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00:00I started renting Wave Runners.
00:03You rented these jet skis for a family vacation?
00:06Yes, I did.
00:07According to you, they were turned scratched?
00:09Yes, Your Honor.
00:10I've got pictures here to show all the scratches
00:13on the Wave Runners before we even picked them up.
00:15After this incident, I just sold the business.
00:17I couldn't handle it.
00:18That is not my problem, sir.
00:20This is Judy Justice.
00:30John Robinson is suing his jet ski renter, Stephen Rigby,
00:43for breach of contract, property damage, and missing equipment.
00:48Court, come to order.
00:49Be seated, please.
00:52Good morning, Judge.
00:53Good morning, Kevin.
00:54Case number 1152, Robinson v. Rigby.
00:57You're welcome.
00:58Mr. Robinson, tell me about this business that you're running.
01:02Yeah, so I started renting Wave Runners
01:04because I just really enjoyed Wave Runners.
01:07I opened the business around April 15th.
01:09Of what year?
01:11This year, 2021.
01:12What did you do before April of 2021?
01:14I have a normal day job.
01:16I work in the financial industry.
01:17I still do that, but this was a side business for me
01:20where I was going to make extra income
01:22and also enjoy myself on the beach
01:24and take out the Wave Runners myself.
01:26How many did you buy?
01:27I started off with just two Wave Runners.
01:29Did you add to the number of Wave Runners that you had?
01:32As soon as I sold the business,
01:33because after this incident, I just sold the business.
01:35I couldn't handle it.
01:36So you no longer have the business?
01:38No longer have the business.
01:40So you had the business from April of 2021 until...
01:45July 2021.
01:46Until July.
01:48Yeah.
01:48And when you say you sold the business,
01:50what did you sell of the business?
01:51Or did you just sell the jet skis?
01:53I sold the jet skis and then...
01:55Oh, stop there.
01:56And when you bought them in April 2021,
01:59how much did you pay for them?
02:00I paid...
02:01Let me just pull up the receipt.
02:03I want to get this exactly right.
02:05Absolutely.
02:06Including taxes and everything, it came out to 26,856.
02:11That's for the Wave Runners.
02:14And then I bought a trailer with it that was 2,100.
02:17And then other costs like life jackets, gas cans,
02:20came out to a total of 29,500.
02:22But you paid $26,000 for the jet skis.
02:25Yeah.
02:26Let's go back to when you sold the business.
02:27You sold the business a few months later.
02:30Yeah.
02:30And when you sold the business, you sold the jet skis.
02:33Yes.
02:34Who did you sell them to?
02:35I sold them to my witness, Nathan.
02:37Oh.
02:38Nathan, who missed the appointment.
02:40Yes, yes.
02:40That's interesting.
02:41And did you create a bill of sale for Nathan?
02:44Um, yes.
02:44I did seller financing.
02:46He didn't have the money at the time,
02:47so I gave him seller financing.
02:48You have a contract of sale with him?
02:50I do, yes.
02:51I'd like to see it.
02:52Kevin, would you show me the contract of sale?
02:55Here it is.
03:07Did you have a loan on the jet skis?
03:09I did have a loan on the jet skis.
03:11For how much?
03:12$18,100.
03:13OK, so you were able to pay off the loan.
03:16Yes.
03:16And you sold the jet skis and equipment to him for $30,000.
03:22No, Your Honor, I, in addition to that contract,
03:24I gave him another $17,000.
03:26You gave him a what?
03:28I gave him $17,800 to buy more Wave Runners because...
03:31Oh, well, I don't care what you gave him
03:33to buy more Wave Runners.
03:35These were the two Wave Runners that we're talking about
03:39in this case.
03:39Yes.
03:40That you sold to him for $30,500.
03:43Um, so that was the total loan amount, but then if you go
03:46further into it, then you'll see I gave him extra money.
03:49No, no, listen to me.
03:51You didn't sell him for a discount.
03:53You sold him for $30,500, and you agreed to loan him $30,500,
04:01and the loan is secured by collateral.
04:03Yes.
04:04If you were smart enough to draw up this loan agreement,
04:07you believed that the collateral was sufficient to ensure
04:10that the loan was repaid.
04:12Yes, Your Honor.
04:13Of course.
04:14So, in effect, you were whole if he pays off this loan.
04:18Now, it is your claim that you rented these jet skis
04:21to Mr. Rigby for a family vacation.
04:24Yes.
04:25And you were taking grandchildren?
04:26Yes, my son has a houseboat down at Lake Powell,
04:29and we've been doing this for years.
04:31We've been, for about five or six years, we've been renting houseboats
04:34for our grandkids that go down there.
04:35You mean jet skis?
04:36I mean jet skis, wave runners.
04:38Okay.
04:39According to you, he rented them, and they were returned scratched?
04:42Scratched, yes, Your Honor.
04:43Okay.
04:44Do you have photographs of the scratches?
04:45I do.
04:46Yes, Your Honor.
04:47Did you ever arrive at your destination, Mr. Rigby?
05:03Yes, I did.
05:04With the jet skis?
05:05Yes, we did.
05:06And one of them worked?
05:07Well, when you load them onto the houseboat,
05:10you can go weightless.
05:11So they both worked just idling.
05:14So we loaded them onto the houseboat.
05:17So did you use them, is my question?
05:19No.
05:20Neither one?
05:21We used the one a little bit.
05:23Okay.
05:24Do you know how it got scratched?
05:26We rented them twice from him.
05:29We rented them once in May, and then this was the July trip.
05:33He charged my son for scratches on the wave runners.
05:37So my son told me, when you go to pick them up, take a video of the wave runners.
05:42I've got pictures of me on my phone, and I've got pictures here to show all the scratches
05:49on the wave runners.
05:50Oh, I'd love to see them.
05:51Yes.
05:52This is before we even picked them up, and I've got a video, if you'd like to see that,
06:01Your Honor.
06:02I absolutely would.
06:03So these were photographs that you took before...
06:07Right in the yard, before we even picked them up.
06:10Now I'd like to see your video, sir.
06:30Okay, I just want to know, do you park your jet skis someplace, Mr. Robinson, where other
06:36jet skis are parked?
06:38Your Honor, I was out of town.
06:40That's an either yes or a no.
06:45I don't use them often, but I have used jet skis, and some are carefully taken care of,
06:53and some, when they're rented, get banged around a little bit.
06:57Yours were banged around.
07:08John Robinson claims his jet ski renter, Steven Rigby, is responsible for missing equipment
07:15and damaging his jet skis.
07:17Steven is countersuing for the return of his rental deposit.
07:21Okay.
07:22Hi.
07:23I just want to know, do you park your jet skis someplace, Mr. Robinson, where other jet
07:28skis are parked?
07:29Your Honor, I was out of town.
07:30I was out of town.
07:31That's an either yes or a no.
07:33I'm looking here, there are a lot of other jet skis.
07:35In this case, yes, Your Honor.
07:37In this case, the answer is yes.
07:38You park where there are a lot of other jet skis.
07:40Yes.
07:41Okay.
07:42Well, this is July 23rd at 8.57 AM, which is when you pick them up.
07:50Okay.
07:51And, you know, they look certainly drivable, but they certainly look used and scratched
07:56up.
07:57Yes, Your Honor.
07:58Okay.
07:59Now, Kevin, would you return this?
08:00So, they were scratched up before Mr. Rigby took them.
08:04Now, you have a video that Nathan just handed you.
08:08Yeah.
08:09He wants to show me a video of what he allegedly took on the same date.
08:14Is that what you want to show me, Nathan?
08:16Or you didn't take a video of the same day?
08:19It's not the same day.
08:20Then I'm not interested in it.
08:21Then I couldn't be less interested in it.
08:23So, Mr. Robinson, let me try to explain this to you, sir.
08:27You bought these in April.
08:29Did you buy them new or used?
08:31Brand new, Your Honor.
08:32And you rented them between April and the end of July?
08:35Yes, Your Honor.
08:36And you used them?
08:37Yes, Your Honor.
08:38How many times did you rent them?
08:40What do you think?
08:41Maybe 25 times?
08:43Maybe.
08:44So, let's say 20, 25 times.
08:46And how many times did you personally use them?
08:48I only went out once, Your Honor.
08:50And what about Nathan?
08:51Did he ever go out in them?
08:52Once.
08:53Just a second.
08:54Once.
08:55So, you rented them 25 times.
08:56You went out once.
08:57He went out once.
08:58Well, somebody scratched them.
08:59What I'm telling you is his photographs that I've just looked at and his video of July 23rd do not show me brand new, three months old, subject to normal wear and tear by one person using them.
09:14There are scratches on them.
09:16They're scuffed.
09:17You know, I don't use them often and haven't been on one in a couple of years.
09:23But I have used jet skis and some are carefully taken care of and some when they're rented get banged around a little bit.
09:32Yours were banged around.
09:33And you sold them for what you paid for them.
09:36So, I don't know what you're complaining about.
09:39So, here's some more pictures that was right when we picked them up.
09:42And you can see more scratches than I...
09:44I can't differentiate, sir, between what scratches were there and what scratches were not.
09:50Nor do I intend to use this device to figure that out.
09:53Yes.
09:54Because you have a bill for me, I assume, from a mechanic.
09:58Yes, Your Honor.
09:59Who fixed up all the scratches.
10:01And I assume, without looking at it, that the mechanic doesn't list where each scratch is located.
10:10I assume.
10:11I assume that there's a general bill for cleaning up the jet skis.
10:17I may be wrong.
10:18If I'm wrong, tell me I'm wrong.
10:19Yeah, it's a general bill, Your Honor.
10:21Okay, then there's no way for me to differentiate between what the scratches and nicks and dents that were in the jet skis in the video that I just saw from July 23rd.
10:32And your mechanics bill.
10:34So, what I'm telling you is, you had no damage.
10:37You sold the equipment to Nathan for what you paid for it.
10:43You rented them, according to you, 25 times between April, May, June, and July 23rd.
10:51So, you don't have any damages because I assume you made money.
10:55I assume you rented them for money.
10:57Yes, Your Honor.
10:58Okay.
10:59So, you have no damages.
11:00And there's no way for me to tell where the scratches are.
11:02With the sale to Nathan, I gave him an additional $17,000 to get to that $30,000 that I sold it to him for.
11:09So, that's where we would actually sold it to him for much less than $30,000.
11:14That's not...
11:15I may have missed it.
11:16So, you gave him $17,500.
11:22Instead of making the note half, you gave him $17,000.
11:27Yeah.
11:28I don't understand that.
11:29So, in order to run the business for Nathan, he needed more than just one set.
11:34And so, he had to go out and buy new sets.
11:37And so, I gave him an additional $17,000 when I sold it.
11:40Yeah.
11:41Well, that is not my problem, sir.
11:42That is your convoluted business arrangement with him.
11:45But your loan agreement, the collateral for the $30,000 of the two jet skis.
11:50Yes, Your Honor.
11:51Any Wave Runners he bought after that would also be under collateral.
11:55If you look at the collateral, it will...
11:57That's okay.
11:58But at this time, he hadn't bought any.
12:00At this time, at the time of this loan agreement, which was for $30,000, you had...
12:08The collateral for this loan agreement was the two...
12:11Are they Kawasaki?
12:12Is that what they are?
12:13Yes, sir.
12:14Jet skis.
12:15Absolutely no way for me to determine what was damaged and what was not.
12:18I saw it was clear that these were scratched up when he picked them up.
12:23Now, according to you, missing revenue, damaged jet skis.
12:27Forget that.
12:28Loss of revenue.
12:29Forget that.
12:30They were scratched already.
12:31Missing equipment.
12:32Okay.
12:33What equipment was missing?
12:35Life jackets and a gas can, and then there's a rod that carries the gas can.
12:41They took that rod as well.
12:43Well, I don't know who took it.
12:44Yeah.
12:45They would have no use for that.
12:46Yes, Your Honor.
12:47Do you know what I mean, Mr. Robinson?
12:49Yes.
12:50They would have no use for it.
12:51So, life jackets.
12:52And how many life jackets did you provide?
12:54Six.
12:55Mr. Rigby, were there life jackets?
12:57No.
12:58No life jackets, Your Honor.
12:59You had your own life jackets?
13:00We had our own life jackets.
13:02Was your wife with you?
13:03Not when I picked them up, no.
13:05Okay.
13:06She's my fiancee, Your Honor.
13:08Nice.
13:09Good for you.
13:10Mr. Robinson.
13:13Yes, Your Honor.
13:15You told me earlier, I believe, Whitney, I believe Mr. Robinson said earlier that he closed down his business right after this incident. Is that correct?
13:25In April, sold it in July.
13:27He said, after I bought them, I sold the business. I couldn't handle it in April of 2021.
13:34That's when he bought it?
13:36Yeah, until July 2021.
13:38And his rental was the end of July, because it was the 23rd, and you had two jet skis at that time.
13:46Yes, Your Honor.
13:47And then you entered into this agreement on the 27th of July with Nathan, in which you secured as collateral the life jackets.
13:56I bought it.
13:57I bought him more life jackets.
13:59Just a second.
14:00So, what you want me to believe in, what I'll believe if you show me a bill, that between the 24th and the 27th, you bought new life jackets.
14:12Yes, Your Honor.
14:13I did.
14:14Okay.
14:15You want to see your signature?
14:19You've got to get your story straight.
14:21Do you understand?
14:22You've got to get your story straight.
14:23The first thing that you have to do when you come with a witness is get your story straight.
14:38John Robinson is accusing defendant Stephen Rigby of renting two of his jet skis and damaging them.
14:46Stephen claims they were already damaged, and one jet ski didn't even work.
14:51So, what you want me to believe in, what I'll believe if you show me a bill, that between the 24th and the 27th, you bought new life jackets.
15:03Yes, Your Honor.
15:04In addition, I did want to say he actually ended up taking the Wave Runners without anyone being there.
15:10Like you said, he missed the appointment.
15:12He told him he was going to be there at 10 o'clock, but he showed up really early and took the Wave Runners without signing an agreement, without calling me.
15:21And then, at that point, that's why we had to report it to the police because he took the Wave Runners without signing the rental agreement or paying full for them.
15:31So, in this text here.
15:33No text. I want to see a bill from a sporting goods store for life jackets between the 23rd or the 24th of July and the 27th of July.
15:45So, Nathan bought him and then I Venmo'd him. Do you want, do you have that on your phone?
15:51So I, so I can show that I Venmo'd it.
15:54It was an eBay purchase.
15:55I don't care about eBay. I want to see a receipt for life jackets between those two dates prior to July 27th and after July 24th.
16:06Here's a Venmo of me Venmoing him for those life jackets.
16:10Nathan's going to have to get me where he bought them.
16:13Right here. Let's see.
16:15And the date he bought them.
16:25You bought one exo blue universal adult size life jacket. Is that right?
16:32Yes. It was, it was a pack of four or five.
16:35For $59.
16:36I don't remember. Yeah.
16:38I don't remember. Okay.
16:42You didn't take any life jackets.
16:44No life jackets. Sure.
16:45Okie dokie. Got a counterclaim. How much of a deposit did you give to the plaintiff?
16:50$900.
16:51On what date did you take the Wave Runners?
16:54On the 23rd.
16:55I see that you dropped them off someplace.
16:57We dropped them off back at the marina at Antelope.
17:01He told us we could no longer use the Wave Runners.
17:04So we had to haul them all the way back to the marina and that was on the 25th.
17:08And tell me what happened with the pickup, the exchange.
17:13Nathan over here, who I'm not interested in their business arrangements.
17:18It all sounds a little sketchy to me.
17:20He was out of town.
17:21Nathan was supposed to make the exchange with you, give you the paperwork.
17:24He was supposed to pay the balance on the 23rd.
17:27Correct?
17:28Correct.
17:29And what time are you supposed to meet him?
17:30I got a text message from John Joseph about a week before.
17:34I've been up to his house.
17:35I went up and inspected the Wave Runners.
17:37I've seen what they looked like and they were brand new.
17:40I was really impressed.
17:42A week before we were to pick him up, before July 4th, it was on July 17th.
17:46He sends me a text saying, I'm out of town.
17:49You're going to have to pick him up in Murray.
17:52He didn't give me a name.
17:53He gave me an address.
17:54I've got the text that he sent me.
17:56I'm going to look at it.
17:57You want to look at it?
17:58Yeah.
18:07So you had been to see them and they were brand new when you saw them.
18:10When I went, that was back in April.
18:11They were brand new, yes.
18:12And then we moved forward to the end of July.
18:14Right.
18:15So that's the text he sent me to pick him up.
18:17Okay.
18:18You can see no name, no nothing.
18:20I tried calling him.
18:22Well, first I said thanks.
18:23The next day I called him because I wanted to talk to him.
18:26What am I supposed to do?
18:27Who am I supposed to talk to?
18:29Well, what he does on his phone, it goes to voicemail and then it says, my voicemail is full.
18:34You can't leave any messages on his phone.
18:36So what I did is I called .
18:39I don't remember who I talked to.
18:41I says, hey, I'm picking up.
18:43You can't tell me what they said to you.
18:45No, I told them I was picking up some Wave Runners that was John Joseph Robinson's.
18:50Are you going to have them there?
18:52And he said.
18:53You can't tell me what he said.
18:54Oh, okay.
18:55You went there.
18:56Did you ever make an appointment with Nathan over here?
18:59Never.
19:00Never.
19:01I didn't know who to talk to.
19:03When I talked to him down there.
19:05Stand up, Nathan.
19:06Tell me when you had, Nathan, a conversation with the defendant.
19:09Listen to me.
19:10Then you're going to show me on your phone.
19:11The day that you had the conversation with him.
19:13Okay?
19:14On what date?
19:15Take out your phone.
19:16Your Honor.
19:17Wait a second.
19:18Take out your phone.
19:19Now tell me on what date you had a conversation with Mr. Rigby.
19:23Your Honor, it wasn't on my phone that the conversation happened.
19:26It was on whose phone?
19:27When he called Rental the day before to ask how to pick them up.
19:32I happened to be there at the time and the guy there...
19:36You can't tell me what he said.
19:37That's hearsay.
19:38Gave me the phone.
19:39That's hearsay.
19:40He gave me the phone and I personally talked to him and I told him, meet me at 11.
19:45Just a second.
19:47So you told him to meet you at 11.
19:50Yes.
19:51Is that right?
19:52Okay.
19:53Let me tell you what your partner over here swore to in his complaint.
19:58Let me tell you what he swore to.
19:59Since I was out of town, I left the jet skis, gear, and trailer at a third party's house,
20:06which was nuts.
20:07So you left it at a launching yard.
20:09Nathan, my witness, was to meet Steven, that would be you, at 10 a.m.
20:14You want to see your signature?
20:16You've got to get your story straight.
20:18Do you understand?
20:19You've got to get your story straight.
20:20The first thing that you have to do when you come with a witness is get your story straight.
20:25Your home is $900 back.
20:28Is that what you paid him?
20:29That's what I paid him.
20:30That's what you're getting back.
20:31Your case is dismissed.
20:32Judgment on the counterclaim for $900.
20:34Thank you very much.
20:35Good job.
20:36Court is adjourned.
20:37I thought he was a good guy, but obviously not.
20:41I think Judge Judy is spot on.
20:43Called the police because he never signed the rental agreement.
20:45Am I supposed to sign something?
20:47Am I supposed to pay you guys?
20:49He says no.
20:50They abandoned him in a parking lot.
20:51I love Judge Judy.
20:53I learned a good lesson from that case.
20:55The defendant did a great job taking a video with a time stamp before he even took the jet
21:01skis off of the plaintiff's property or wherever he had left them.
21:05And I think that's a good lesson for everybody before you lend someone, even a friend, anything
21:09of yours.
21:10You know, take a photo or two just so you have a time stamped, verified document that you
21:14could show in court just like the defendant did here.
21:17So we did our job today.
21:18You learned something.
21:19We did.
21:20Perfect.
21:21And if you want justice, go to judyjustice.tv.
21:25Judyjustice.tv