Friend or Fan

0:00 Plaintiff Sasha Radcliffe and Mayori Tabcow say Sasha used to be

0:04 friends with the defendant until the defendant started mimicking her every move,

0:09 including getting the same haircut and job as Sasha.

0:12 Sasha claims the defendant agreed to rent

0:14 a home from but backed out of the deal.

0:17 So, they're suing for rent and the security deposit.

0:21 Defendant Naima Dunn insists she never wanted to be

0:24 Sasha and she never tried to be Sasha.

0:27 Naima also insists she never agreed to move into Mayori's

0:30 house and she's counter suing for an unpaid cell phone bill.

0:34 Start with you.

0:35 Um, I'd like to begin by giving you just a brief background on our friendship.

0:38 We became friends.

0:39 Um, like in '98 we were hanging out and things weren't

0:42 quite always right about our friendship because sometimes it seemed as though

0:45 there was a weird jealousy underlying not on my behalf but just

0:48 a weird a lot of weird incidents like I would buy outfit,

0:51 she'd buy the same outfit, I would cut my hair, she'd do the same.

0:53 She admired you,

0:55 right?

0:55 And and I that's not jealousy, that's admiration.

0:58 Well, it goes so far as to I went to school to become a legal assistant.

1:01 She did the same.

1:02 I was planning on applying to law school.

1:04 Your honor, she wanted to apply to the same school and eventually it became

1:07 You were a good rule model, right?

1:08 Well, and that's the same thing that my mom would tell me,

1:10 but eventually me feeling that way led me to break off the friendship because

1:13 if I feel that way that I'm not being a good friend to her.

1:15 So, I broke off the friendship.

1:17 I said, I really don't see any use.

1:19 So, fast forward to 2005,

1:21 she sent my daughter a Christmas card and a Christmas gift and I

1:24 was very touched by it and I called her to thank her.

1:27 We talked, we rekindled the friendship.

1:28 I thought, you know, she's had time.

1:30 She seemed like she had herself together.

1:31 She's had her own, you know,

1:33 she's got her individuality and I helped her get a job.

1:36 And in June of 2007, June of this year, on June 6th, um I was moving out,

1:40 I had moved out of my mom's property and we

1:42 were looking to find someone to rent the property.

1:44 Um, and she was renting it to me and was willing to rent

1:47 it to the defendant for a significantly lower rate than what market value was.

1:50 Um, on the 6th was when Naim agreed to move into the property.

1:54 Um, around the 12th, which I have um, a lot of documentation on, um,

1:58 she machinated this concocted story about

2:00 an ex-boyfriend stalking her or something.

2:02 I asked her she needed help.

2:04 Should I take you to the court and we can get paperwork, make sure you're okay?

2:07 And that was never the truth.

2:08 Anyway, the end result was the entire month passed by and we placed

2:12 read on the six.

2:13 And what was she telling you in the meantime about someone?

2:16 A boyfriend issue why she had to move.

2:19 All right, let me hear from you, ma'am.

2:20 And I'll get back to you.

2:21 First off, in regards to going to school,

2:23 I started to go to school way before she did.

2:26 Like, I don't want to be her and I've never tried

2:29 to be her and that's not the type of person that I am.

2:32 But I never agreed to rent the property.

2:36 I kept telling her that I'd let her know and that I would think about it because

2:40 there was no agreement on June 6th.

2:42 No, I told her I would let her know and I had to think about it

2:45 and to figure out my money situation because

2:47 I'm in the process of buying a condo.

2:49 Okay.

2:50 So, how long did you take before you told them you finished thinking about it?

2:55 I told her on the 24th of June that I wasn't going to be able to move.

3:04 All right.

3:04 Did you ever give her any money?

3:06 I

3:06 No, I never gave her any money.

3:08 I've never signed a lease agreement or anything, ma'am.

3:12 Um on June 6, it was a verbal agreement.

3:14 June 12th, she attempted to back out.

3:15 She said, "I will move in when?" Verbal agreement July 1st.

3:18 She would move in July 1st.

3:19 Um July 2nd um July, let's see, June uh 13th.

3:24 I have I have an email here where she said, "I am going to move into your mom's.

3:28 I'm withdrawing money from my IRA." I have that here, your honor.

3:30 She said she Let me see that.

3:31 She said she was moving in when?

3:33 um July 1st.

3:34 That does not indicate the date on the on that email,

3:37 but it does indicate her willingness and her intent to rent.

3:40 And I have another email where she ver where this

3:43 she said I think.

3:44 I have another one where she says she has already gotten the money out.

3:48 And this one also I consider to be um an agreement to a month-to-month lease.

3:52 I asked her if there was anything she herself wanted to add to the lease

3:55 and she said a monthtomonth is fine and I'm getting the money out of my IRA.

3:58 It should be here within days.

4:00 Not only that, your honor,

4:01 but I also have a phone bill where she had phone

4:03 service turned on that's sent from AT&T to June 26, your honor.

4:07 For this address?

4:09 For this address?

4:09 Yes, your honor.

4:10 I do.

4:10 Explain that.

4:14 Um, I can't.

4:15 I know you can't.

4:16 What cleaning costs are you suing for?

4:18 I sued for the $125.

4:20 I had made my housekeeper come in and clean.

4:22 Anyone else move in?

4:24 We did.

4:24 We did.

4:25 We did mitigate in August.

4:26 So, we did.

4:27 It was already clean.

4:28 It was already clean.

4:28 So then she doesn't owe you for those cleaning costs.

4:32 If someone else benefited from it.

4:34 Okay, I can I I understand that.

4:35 And your counter claim for $633 is for what?

4:39 A cell phone that I got for her turned on in my name.

4:42 You had a cell phone and for her use.

4:44 She agreed to pay it and failed to do so.

4:47 Right.

4:47 All right, ma'am.

4:48 I did pay the bill and there was a time when this all this transpired

4:52 was at the same time as I had my next cell phone bill was due.

4:56 She asked me to pay the bill on Friday.

4:58 I told her I would pay the bill on Friday.

4:59 Monday came.

5:00 I had I was really extremely busy.

5:01 I was two days I had never been late before.

5:03 I paid the bill consistently.

5:04 Monday came and the phone was completely

5:06 shut off and she's never contacted me since.

5:08 And I will I am Did you find out why the phone was shut off?

5:12 I didn't have any access anymore to She had changed all the passwords.

5:14 I couldn't log on to the information.

5:16 All my text phone shut off.

5:18 No, she's lying.

5:19 Ma'am, why was the phone shut off?

5:20 She didn't pay the bill like a week and a half after the bill was due.

5:24 So, I got the phone cut off.

5:25 That's which month that was like the end of July.

5:30 Is that correct, ma'am?

5:30 You didn't pay until the end of July.

5:33 I She didn't give me an opportunity to pay it.

5:34 I was late.

5:35 I was 2 days late.

5:36 Well, you were late, right?

5:37 But if you were late, ma'am.

5:39 Ma'am, if you were late, you breached the contract lawyer.

5:43 And as a result of the breach,

5:46 she had the right to take action to protect herself from any damage.

5:50 In this case, damage to her credit.

5:54 Yes.

5:54 Mhm.

5:54 Um I do agree that I owe I had never intended not to pay the cell phone bill,

5:59 but I she never called me.

6:00 Doesn't she have some sort of duty to mitigate her damage?

6:03 It's your duty to pay the bill in a timely manner.

6:06 You know, you had an obligation to pay the bill.

6:08 It's not the landlord.

6:09 You can't say to your landlord whom you owe every month by the 3rd,

6:13 5th, or whatever time it is.

6:15 Landlord, you can't charge me now because you forgot to remind me.

6:20 If you know, if you know the date of your bill is the 3rd or the 5th

6:24 and you don't pay it and the landlord fails to remind you, you still owe it.

6:29 You don't owe any less.

6:30 You can't mitigate something just because

6:33 they didn't remember to tell you, counselor.

6:35 Uh $633 is for the termination fee and the bill.

6:39 Let me see it.

6:41 And also, you all are asking for a security deposit of how much?

6:45 The same amount of the rent.

6:46 It was so how do why do you think you should be entitled to a security deposit?

6:51 The Saturday that she was supposed to move in was the two days before July 1st.

6:55 That was the money she had intended to start bringing her things in early.

6:58 She had asked my mother to bring her things early.

7:00 My mom said, "That's fine.

7:01 Just make sure you bring the check for the security

7:02 deposit and the rent and we execute the lease and you'll

7:04 be it'll be fine with me for you to move

7:06 your things in two days early." And that was when she disappeared.

7:09 I couldn't contact her.

7:10 I had to get someone else.

7:12 Done with the security deposit.

7:14 The security deposit was just for security for if

7:18 there were any damages to any property or

7:20 You would have set the security deposit aside.

7:25 Exactly.

7:23 And when she moved out, you would determine whether she damaged the property.

7:32 Correct.

7:30 If she never moved her things in, how

7:34 could she be capable of damaging your property?

7:38 Understood.

7:39 Right?

7:39 So therefore, your property was not at risk of being damaged by her.

7:45 And even if it was at risk at this point, you'd have to give it back to her.

7:51 Understood?

7:51 So, I'm going to give you your rent, $1,365,

7:55 and I'm going to deny your cleaning cost because you had someone else move in.

8:00 You would have had to pay for the cleaning for that new person.

8:02 Uh, with regard to the phone bill, ma'am, I see 432.

8:07 Where what else?

8:08 where you get the $200 early termination.

8:10 Is it all good?

8:11 They wouldn't.

8:12 It's Well, when you get it, bring it back.

8:14 All right.

8:15 Today, I can only give you what I'm looking at.

8:17 Okay, that's fine.

8:18 $433 is the judgment I'm going to give you.

8:21 So, subtracting your judgment from yours of $1,365.

8:28 Uh, let me have a calculator.

8:32 That's the whole purchase.

8:35 933.

8:35 I don't even know if that's right.

8:36 You You pressing THE WRONG BUTTON.

8:38 WELL, I KNOW I got it justified.

8:40 Devil, you give him a calculator.

8:42 He pressed the wrong button.

8:45 Lord have mercy.

8:46 I'm trying to promote you out of out of bal.

8:50 Let me try to accountant.

8:51 Oh, Lord have mercy.

8:54 That's enough.

8:54 Try it one more time.

8:56 One more time.

8:58 Lord have mercy.

9:00 And by 56 13 No.

9:02 1365 minus $433.

9:08 And by the way, ma'am, I'm kind of giving you the benefit of the law

9:12 in suggesting that she owes for that one

9:15 month that she is questionably having committed to some

9:19 of these things can be argued as a non-commmitment,

9:23 as discussions, as negotiations, as contemplation.

9:27 Also, ma'am, it could be argued that since she didn't sign a lease with you all

9:32 that she doesn't have to pay and that oral

9:34 agreements are not applicable to real estate,

9:38 that you must have a written agreement for real estate.

9:41 But I'm going to interpret this time that um

9:44 a monthto-month is applicable and that she made a commitment

9:49 that she would grant a monthto-month tenency with you all

9:53 and she violated by not committing to that first month.

9:58 You had it.

9:58 Yeah.

9:58 Yeah.

9:59 9:32.

10:00 9:32 is your judgment.

10:02 I can honor uh after subtracting uh her $433.

10:08 Have a good day.

10:09 Thank you.

10:09 Thank you.