unsolved88
02-27-2016, 12:41 AM
A few years ago, a YouTube user posted a few early episodes of Judge Judy from 1997-98 (season two, possibly even a few early season three episodes were posted also). They were up there for about six months until they were pulled due to copyright. There were only a few full cases that he posted. He posted a few montages of moments from the early seasons, but before he could put up all the episodes he had (it appeared to be several, judging from the montages which were each about 8-10 minutes in length), his channel was cut off. I did have a few of the shows saved on my old computer, but that has long since died. Here's the list. Like my talk show thread, this is wordy but interesting to read.
¤ denotes a case that took up the entire show.
† denotes a case that I only saw a portion of in the poster's montage and therefore don't entirely know what the case was about.
¤Burgess vs. Rojas (1997)
An entertaining yet sad case of parents who act like bratty children in front of their own kids (but the plaintiff is the FAR more obnoxious of the two, IMO) . Cathy Burge1ss is suing neighbor and former friend Ronna Rojas for failing to pay her for babysitting her children while Ronna and her boyfriend went out of town. Ronna never did pick up her kids that night; she and her boyfriend went EIGHT hours away to San Diego ("Because we wanted to," was her explanation to the judge) and didn't bother to get them until 6pm the following night! She never called in the meantime to tell them! While this is clearly irresponsible on its own, Cathy's handling of Ronna's absence is outrageous. She takes the three children (aged 9, 5, and 3) to the local police station and in their presence, tells officers she that their mother needs to be found and arrested for child abandonment and neglect! Judy yells at both litigants and does end up reluctantly awarding Cathy (Ronna admitted all along that she never paid up) the money for the babysitting, but not of the other crap she tried to sue for. This leads to one of the most heated post-verdict showdowns between litigants I've ever seen, which is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-a8sBzFEJM The scariest part? The kids were in the courtroom THROUGH ALL OF THIS! Judy never had them removed!
Small vs. Walker (1997)
Sharon Small is suing her husband's cousin Tracye Walker and her two daughters, 14-year-old Tierra and 16-year-old Tanitia (pronounced "Tah-NEE-shah") for jewelry and clothing stolen by the girls. Tierra babysat for Sharon's two young sons regularly and when she felt Sharon hadn't paid her fairly, she and her sister took about several pieces of jewelry, shoes, and clothes from her as payment. Their mother basically condones what they did by saying that while she doesn't agree with stealing, Tierra wouldn't have felt the need to take the stuff if Sharon had paid her properly in the first place. She adds that her girls are very strong-willed when they feel they've been wronged and there wasn't much she could do to convince them to return the items! Needless to say, Judy is not happy with the defendants and rules against them. The girls are obnoxious as they make their way out of the courtroom, snickering to Sharon "Oh, you better not go home!" I can only imagine what the hell went down when they got back.
¤Muse vs. Pasley (1998)
The only case I've ever seen where a plaintiff cop accused by the defendant of lying turned out to be...well, a liar. Officer Charles Muse is suing motorist Larry Pasley for hitting him with his (Larry's) car door when he was writing him a ticket for being illegally parked at his daughter's soccer game. He says his leg was severely bruised and he had to miss the next few weeks of work. The defendant pleaded guilty because he said it was an accident (the plaintiff implied that the he did it carelessly in anger), but says that Officer Muse is lying about how badly he was injured and how much time he missed at work. Larry and his wife somehow managed to get the plaintiff's hospital records which state that not only was he cleared to go back to work the day after the injury, he did! A couple weeks after that, Officer Muse went to the hospital saying he hurt himself when he slipped at work. There were a bunch of "injuries" this officer sustained right around the time of the ticket incident. Judy is understandably disgusted with the plaintiff, but since the defendant already pleaded guilty, she legally MUST award the plaintiff something. She renders the lowest figure she can legally give the plaintiff: $1.
It's interesting to note that these older shows seemed to often have one case that took up the whole 30 minutes as opposed to the two-a-day format that is pretty much the norm nowadays. Judy also does things in the early days that she would never do now. She would occasionally let litigants talk a little bit back and forth before admonishing them and she didn't seem nearly as strict about people using hearsay.
I'll have more later.
¤ denotes a case that took up the entire show.
† denotes a case that I only saw a portion of in the poster's montage and therefore don't entirely know what the case was about.
¤Burgess vs. Rojas (1997)
An entertaining yet sad case of parents who act like bratty children in front of their own kids (but the plaintiff is the FAR more obnoxious of the two, IMO) . Cathy Burge1ss is suing neighbor and former friend Ronna Rojas for failing to pay her for babysitting her children while Ronna and her boyfriend went out of town. Ronna never did pick up her kids that night; she and her boyfriend went EIGHT hours away to San Diego ("Because we wanted to," was her explanation to the judge) and didn't bother to get them until 6pm the following night! She never called in the meantime to tell them! While this is clearly irresponsible on its own, Cathy's handling of Ronna's absence is outrageous. She takes the three children (aged 9, 5, and 3) to the local police station and in their presence, tells officers she that their mother needs to be found and arrested for child abandonment and neglect! Judy yells at both litigants and does end up reluctantly awarding Cathy (Ronna admitted all along that she never paid up) the money for the babysitting, but not of the other crap she tried to sue for. This leads to one of the most heated post-verdict showdowns between litigants I've ever seen, which is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-a8sBzFEJM The scariest part? The kids were in the courtroom THROUGH ALL OF THIS! Judy never had them removed!
Small vs. Walker (1997)
Sharon Small is suing her husband's cousin Tracye Walker and her two daughters, 14-year-old Tierra and 16-year-old Tanitia (pronounced "Tah-NEE-shah") for jewelry and clothing stolen by the girls. Tierra babysat for Sharon's two young sons regularly and when she felt Sharon hadn't paid her fairly, she and her sister took about several pieces of jewelry, shoes, and clothes from her as payment. Their mother basically condones what they did by saying that while she doesn't agree with stealing, Tierra wouldn't have felt the need to take the stuff if Sharon had paid her properly in the first place. She adds that her girls are very strong-willed when they feel they've been wronged and there wasn't much she could do to convince them to return the items! Needless to say, Judy is not happy with the defendants and rules against them. The girls are obnoxious as they make their way out of the courtroom, snickering to Sharon "Oh, you better not go home!" I can only imagine what the hell went down when they got back.
¤Muse vs. Pasley (1998)
The only case I've ever seen where a plaintiff cop accused by the defendant of lying turned out to be...well, a liar. Officer Charles Muse is suing motorist Larry Pasley for hitting him with his (Larry's) car door when he was writing him a ticket for being illegally parked at his daughter's soccer game. He says his leg was severely bruised and he had to miss the next few weeks of work. The defendant pleaded guilty because he said it was an accident (the plaintiff implied that the he did it carelessly in anger), but says that Officer Muse is lying about how badly he was injured and how much time he missed at work. Larry and his wife somehow managed to get the plaintiff's hospital records which state that not only was he cleared to go back to work the day after the injury, he did! A couple weeks after that, Officer Muse went to the hospital saying he hurt himself when he slipped at work. There were a bunch of "injuries" this officer sustained right around the time of the ticket incident. Judy is understandably disgusted with the plaintiff, but since the defendant already pleaded guilty, she legally MUST award the plaintiff something. She renders the lowest figure she can legally give the plaintiff: $1.
It's interesting to note that these older shows seemed to often have one case that took up the whole 30 minutes as opposed to the two-a-day format that is pretty much the norm nowadays. Judy also does things in the early days that she would never do now. She would occasionally let litigants talk a little bit back and forth before admonishing them and she didn't seem nearly as strict about people using hearsay.
I'll have more later.