Trust Fund Troubles

0:00 Plaintiff Sher Lamont says her [music] daughter has been a troublemaker since

0:03 she was 15 years old and has been arrested twice for shoplifting.

0:08 Sherry believes her now 18-year-old daughter was

0:10 too young [music] to receive her trust fund,

0:12 but there was nothing she could do about it.

0:15 And today, she's suing her daughter for unpaid loans,

0:17 damaged, and stolen [music] property.

0:20 Defendant Lena Ree says her relationship with her mother has suffered

0:23 since [music] her mother started taking Lena's stepfather's side over hers.

0:28 Lena claims the only reason her mother is suing

0:30 her is to get her hands on Lena's trust fund.

0:34 Start with you.

0:35 My daughter, [music] she's been in trouble since she was 15,

0:38 hanging out with the wrong crowd.

0:42 At 17, she was arrested twice for shoplifting.

0:46 That's some of your shoplifting.

0:49 No, [laughter] no, no.

0:52 I was going to say she I say she's pretty good.

0:55 I don't see how she got caught.

0:58 Go ahead.

0:59 In 2000, her father passed away and a trust

1:02 fund was set up for her by the state.

1:06 It was over $10,000, which is a a lot of money for an 18-year-old.

1:14 Um, she started working.

1:15 She needed pants for work, shoes for work.

1:18 She wanted Christmas gifts for her friends and family.

1:23 Um, I filed her taxes for her, paid for that, all

1:28 with the intention of she made promises that she would pay me back.

1:32 I'll pay you back when I get my trust fund.

1:34 I do have a breakdown.

1:35 All right, let me have it.

1:37 What do you have to say, young lady?

1:39 Well, she wasn't really nagging me about paying her until I

1:44 got my trust fund and then that's when it all started.

1:47 Um, when I was younger,

1:50 she got with her husband and whenever like me and him got into an argument,

1:56 like she wouldn't really she would always take his side and never mine.

2:02 What do you want to tell me about these phone

2:04 bills and these loans that she's suing you about?

2:06 Well, first of all, your honor, I I told her that I would pay her back.

2:09 What is that property?

2:10 Is that stuff you stole or what is it?

2:12 No, I told

2:12 Why do you bring it here?

2:14 You ran out of money.

2:15 You're selling it.

2:15 What?

2:16 No, I took it right after my boyfriend got out of jail.

2:20 You took it?

2:21 That is stolen property.

2:25 No, you took it from where?

2:27 My own house.

2:28 But I didn't take it.

2:29 I took it right in front of her face.

2:31 I put it in my bag.

2:32 Whose face?

2:33 My mother's.

2:34 Oh, that's her property.

2:37 That's some of the property you're saw on her father stolen.

2:41 Yes.

2:41 How long ago was that?

2:43 That was in April.

2:43 The end of April.

2:44 April 29th to be [music] exact.

2:47 Thought she had her money by then.

2:49 No, she got sign of a klepto.

2:52 You got money and still stealing.

2:54 She got her money 3 days later.

2:58 Huh?

2:57 She got her money 3 days later.

2:59 I wasn't.

3:00 Huh?

3:01 I wasn't stealing.

3:02 I took it right in front of her face.

3:04 So that's

3:04 You took it.

3:05 That's the operative word.

3:07 You say I took You didn't say she gave it to me.

3:10 Judge,

3:11 she was standing right there looking at the charms with us.

3:15 Tell me how it went.

3:17 Okay.

3:17 My boyfriend got out of jail.

3:18 Move back to Your boyfriend got out of jail.

3:22 Yeah.

3:23 For what?

3:23 He's a thief, too.

3:25 No.

3:25 [laughter] What was he in jail for?

3:29 Um, just stuff.

3:31 Go ahead, ma'am.

3:32 You and your boyfriend, who had just got out of jail,

3:35 were staring at your mother's jewels.

3:37 My mom went and suddenly you ended up with it.

3:40 My mom got them and we were looking at them all together.

3:43 Uhhuh.

3:43 in the kitchen and then we were going back to his house and I put them

3:48 in my bag right in front of her face

3:49 and she didn't say nothing to me or anything.

3:53 Okay.

3:53 And you start wearing them?

3:55 No, I don't wear charms.

3:57 You don't wear them?

3:58 So, what was your purpose for taking them?

4:00 I'm confused.

4:02 My boyfriend has charms.

4:04 He wears charms.

4:07 Yeah.

4:06 Okay, ma'am.

4:07 She said you saw him looking at them though.

4:09 Yes, that was fine.

4:10 They were on my They were on the kitchen table.

4:12 about you, young lady.

4:14 She saw y'all looking at him, right?

4:17 It's like you said, you steals.

4:19 Did not.

4:20 You That's first THING OUT YOUR MOUTH is

4:22 that she steals and he just come home from prison.

4:26 I was trying I was trying to get You saw them staring at your jewel.

4:30 A known thief and a excon.

4:32 I didn't think they would take them out of the house.

4:36 I thought she was getting on the right track, but apparently she wasn't.

4:42 Okay.

4:42 So, when did you discover it was gone?

4:44 How long after?

4:46 Um, about three, two or three days.

4:49 So, I called her on the phone.

4:51 She had been gone for a couple days.

4:54 Yeah.

4:55 You saw me take them?

4:56 I said, "No, I did not see you take them." My husband

4:59 had also called her on numerous occasions and asked her to bring them.

5:04 And she had been to my house to pick up her mail.

5:06 Well, she brought them today.

5:07 And let me apologize for you, young lady.

5:10 Theft is unlawful taking with the intent to permanently deprive.

5:14 You didn't intend to permanently deprive, right?

5:18 No.

5:18 Right.

5:18 And she got your stuff here for you.

5:19 That's not even That's not even half of them.

5:22 That's not all of them.

5:25 You can't be helped.

5:26 Where's the rest [laughter] then?

5:28 Trying to stick up for you.

5:30 Where are the rest of her things?

5:32 My boyfriend sold them.

5:35 That's permanently depriving her.

5:38 Yeah, you

5:38 I didn't know that he did till I got them.

5:40 So,

5:42 ma'am, what do you have to say to this?

5:43 You only start asking for money once the $10,000 inheritance came.

5:49 No, I didn't.

5:50 She's had several jobs.

5:52 She had um her first job for over eight months.

5:56 She was paying her cell phone bill.

5:58 Then she lost the job.

6:00 I had to shut the cell phone off.

6:03 That's uh

6:04 How much cell phone bill?

6:05 The cell phone bill was $52246.

6:11 Okay.

6:11 Uh my home phone between March of '05 and January of '07,

6:15 the uh Star 69 and the three-way calling just

6:18 went I mean she maxed him out every month.

6:22 Um that ended up being uh $92 an

6:25 talking to her boyfriend.

6:26 No doubt.

6:26 No.

6:27 Well,

6:28 all her friends and everything.

6:31 What else?

6:32 uh collect calls from mid-Marchch to April

6:36 on your home phone.

6:37 On my home phone the jail.

6:39 How much?

6:40 That's mid March to April is like two or three weeks.

6:44 Yeah.

6:44 How much?

6:47 $63.80.

6:47 All right.

6:47 Ma'am, what about these phone bills?

6:49 Those weren't gifts.

6:51 Talking up $600 to your boyfriend from jail.

6:55 I told her that I would pay for the collect calls and that if she wanted to, she

6:59 could come and take me to the bank

7:00 because I didn't have no transportation at that time.

7:03 Let's get to the damaged property, ma'am.

7:05 How did she damage your property?

7:07 Touched a hole in her bedroom door when she was

7:10 on the phone with her boyfriend or got in a fight.

7:13 Did you do this, young lady?

7:15 Yeah,

7:16 you did.

7:17 Yeah.

7:17 Why?

7:17 Fighting with your boyfriend?

7:19 Yeah, cuz I got mad.

7:20 All right.

7:20 But the thing she told me that if I was doing good in school that I

7:26 didn't have to pay and I'm getting my GED right now and I'm doing good.

7:30 So they told me that I didn't have to pay.

7:33 Ma'am, is that true?

7:34 You told her she didn't have to pay for putting

7:36 her fist through your wall if she did well with her GED

7:40 while she was living under our roof before she was 18.

7:45 Yeah.

7:45 And you told her then she wouldn't have to pay for damage to the wall.

7:49 No.

7:50 Yes, you did.

7:51 What did you tell her she wouldn't have to pay for?

7:53 Ma'am, cuz I'm getting like her now.

7:56 See, like you sniffing out that $10,000.

8:00 NO.

8:07 What did you tell her?

8:08 She didn't have to pay for for any rent or room and board if she

8:13 was in school and on the straight and narrow.

8:18 What loans?

8:20 She wanted Christmas gifts for her friends and family.

8:23 When was this?

8:24 At Christmas.

8:24 How old was she?

8:28 17.

8:28 And she agreed to pay you then.

8:29 Yes, she did.

8:30 She was a child.

8:30 Child can't enter into contracts.

8:32 Number one.

8:35 Number two, I suspect like she says, if you give a minor some money,

8:38 you don't loan your minor children money for the most part.

8:42 You want to speak, sir?

8:43 Come on up.

8:44 State your name.

8:46 I'm Daniel Lamont.

8:47 What do you want to tell me?

8:49 [laughter] Pretty much it's she was borrowing money and based

8:55 on the fact she'd pay it back from her job.

8:58 She wasn't going to school 17 to 20, maybe 30,

9:00 maybe 40 days in a school year, not there, it got to where I had to take

9:04 her to school and meet security to keep her in school.

9:07 So, as an adult and a child around the house,

9:09 I if I could have put her out under the age of 18, I would have.

9:13 I'd get tired of trying to take care of it.

9:15 And I tired of seeing a relationship between

9:17 a mother and daughter get destroyed over all of this.

9:19 But bottom line, I've been around a house.

9:20 I will pay you for this out of my trust fund.

9:22 Nothing we asked for.

9:24 It was I will pay you people for this out of my trust fund.

9:28 Sir, that's no different than the income tax statement.

9:31 I'm going to pay you with my income tax.

9:33 No, back with my income tax.

9:35 But I believe when I get my income tax,

9:37 I believe when somebody makes an obligation,

9:39 I got to pay when I get my trust money.

9:41 They need pay when I get my trust money.

9:43 That can go on for at least some folks have a trust they can't get for 20 years.

9:47 They can run that at [laughter] this tax time.

9:49 You only have one year to lie.

9:52 You got 20 years to con with that.

9:55 Pay when they give him a trust.

9:56 P.

9:56 How old were you when you started that?

9:59 [laughter] I don't know.

10:05 Ma'am, I'm not going to hold her to anything

10:08 other than these phone bills and the stolen property.

10:13 Um, the loans, I'm not going to enforce.

10:18 She was a minor.

10:19 And damaged property, I'm going to grant you that as well, ma'am.

10:23 Ma'am, I'm going to grant you a judgment.

10:25 Once again, $2,865 is your judgment.

10:30 Have a good day.

10:31 Thank you.

10:32 Thank you.

10:32 [applause]