the fees you paid her,
for the money you spent on china rentals.
And also, as I understand, that there was an additional fee
you had to pay your wedding venue
- because she was an outside vendor. - Correct.
So, the total amount of your claim
is $6,700 and change.
Ms. Dean, you don't dispute that you didn't show up,
but you maintain that you had documentation
that you'd sent to these plaintiffs
that indicated that the wedding was supposed to be on November 3rd
and that it's their fault that they didn't properly review that documentation.
I'll further point out that in your answer,
you say that you were willing at one point
to make some accommodation to them
but then things got a little heated.
Plaintiff said some things about you on social media,
you maintain that you lost some business
as a consequence, and now, you're like, "I owe them nothing."
Well, kinda.
- Tell me what I messed up. - So, the social media incident happened
after I told them that I wanted to take legal matters.
Got you. That's actually a very, very important clarification.
Not necessarily a clarification that benefits you
but it tells me right now that you're very, very honest.
- Uh-hmm. - I'm gonna note that
we have two witnesses here.
- Plaintiffs' witness is your mother, sir? - Yes, ma'am.
And she was also your wedding coordinator.
- Defendant's witness is your mother... - Yes, ma'am.
[Judge Acker] ... who is, according to the papers,
was around and present during a lot of what transpired here.
So, this is a horrible situation.
I mean, I cannot imagine throwing a party,
much less having a wedding,
and not having my food how up.
But let's start at the good part.
Can we see their wedding pictures?
This is a beautiful couple.
You guys made it through this.
Everything is downhill from here.
It's only gonna get better.
What a beautiful, beautiful ceremony.
Except for the fact that you had no food.
So, November 2nd, you show up
and when do you find out that the caterer is not there?
After we--the wedding party took pictures,
the call coordinator, she came up to us, she was like,
"Y'all caterer not here." So ...
... At this time, I've seen her face, I'm like, "Uh-oh. This finna be trouble."
I read in the papers that you had to send people out
- for pizza and chicken? - Well, that was a surprise to us.
Um, we found out
as we were getting ready to take the pictures.
So, when we found out,
I mean, just utter disbelief,
just devastation
of having to take pictures and keeping it together.
And not being certain
- what your guests are going to eat. - [Melissa] Right.
Let me talk to your wedding coordinator/mom/mother-in-law.
So, ma'am,
I am going to, right out of the box,
point a little bit of a finger at you 'cause I've had a wedding,
I had a wedding coordinator,
and the wedding coordinator is supposed to be on top of it.
- What happened? - Okay.
I was on top of it because I've talked with Shelby that morning--
well, that afternoon, because we had to put the china--
I was asking, "Do you just want me to go ahead and put the goblets
on the tables and the silverware?"
And she said yeah because they want it already on there.
- But this is on November 2nd? - Yes, ma'am.
So, I'm talking about October 30th,
- October 29th. - [Tonya] That's gonna be the on...
I mean, during that week before the wedding,
one would expect that there would be numerous communications,
you know, the timing, the staging,
what time are your people getting here, I saw none of that.
I sent her the timeframe with the agenda,
with the reception timeframe on it.
And it had on there the November the 2nd.
- Had you worked with her before? - [Tonya] Yes.
How did you meet her initially?
I seen her on Facebook
and I seen the work that she done,
like, in different places that she does.
And plus, she fixed food for me for brunches and stuff.
[Judge Acker] So, you had a pre-existing relationship with her.
And I reviewed a lot of your customer and client reviews,
Ms. Dean, so, you know, people loved you.
I mean, you know, a lot of your online reviews were really favorable.
But I have to ask you this,
when did you start getting ready for this event?
So, we plan months ahead
as far as, like, going to the stores
to get flowers and things like that.
Now, as far as the food,
I normally buy my food maybe about,
I'll say, between two days
and a day before just for the freshness.
And then, we normally would prep that night.
I'm concerned about how there could be
such a lapse in communication
about a wedding date.
Can we put up exhibit 11?
It's this document that you're relying on to support your position
that everybody should've known it was November 3rd.
And the date of that invoice says
- November 3rd. - [Demarcus] Correct.
[Judge Acker] Why would anybody look at this
and assume that November 3rd is the wedding date
as opposed to simply the invoice the date?
So, I mean, I've never had issues in the past with clients
- regarding the invoice. - [Judge Acker] Doesn't matter,
- you have a big one now. - [Shelby] Right.
There's a text message from the plaintiff's witness
confirming the wedding date.
Can we put up exhibit seven?
There we go.
That text message from the future mother-in-law to the bride,
wedding planner of this event.
- She says it right there, November 2nd. - Right. But--
I take full responsibility, it was a fluke. It was a fluke.
[Judge Acker] But you didn't take full responsibility or we wouldn't be here.
And in fact, the plaintiffs have submitted other evidence
and they gave us another version of this contract today.
Can we put up the vendor contract?
They submitted evidence that on September 18th,
more than a month before the wedding,
they sent you a copy of the vendor contract
which very clearly has the date.
[Shelby] They sent me the vendor contract
the week of the wedding. Like, the--
like, on the 1st is what I'm saying.
So, did you write back and say,
"I don't have time because the wedding is the next day?"
Honestly and truthfully, I really didn't pay attention to that date.
[Judge Acker] You did not pay attention to the date on the contract?
Just like how they didn't pay attention to the date on the invoice.
And you didn't seem to pay attention to the communications
- from the plaintiff's mother. - And then, it's--no,
but as far as the plaintiff's mother,
she was so busy trying to get us
to do last-minute work for the wedding
as far as, like--originally, they wanted the china
but then when I gave them my price, they didn't want the china.
So, they took the china off
and then that was the--that was it.
Days before the wedding,
she wanted us to get the china.
I told her, "I've already leased the china out."
[Judge Acker] Ms. Dean, I'm gonna interrupt you
because you spent a couple of months negotiating with each other.
I think you were going to give them back a 40% refund
and then you were gonna give them a credit that they could use to a year.
You weren't happy with the resolution.
Then things escalated
because you, sir, then posted some things
on social media where you really said a lot.
Can we put up exhibit 13?
"Don't use this old scamming ass lady.
She promised to pay us our money back for being a no show at our wedding.
Standby though. See you in court."
This was a lot, don't you think?
On the emails, we were going back and forth,
she like, "Well, I'll start paying you, I'll start in January 1st."
- So, I emailed to... - [Judge Acker] No, I saw that.
- [Demarcus] And so... - There were some--you said
that you wanted her to start making payments in December.
She said, "I'll do it in January."
You didn't make those payments in January.
At some point, you said, "I'll see you in court."
- [Shelby] No. - Why not try to resolve it?
[Shelby] It wasn't like that.
Initially, I agreed to whatever they wanted
because I just--I did feel bad,
I felt pressured at the end of the day.
Their wedding was in November, we're coming up on the holidays,
- it's--it was a very, very busy season. - I'm gonna interrupt you
'cause I'm sure you're a wonderful caterer,
but you need to grapple with the fact
that for what was a very, very important day
- in their life... - [Shelby] Of course.
[Judge Acker] ... they hired you for food, and there was no food.
If I'm in your position, you should've been falling
all over yourself to make it right
before he sent this post. Judge DiMango.
[Judge DiMango] I'd like to see the video please.
Here we go.
[woman] We need to make an announcement.
[Judge DiMango] Please listen.
[woman] Due to an unfortunate error of the date
of this event,
our caterer will not be here.
What I need for you guys to do is to help me celebrate this couple.
[man] Yeah.
[woman] We will go on ...
... Because what God puts together,
let no man put asunder.
[cheers and applause]
[woman] All right?
[Judge DiMango] There will be no food.
You should've gotten on your hands and knees,
written a check for every penny they laid out.
Here, you screwed up her day, her wedding day.
She had, how many people at your wedding,
- a hundred and fifty? - [Melissa] Two hundred.
[Judge DiMango] Two hundred people, no food.
And if any of them are like me, they didn't eat all day.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
Where's your contract to them?
You're the one who's in business.
What do you use?
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Newlyweds Melissa Skillern-Thomas
and DeMarcus Thomas
are suing caterer Shelby Dean for almost $7,000.
They claimed Shelby took their money
then forgot to show up with food at their wedding.
Shelby claims the contract had a different date,
so it's their fault for not reading it.
The fact that you did not say to them,
"I cannot believe that this happened, I'm sorry.
I'm gonna pay you for the china,
I'm gonna pay you for the extra venue fee
because I'm an outside caterer,
I'm gonna pay you the 4,875."
You know what you say to her?
"Well, you know, I bought some stuff."
Okay. What did you buy? You bought some canned beans?
You know how long those for?
You know the date of expiration on those beans?
- They last forever. - [Shelby] I bought chicken breasts,
- I bought floral. - [Judge DiMango] That's your problem.
- That's your problem. - I still had to prep my team.
That's your problem.
Now, let me ask you your procedure.
They come in, they wanna book a place with you.
What do you do?
You give them a contract, right?
What date would you like to get--
what date would you have liked to get married?
- November 2nd. - [Judge DiMango] November 2nd.
And you say what? Let me look at my book, right?
Uh-hmm. - [Judge DiMango] So, you look
and you say, "Oh, that's a Thursday," correct?
She says, "We're open." "We could do Thursday the 2nd."
- Yes. - [Judge DiMango] You do what then?
- We just go over the menu choices. - [Judge DiMango] No, no,
- you don't write it down on your book? - I mean, yeah.
Yeah, but this is what I wanna hear from you, every little thing you do
because I'm gonna tell you that if you had a calendar and you had it open,
and you put in what you were supposed to and you were booking,
you would've seen almost every day
exactly when that was.
I don't do that until--
so I offer tasting, we do the tasting,
and then, that's when they decide they're gonna book me or not.
We had a tasting prior to booking her.
- Prior to booking? - [Melissa] Yeah.
So you did know?
So you had the tasting, they came in, they booked, they picked November 2nd,
you write it down, and if you didn't,
well, then we already know this is all your fault
because you said I don't book it until they have a tasting.
Now, why would you ask them to pay for the food?
My whole thing was I had put in work as well.
Like I said, it was a big-- it was a big misunderstanding.
The work that you put in was useless
because they did not have a wedding on November 2nd with food.
I got to tell you, I've been to weddings.
Look, I really wouldn't want to eat those canned beans.
I gotta be honest with you.
So I think your pizza and your chicken and whatever else you got
would've been far better choice for me at your wedding than that.
So I think you could count your blessings.
Judge Levy?
I just wanna make sure that I got the money down right.
- You paid her $4,875. - [Melissa] Correct.
You paid $1,366.40 for the dish rental.
- Correct. - Correct.
- And the $500 for the venue fee. - Yes.
You had the opportunity, ma'am,
to return the $4,875 and chose not to, right?
Right.
[Judge Levy] Instead what you told Judge Acker
is that you chose to take these legal actions,
let them file against you
and let the chips fall where they may, right?
Yes.
You said, "I'm not blaming anyone," in your answer,
"But I feel like it's important to pay attention and read the documents,
which is the reason we're in this situation today."
- That's what you wrote in your answer. - Yes, sir.
So you were blaming them for not reading the paperwork, right?
Right.
Judge DiMango asked you about your process.
She asked you, how do things work?
That you get contacted, you got a board, you gotta book,
she talked about a contract,
but I think we're a little confused about the contract.
The contract was the one that you had with the venue
that had the date of November 2nd on it, correct?
- Correct. - That you provided to her, right?
- For her to sign off on. - [Judge Levy] Sign off on.
Where's your contract to them
for $4,875 and a date?
You're the one who's in business.
- Where's your contract? - [Shelby] I mean, that's what I used...
- Where's your contract? - [Shelby] That's what I used.
[Judge Levy] What do you use?
The documentation that I emailed them.
The invoice is what she's referring to.
Show me on that invoice where it says what you agreed to provide by way of food.
Show me on that invoice where it says what time you were gonna arrive.
There it is. Take a look at it.
I can't believe that you haven't been sued before now.
So you didn't provide a contract, right?
I'm sorry, ma'am. Can you step up, please?
- Ms. Richard, is it? - Uh-hmm.
- You're Mr. Thomas' mom? - [Tonya] Yes.
[Judge Levy] You had communications with her right from the beginning.
Yes.
There was a text message you discussed with Judge Acker
dated February 1st, 2023 in which you sent to the defendant
what you were thinking about with respect to food,
the number of people,
and she said to you, "And when is the wedding?"
And you said, "November 2nd, 2023."
Right? That refresh your recollection?
- What was the date? - November 2nd.
That wasn't the only time you communicated with her with respect to the date.
Do you remember October 25th?
Show it to her.
Wednesday October 25th, you sent her a text.
- Yes. - Read the text.
[Tonya] Good morning, I emailed you the agenda
with the time frame November 2nd.
[Judge Levy] That's twice that you've been now advised
that the date is November 2nd and you haven't provided a contract.
I want you to tell me your recollection.
What was it on the email in the subject line
that Ms. Skillern sent to you with respect to the date of her wedding?
What date?
- I don't remember this... - [Judge Levy] Good. Let's show it to her.
Twice. Once on September 18th, 2023
and once on September 21st, 2023.
Who was that sent by?
Read the one from September 18th.
[Shelby] Uh, Melissa.
[Judge Levy] Who's Melissa?
- The bride? - [Judge Levy] Yup.
And what is the subject?
Um, Heights Villa, 11/02/2023.
[Judge Levy] That's November 2nd.
Attached is the contract. Please provide as soon as possible.
You didn't respond to that email right away
and she had to resend it to you September 21st,
so you got another email
with the date in the subject line of the wedding which was?
November 2nd.
[Judge Levy] November 2nd.
I'll take that back and you can hand her this,
please, if you don't mind, Cassandra.
That's the venue contract that you received
from the place that the wedding was being held at, right?
Uh-hmm.
[Judge Levy] Take a look on the top of that first page.
What date is the wedding?
[Shelby] I mean, at the end of the day...
- [Judge Levy] What date is the wedding? - ... I sent that invoice.
It was, um, 11/02, but I didn't know about that.
[Judge Levy] November 2nd. Take a look at the last page.
Whose signature is that?
It's mine.
I think we're done.
Very briefly. May I hear from you, ma'am?
- Can you take the stand? - Uh-hmm.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
Newlyweds, you are suing for $6,741
and we're not gonna give you that.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Newlyweds Melissa Skillern-Thomas
and DeMarcus Thomas say they were devastated
when caterer Shelby Dean never showed up with food at their wedding.
They're suing Shelby for the return of their entire payment.
Shelby claims DeMarcus humiliated her online
causing her to lose more business,
so now they're even.
May I hear from you, ma'am?
- Can you take the stand? - [Arnolia] Uh-hmm.
[Judge Acker] Why did you bring your mom her today?
Um, she was just here for support.
May I talk, Your Honor?
Uh, it depends on what you wanna say. What do you wanna say?
Um, when Shelby was, um, shopping,
Shelby called me because, um, the wedding planner has called Shelby.
She said, "Shelby, where were you?"
Shelby called me and Shelby was frantic.
She said, "Mom, the wedding is today and not tomorrow."
I'm not--Shelby was hurt,
Shelby was upset that she was not able to fulfill
what she has stated for the couple.
[Judge DiMango] Okay. Ma'am, thank you very much.
- Yes. - So thank you.
Well, you may resume your seat
and we're going to deliberate in this matter, we will be back.
Court now stands in recess. Parties are excused.
[dramatic musical sting]
Candidly, this is one of the easiest cases that I think we've seen in a long time.
She has no defense and I was really, frankly,
a little bit surprised in her answer.
She kind of doubled down like that and said,
"They really needed to look at the paperwork"
when there were a number of instances
where they said November 2nd, November 2nd.
You know, I loved your questioning, Pat, because I'm kind of like,
if somebody hires you to do something, don't you just write it in your book?
Don't you just put it in your calendar as a matter of course?
I think they are easily entitled to everything.
Um, I frankly would've given them more
for emotional distress if they'd asked for it.
I definitely would've done either punitive damages
because of their failure to actually come forward and say,
"You know what? We get it.
You should have all your money back."
I certainly would've been comfortable giving her the full $10,000,
I think, to ruin an event like this.
I think they were even very fair in their request for the amount.
They just really looked for out-of-pocket loss that they had.
But what I was really interested in from her was,
what do you do when you take a reservation?
You know, Jerry Seinfeld has a line.
He goes, "I know you know how to take the reservation,
but do you know how to hold the reservation."
And that's really--you know, so she took the date.
I'm really curious as to what was she thinking?
As I said, I would give the plaintiff more money, but that's up to all of us.
[Judge Acker] Can we give them a little extra?
Why not? Quite frankly, I don't think that the--
that the social media post that the new husband,
the plaintiff sent--I don't think it was over the top at all.
There've been many communications back and forth
between the plaintiff and the defendant
where he was professional, he was accommodating.
And she, the defendant, told him in essence, pound sand, so.
Did you see her out there? She's still really upset.
- Uh, she... - I don't blame her.
She's gonna be upset.
But you know what the nice part-- it's gonna be 30 years that I'm married,
and quite frankly, I think you said it,
if they could get through that,
they're gonna be 30 years in, in no time.
- And I agree. - [Judge Acker] Yeah.
- The whole thing. 10 grand. - Yeah.
- So we're unanimous? - Unanimous.
- Done. - All right.
[dramatic musical sting]
Court is back in session.
I remind all parties you're still under oath.
- Thank you, Byrd. - You're welcome.
We've deliberated and we've reached a unanimous verdict.
Um, first, let me ask you a question.
Did the bartender show up, I hope?
- Yes. Yes. - [Judge Levy] I hope, yeah.
I mean, honestly, when I got married I told my wedding planner
I want them to walk in the door
and I want them to have food and drink immediately
before I walk down the aisle.
So I meant it when I said it was traumatic
hearing about this experience for all of us.
Absolutely horrible. And in fact, I'll point out to you, sir.
Judges Levy and DiMango were like,
"I didn't even think the social media posts were that bad
given what you went through."
It was a horrible experience.
Ms. Dean, hopefully for you, this will be a learning experience.
And there are two things that you must, you must take away from this.
You must have a contract, your own contract
for your own protection, and for the protection of your clients.
That's the first thing.
Your second takeaway is, look, people make mistakes.
And when people make mistakes like this, know what you do?
You fall on your sword.
You say, "I will do whatever I can, however I can to make this right."
They shouldn't have had to bring you to court.
All they should've heard from you was sorry.
And how can I pay you back?
Full stop. Nothing else.
Newlyweds, you are suing for $6,741
and we're not gonna give you that.
We're gonna give you $10,000
because you are entitled to be compensated,
uh, both for your out-of-pocket expenses.
And we were all unanimous that frankly, if you'd asked for punitive damages,
if you'd asked for emotional distress damages,
we would've given you everything you would've asked for
because I cannot imagine, none of us,
having worked up to such a big event and a big day,
and then to tell people they have to go eat pizza and fried chicken.
So judgment is in favor of the plaintiffs for the amount of $10,000.
- Good luck to you. - [DeMarcus] Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
[Byrd] Court has now concluded.
Parties are excused. You may step out.
[theme music plays]
The situation could've been avoided
if everybody basically just played their part.
Uh, disbelief.
Uh, devastated, um, embarrassed.
It's horrible. Like I said, I feel bad.
Triple check everything.
I put myself in people's shoes.
And if that was me, I would-- I, you know, I would be devastated.
It was tough to see her upset about it, but glad it's over with.
We can go forward.
It's just a learning experience. I'm young.
I'm only 32, so I'll just take this and grow from it.
I can't get back that day.
I can't get it back.
[announcer] Have you been scammed?
Let the majority rule in your favor on Tribunal Justice.
Find us on social media.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]