Three Thousand Dollars Ends Friendship | Part 1 - video Dailymotion

Judge Judy

John and Steven were childhood best friends, but when John got a half of a million dollars in a settlement, things took a turn!  The Original! There’s only ONE Judge Judy. Visit our website for where to watch, weekdays.  Subscribe to Judge Judy on YouTube:   #JudgeJudy

Transcript

00:00Former friends.

00:02Correct.

00:02Fight over money.

00:05Not correct, unfortunately.

00:07Well, that's why we're here, sir, because this is a dispute over money.

00:10Correct.

00:11According to you, Mr. Harkness, you lent Mr. Cutler $3,000.

00:15Yes, that is correct.

00:16Mr. Cutler says it was a gift.

00:18Correct.

00:18So why don't you tell me, sir, how did this loan come about?

00:22Well, in the beginning of 1995, Stephen was living in a house.

00:29He was renting a room.

00:30He couldn't live at home.

00:31His father, they kicked him out of the house, and he couldn't live at home.

00:34He had nowhere else to go, and he was also getting kicked out of this new apartment that he had gone into.

00:39And he came to me and said, you know, John, can you give me $5,000?

00:44I said, Stephen, you know, $5,000 is a lot of money.

00:47You know what I mean?

00:47I really can't give you $5,000.

00:49What kind of work do you do that you had thousands of dollars?

00:52Well, unfortunately, when I was younger, I had cancer, and I had gotten a settlement for it.

00:57And so when I was...

00:58How did you get a settlement for having cancer?

01:00Well, because I was misdiagnosed for not having it.

01:03And then I did have it, so it was a big, drawn-out thing.

01:06When I was 19, I got a settlement and put it away and invested it for my children.

01:11How much did you get?

01:12It was about half a million dollars.

01:15And, Mr. Cutler, you knew that he was getting a settlement?

01:17Yes.

01:17Okay, go ahead.

01:18So Stephen came to me, like I said, asked me if I could give him $5,000.

01:23He didn't say lend.

01:24And I said, Stephen, I can't give you $5,000.

01:25I can let you borrow $3,000.

01:27He said, oh, come on, you can give me $5,000.

01:30You got the money.

01:30I said, Stephen, it's not about if I have the money.

01:32I just can't afford it.

01:34You know, I was going to school.

01:35I put myself through college.

01:36And that was even before I got the settlement.

01:38So I've been working hard my whole life to save my own money.

01:40He said, come on, please, please, please.

01:43You know, I said, all right, listen, I can let you borrow $3,000, but you got to pay me back.

01:47He said, well, I can't pay you back right away.

01:48I said, Stephen, I know you don't have money.

01:50If it takes you a year to pay me back, just pay me, you know, in drips and drabs, whatever you can.

01:54You know, so I gave him the money.

01:57He was so happy.

01:58You know, he said, thank you.

01:59My witness was present.

02:00What did you do, write him a check?

02:01I wrote him a check.

02:02And when I went to write him the check out, he said, don't write the check out to me.

02:05Write it out to my father because I don't have enough money in my account to cover it.

02:09Well, I said, that, you know, seems pretty sensible.

02:11He was asking me for the money, so obviously he didn't have money to cover it.

02:13And he said, I need the money right away because I have to put it down on a new apartment.

02:17So I said, no problem.

02:17I wrote the check out to his father so his father could cash it.

02:20After I gave him the money, I saw him less and less over the next six months.

02:24Come that October, I went back to college to get my bachelor's degree.

02:28So, and then I saw Stephen less, even more.

02:30So I called Stephen up.

02:32Hey, Steve, I haven't talked to you in so long.

02:33How you been?

02:34What's going on?

02:35This and that.

02:35We talked like old buddies, like nothing had ever happened.

02:37Soon as I mentioned the money.

02:39What money?

02:40I said, Stephen, come on.

02:42You know, we grew up together.

02:43What do you mean, what money?

02:44You know?

02:45He said, you said that was a gift.

02:46I said, Stephen, come on.

02:47Who's going to give somebody $3,000?

02:49I was like, I haven't even given anybody in my own family $3,000, let alone a good friend.

02:53I said, I can let you, I said, I, you know, I let you borrow it.

02:56We said, that's not what you told me and hung up the phone.

02:59Okay.

03:00Stop.

03:00Now, Mr. Cutler, did you need money?

03:04No, I did not, Your Honor.

03:06You were working in 1995?

03:07Yes, I was.

03:08What kind of work were you doing?

03:09Working in a soda distribution company.

03:11Doing what?

03:12Um, forklift work and just distribution loading trucks up.

03:17Okay.

03:18Uh, were you evicted from residences at that time?

03:21No, I wasn't.

03:22Your Honor, no.

03:23Your Honor, that's a lie.

03:24Just a second.

03:25He'll let you speak.

03:26Get back in a second.

03:27You don't deny that he transferred, I'm not going to say gave loans or whatever, he transferred

03:32$3,000 to you for your benefit.

03:35Yes, he did.

03:36Now, you tell me how that came about, sir.

03:38We were longtime friends.

03:40We grew up together in the same neighborhood.

03:42And, uh, I knew John was getting, uh, a settlement.

03:45And he said to me, he said, Steve, he said, if I ever get a large settlement, he says, I'm

03:51going to take care of you and George Alts because you guys have been my best friends for

03:55so many years.

03:55Now, that's what he said to me.

03:58He said, you guys are going to get $5,000 each and a trip to Europe, he said to me.

04:02He said, I'm going to take you to Europe on me.

04:03That's what he told me.

04:04I'm going to take you to Europe.

04:06To Europe, yes, on him.

04:08Just a second.

04:08So we were going to go backpacking, hiking.

04:10So did you ever do that?

04:11No, we didn't.

04:12No, we didn't.

04:13Okay.

Three Thousand Dollars Ends Friendship | Part 1

Category

Transcript

Recommended