Fouling the Fringe

0:01 This is the plaintiff, Kimbrell Francis.

0:04 She says she brought a very special dress to the defendant's cleaners because

0:08 she supposedly specializes in exquisite garments.

0:11 The defendant, however, ruined her beautiful dress.

0:13 In fact, it looks like she just threw it

0:15 in the wash with a bunch of other clothes.

0:18 She can't seem to get any justice on her own.

0:20 So, instead of taking the law into her own hands,

0:23 she brought her to the people's court.

0:25 She's suing for $200, the value of the dress.

0:34 This is the defendant, Dorita Malone.

0:37 She says she's very specific with not guaranteeing garments with fringe on them,

0:42 like the one the plaintiff brought in.

0:44 The plaintiff demanded she replace the garment,

0:46 but she can't do that because she has

0:48 a strict policy of no guarantees with regards to fringe.

0:51 She thinks the judge will side with her and is

0:54 anxious to present her case and clear her good name.

0:57 She's accused of fouling the fringe.

1:05 Litigates have been sworn, your honor.

1:07 Yeah, it is.

1:07 Thank you, Douglas.

1:08 Okay.

1:09 Kimbell Francis.

1:11 Yes.

1:11 You are suing Quan Lee doing business as Shelton Cleaners,

1:14 and they are represented here by Dorita Malone.

1:16 You're the general manager, correct?

1:19 Correct.

1:18 Okay.

1:19 Uh, what happened?

1:21 Um, I have this very dear friend of mine, older lady.

1:24 She um you know took me in.

1:26 We she was my mentor at church and she gave me this very expensive dress.

1:30 We became very close you know once we met initially.

1:33 I called her Mama Jane.

1:35 We kind of adopted one another and she gave me this beautiful dress.

1:38 I I told her about a special occasion that I had and there

1:42 was a function I wanted to attend and she showed me this dress.

1:45 She told me try it on.

1:47 If it fits you, you can have it.

1:49 So I tried the dress on and it fit just gorgeous.

1:52 and she told me to make sure I took it to a special place to have it cleaned.

1:55 You know, it was a very precious item.

1:58 It was a designer dress.

2:00 So, I asked around.

2:01 Uh my brother's a tailor.

2:02 I I knew other people in the neighborhood and they

2:05 told me that I should take it to Shelton Cleaners.

2:08 I took it there.

2:09 Uh this was in the dead of the winter.

2:11 We had a very harsh winter.

2:12 I think we had about 36 in of snow.

2:15 So, I didn't go back immediately to pick it up.

2:18 But when I went back and picked it up,

2:19 I just kind of held it in the closet cuz it was freezing.

2:22 I knew I wasn't going to wear it anytime soon.

2:25 Um later on, my sister came to visit.

2:28 What happened to the event that she was Mama Jane was giving it to you?

2:31 Was there a specific event she was?

2:32 This was in May, so it hadn't come up yet.

2:34 It was way out, you know, I just put it in the cleaners at the same time.

2:38 Uhhuh.

2:38 So go on.

2:39 Um and when my sister came to visit in the end of March, I showed her the dress.

2:45 When I went to show her the dress, I just I screamed.

2:49 I screamed.

2:50 It was horrible.

2:51 The It looked as if they had thrown it in the washer.

2:54 Uh the the bottom of it, you can see there's a lining underneath it.

2:58 The lining was hanging longer than the fringes, judge.

3:01 Um it was in very poor condition.

3:05 And you can see in the back the the lining

3:07 is still what they did in in an attempt.

3:10 You see how it's frayed?

3:11 Those were like little individual fringes.

3:14 Now, once you if you shake it, they just kind of clump together.

3:18 It's it's ruined when you you know do a little dance or something.

3:24 They're just clumping together.

3:27 They're not.

3:29 Okay.

3:29 They shouldn't be clumping when you're doing your little dance

3:31 clumping, right?

3:32 They should fall right back into place,

3:34 right?

3:34 Okay.

3:36 Okay.

3:37 So, what do you do?

3:39 So, I took it back.

3:40 Um I I was afraid to leave it.

3:42 But I I didn't I didn't I I was afraid to leave it.

3:44 But anyway, I did leave it.

3:45 I took pictures of it while it was still

3:48 hanging there when when I showed it to her.

3:50 So, I took pictures with my cell phone and I gave her an opportunity to um

3:56 talk to the owners and to try and make a uh make some corrections on it.

4:01 And I went back again and that's about as far as they went with those repairs.

4:07 Okay.

4:07 Miss Malone, are you the person who took in the dress or no?

4:11 No.

4:11 All right.

4:12 What happened?

4:13 The knit had contracted.

4:16 It had shrunk.

4:18 It's that simple.

4:19 The fringe was frayed.

4:22 It had just unraveled.

4:23 It had frayed.

4:27 It did not look good.

4:29 Okay.

4:29 It just There's absolutely

4:31 And do you have anything else to say in your defense?

4:35 I just I All I could do was apologize.

4:40 I said it it never should have been bagged.

4:44 When you see a garment like that, you just need to take it back to processing.

4:50 Okay.

4:51 There's you don't put it in a bag

4:53 and try to give it back to the customer.

4:56 No,

4:56 because it should be that evident from looking at it that there's that problem.

5:00 Yes.

5:00 Okay.

5:00 The per maybe the person who's sorting doesn't know how it came in.

5:03 Maybe it looked that way when it came in.

5:05 I don't know.

5:05 The first thing I Who's the person who accepted it?

5:08 because you have a policy at your store about fringe.

5:10 Tell me about that.

5:11 Okay.

5:11 We have a policy about trim.

5:13 When we write the receipt and I have a sample here I'd like to show you,

5:18 but it is not her actual receipt.

5:22 Mhm.

5:22 Okay.

5:22 And I say this because at the very bottom when you read the ticket,

5:26 it says see note and there's a note at the bottom.

5:30 Buttons trim not guaranteed.

5:34 Correct.

5:33 So the per Do you have yours?

5:36 No, I do believe she kept that.

5:37 No.

5:37 When they pick up their clothes, we keep both copies.

5:40 Yeah.

5:40 All right.

5:41 Well, but this is this is what's on your machine, correct?

5:44 All right.

5:45 Now, what ends up happening here?

5:46 She described to you how it should look.

5:48 You think you have an idea in your head, but it can't

5:50 I fixed it the best I could.

5:51 I got it.

5:53 Okay.

5:53 She didn't like it.

5:54 I said, "I talked to my employers.

5:56 They stuck to their policy.

5:57 All garments." What policy?

5:58 The All garments are cleaned.

6:01 All trim is cleaned with no guarantee.

6:05 Did you read the receipt?

6:08 No, I didn't.

6:10 I mean, she most people don't.

6:13 Responsibility also is disclaimed for trimmings,

6:15 buckles, beads, buttons, bells, and sequins.

6:18 Every cleaner says the same thing, you know.

6:20 Yes.

6:20 Basically,

6:20 I drop off my clothes and then I get

6:22 this receipt after I've already given you my clothes.

6:25 And so, the premise is that I'm going to stop,

6:28 tell the person behind me, just a second.

6:30 Hold on.

6:31 Wait a minute.

6:31 I got some reading to do.

6:32 Do you got a magnifying glass?

6:34 Okay, hold on.

6:35 HOLD ON.

6:36 WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT.

6:38 BRING BACK THAT BACK.

6:39 BRING back that back because I've changed my mind based on what I now

6:41 know the policy to be after I gave you my clothes and walked off.

6:44 I mean, it's tough, you know.

6:46 Let me ask you a question.

6:47 Was there ever any discussion about settling this?

6:51 Yes.

6:50 Okay.

6:50 She pulled out her calculator and based on the whatever figure she

6:55 pulled out said 10 times the amount and she said $98, I believe.

7:00 I said, "Round it off to 100."

7:02 Okay.

7:02 She said, "Okay, I got to, you know,

7:04 go back and talk to the owners." And then I get back $30 credit.

7:12 $30 for my time running back and forth because I went up there about six times,

7:18 much less the amount of time I spent on the phone.

7:20 10 times our charge for processing it.

7:22 So, it should be 14025 is the limit.

7:24 But anyway, you say she offered you 100.

7:26 Did you offer her 100 and then change it to 30?

7:28 I did not.

7:28 The offer was the refund of her cleaning price plus $30 for her gas

7:33 because she said she had been there so many times to discuss this situation.

7:39 So it was an approximately $45.

7:42 Seriously, we're here over 55 bucks.

7:45 We're here over $55.

7:49 And your your your boss holds to a nickel, I gotta say,

7:51 because what is it costing your boss for the general

7:55 manager to be here all day for court?

7:57 It's just sort of odd, right?

7:59 Because she has no proof of the cost of the garment.

8:05 She gives us an approximate cost and then says, "I want $100." Okay.

8:11 So now, do you have any proof of the cost of the garment?

8:13 I have a letter, a statement from the owner, the one that gave it to me.

8:17 Mama J.

8:17 Yeah, Mama J.

8:18 Let's see.

8:19 Yes, indeed.

8:19 I got a whole bunch of stuff here.

8:21 I got pictures.

8:22 I got a statement from Mama J.

8:24 I got a picture.

8:25 What?

8:25 what you need to.

8:27 Or did she get nasty at all?

8:30 Uh oh.

8:33 Go ahead.

8:34 She wrote a letter to my employers.

8:36 Oh yeah.

8:36 Here's the letter.

8:37 You want to see that, too?

8:38 That totally and completely misqued every conversation I've had with her.

8:47 The same way she's misqued the things that I've said,

8:52 okay, in this court.

8:53 And welcome back to the people's court.

8:55 Harvey Leven here.

8:55 So when you take a dress or a jacket to the dry cleaner with fringe,

8:59 are you taking your chances?

9:00 What do you think?

9:03 Yeah.

9:02 Why?

9:02 I mean, it's if it's an expensive dress, why shouldn't they be able to do it?

9:05 Well, it depends on which one you went to.

9:07 If it's an expensive or if it's like down the street?

9:09 No.

9:09 No.

9:09 But I mean, like in this dry in any dry cleaner,

9:12 if they if they take your dress, shouldn't it all come back?

9:15 Okay.

9:15 It should all come back.

9:16 Okay.

9:17 But it's not guaranteed.

9:18 It depends on the the dry cleaners.

9:20 Uh I can't believe you're

9:23 I completely disagree.

9:24 If you're paying someone for a service, they're supposed to do it right.

9:27 You don't pay someone to do something.

9:29 Like, oops, I only ruined a quarter of it.

9:31 You know, really going inside the courtroom.

9:33 Basically, she says that you that you admitted that it was done wrong.

9:37 The question I have though,

9:38 and I've had this, this is not the my first dry cleaning case,

9:40 I've got to tell you.

9:41 And the question that I have is, you know,

9:45 how how fair is it to bind the person

9:49 to the fine print that requires a magnifying glass

9:52 to read on the back of a receipt

9:53 that they don't get until they've given you the clothing.

9:57 So, the older I get, the more it's bothering me.

10:00 May I say something?

10:01 And as I always say, I LOVE MY CLEANERS, OKAY?

10:04 BUT I but I I just like it just, YOU KNOW,

10:06 IT'D BE FINE IF IN THE 452 other signs that you have up there, right?

10:11 Uh you would also put, oh, by the way,

10:13 we disclaim any response nice and big where they can see it and adopt it.

10:18 Now, where's that sign?

10:20 Yeah, right.

10:20 If if you're at the counter leaving your clothes,

10:23 which I'm not, BUT GO AHEAD.

10:25 It would be like right here.

10:29 Would I wouldn't I have that in the picture that she took?

10:32 The dress will be covering it.

10:34 I can't see that picture from there.

10:41 Thank you.

10:41 No, it's on the It's on the other counter.

10:46 It's on the other counter.

10:48 So, not the counter she stands at, but some other counter.

10:50 That's where

10:51 it's right next to it.

10:52 It's just like us.

10:53 See, they they're not bound by the policy.

10:56 They're not bound by the policy unless they know the policy.

10:59 And I just think that this is a close one

11:01 where you can't show that you told her the policy.

11:03 The policyy's written in tiny tiny print on the back of her receipt.

11:06 She doesn't get until after she's left the item there.

11:09 And the sign is not where she's handing in her clothes, but somewhere down.

11:12 That's not where she handed her.

11:14 $100 verdict for the plainif and her your court costs as well.

11:17 Okay.

11:18 Thank you.

11:18 Good luck, folks.

11:22 Well, this dramatic testimony has resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff,

11:26 meaning step in here.

11:28 you lose your case.

11:29 What's your reaction coming out?

11:31 I disagree.

11:32 I disagree.

11:33 There's just no other way to say it.

11:35 Are you going to make sure that from now

11:37 on your customers are aware of that policy?

11:40 Maybe point out the sign, make sure they hear that.

11:43 All customers who leave us garments

11:45 with trim are told when they change anything.

11:49 Even though they are told when they put the garment

11:52 on the counter that all trim is not guaranteed.

11:56 They're told that.

11:57 Mhm.

11:58 That's the way I train my employees.

12:01 Okay, fair enough.

12:01 Good luck.

12:02 Thank you.

12:06 Wow.

12:07 Yes.

12:06 Well, congratulations.

12:07 This was You didn't get I mean, a lot of money out of this case.

12:11 What were you really here for?

12:13 It was the principle of the whole idea that she mentioned to me that they

12:17 did not they they from time to time would hire people who were not qualified

12:23 and when they were very busy.

12:24 So, and that's the dress.

12:25 That's not a dress.

12:26 Look at my dress.

12:28 It looks beautiful to me.

12:29 Look at No, see, you're not a woman.

12:31 See, you can't figure out those little fringes.

12:33 But that that's very important.

12:34 But it's, you know, I think you'd look fantastic in that dress.

12:38 Now, now if you had Now, this beautiful thing you're wearing right there.

12:41 Would you take that into her, please?

12:43 No.

12:43 No way.

12:44 They'll never get any more business from me.

12:46 Never.

12:47 Over to Harvey.

12:47 Thank you.

12:48 Okay, Kurt, if you have a disclaimer that you

12:50 want to put and you have a business,

12:52 the best thing to do, don't worry about signs or anything like that.

12:55 put it in the contract.

12:56 It will protect you.

12:57 And that will do it for this case litigance

12:59 for the next case on the way into the courtroom right now.