Anyone else see Judge Judy yesterday afternoon?

I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but I do enjoy some Judge Judy if I have nothing else to do. I was stuck in the living room yesterday because trick-or-treating started at 4:00 and I was waiting to hand out candy. Anyway, nothing else was on, so I left it on Judge Judy and dozed off.

When I woke up Judy was pissed. There was this chubby blonde lady who apparently sold this other lady pictures on Ebay. Judy was calling her a scam artist and pretty much saying she was a worthless human being. I think that the ad was purposefully misleading as to what she was selling.

Anyway, it’s bugging me. I want to know what the actual details were and why Judy was so pissed off at this lady.

Can anyone fill me in?

I’ll admit that I watch Judge Judy. I’m half shocked by how mean she is to stupid people and half in awe at how mean she is to stupid people.

Yesterday’s case was a classic. A trailer trash chick (ttc) was being sued by a woman who won an auction for two cell phones on e-bay to the tune of $500. Included in the ad was a picture of the phone, and summarized description of the phones (e.g. dimensions and weight). But embedded in the lengthy description that followed was this tidbit: “You are bidding on a photo of the phone only.”

And that’s exactly what she sent to the winning bidders: a xeroxed copy of a cell phone. That one sentence, in which she said that they were bidding on a photo of a phone was her entire defense. As you expect, the lady who paid for the phones wasn’t happy and called the ttc directly. Her husband answered the phone and said he wasn’t refunding any money because she should learn to read. He taunted her, saying, “I couldn’t give it back even if I wanted to because I’ve already spent it. Thanks for the shopping spree! If you don’t like it, take me to court.”

So she did.

Judge Judy first of all wanted to know why the lady’s husband wasn’t there. She said he was home watching their children. JJ called her husband a thief and a coward. She had a few choice words for the ttc, too.

Then JJ accused the ttc of thinking she was smarter than JJ by wording the ad the way she did. JJ then proclaimed that in a thousand years, the ttc wouldn’t be be as smart as her. TTC denied it because, of course, she thought she was very clever. So JJ asked her about the summary description. “It says here that the weight is 3.9 oz.” She held up the piece of paper that was sent in lieu of the cell phone. “Are you trying to tell me that this paper weighs 3.9 ounces?” TTC was at a loss for words.

JJ said, “See? I"m smarter than you. Do you know why else I’m smarter than you? Because no amount of money would entice me to appear on tv in front of 10 million people and lose my dignity like you just have.”

Among other things, she said that both of them should go out and get real jobs instead of scamming people. JJ also said that she wouldn’t be suprised if Children’s Protective Services was called after seeing the show since the lady admitted on national tv that she was a thief. Well, THAT shocked TTC.

In the end, the plaintiff got a refund for the two phones as well as punitive damages because the ttc had written horrible feedback about the winning bidder on e-bay, calling her a scammer. The bidder said that the ttc’s profile had been shut down based on her complaint and the complaints of 7 other people who’d been similarly scammed. The bidder also said that she’d submitted complaints with both the attorney general of the ttc’s state and the ttc’s local police department.

He He. I love Judge Judy. Don’t tell anyone.

Only on the Dope could I get such a complete answer so promptly. Thanks Much!

I got the gist it was something about cameras and photos, but didn’t have the full story since I just caught the end where Judy was ripping ttc a new one. Sadly (but quite entertainingly), the full story was worse than I had thought!

::raises hand::
My name is norinew and I DVR Judge Judy.

Yep, it’s true. My favorite trash TV. To me, it’s like Jerry Springer, but without the violence, nudity and profanity. Same class of people.

This particular case just unhinged my jaw. Can you imagine someone like ttc doing this on eBay and then smirking like that because she obviously believes she’s oh-so-clever?? And ol’ Judy just went right ahead and cleaned her clock, didn’t she?

I DVR it, though, because the commercial-to-show ratio is way high; I can watch a full ep in about 18 minutes.

My favorite moments, though, are those of interaction between JJ and Bird. Love them!

To be fair, has JJ honestly ever ruled in favor of someone she has obvious contempt for, even if legally she should? Many times I have seen her conveniently overlook something someone says, or even not give them a chance to speak, if they’re scummy. I assume part of the agreement to appear involves signing away your right to question the verdict on any grounds.

Another one here who likes JJ.

Best one I saw was where this guy who had knocked over a kid on his bike and then he sued the kids parents for damage to his car.

JJ wasn’t all to happy with that prat

I saw this episode over the summer sometime. It was one of the best JJ rants I’ve ever seen.

I don’t DVR her, but it’s funny, I was just telling my husband that primetime TV is such crap lately that I’m going to start recording her and People’s Court, just to have something to watch at night!

I’ve seen at least one episode (maybe more) where she did indeed rule in favor for some one she didn’t particularly like. She may be a ball busting bitch (which is why I love her) but she does pay attention to the letter of the law.

I can’t recall any specific instances, but I’m sure that I’ve seen this happen before.

The thing is that it’s semi-rare for Judy to like either the plaintiff or the defendant because so many of the cases she deal with involve two idiots arguing over something really stupid.

This is actually a fairly common eBay scam. Whenever some new tech gadget comes out, you hear about a few unlucky people paying hundreds of dollars for an “iPhone empty box” or a “photo of an Xbox 360” or whatever. I don’t know eBay’s policy but I think they will step in if the auction is obviously misleading despite the fine print or disclaimer.

Brewha, you can see the entire segment of the show you were asking about on YouTube:

I’m sure I’ve seen it happen where Judy rules in favour of the party she doesn’t particulaly like. Certainly, she has made rulings opposite to what you may think at the start of the case, although that may just be the way the narrator sets things up for the home audience.

Do wonders never cease?!? Who the hell puts Judge Judy on YouTube?

I will be watching it - but after I get home from work. Thanks for the link.

Talk about misleading advertizing!

A few weeks back they started the show with a little preview.

Plaintiff: “The defendant is a registered sex offender!”

JJ: “Was it with a child?”

Defendant: Looks sheepish and guilty

All this was underscored with “dangerous” music. As it turns out, when not edited to look so juicy, the guy peed behind a WalMart or something. It was a non-issue.

JJ is usually pretty much on the money, but once in a while she makes a mistake so wonky that the mind boggles. And SHAKES, no, she rarely follows the letter of the law. CS threads by me have sometimes turned into GQ threads by Bricker, and as it turns out, JJ’s decisions are very often at complete odds with the law.

Yeah, I don’t watch the show in the hope of a legal education! It’s more like the way you read the black and white tabloids just for the entertainment value.

I sometimes get the feeling that JJ would often sentence both the plaintiff and defendant to death by dismemberment if it was within her jurisdiction to do so.

Sarah - that’s what we do - we record Bonanza, Rachael Ray and People’s Court to watch at night. Just so you know, if you like him, Judge Mathis (on at 3, same channel as Judge Marilyn) is all new this November - the previews look pretty good!

Well, at least I’m in good company here. Judge Judy’s on while I’m at work, so I haven’t seen her for a while. My fiance has discovered my secret shame, though. I come home from work and turn on The People’s Court. :o Oh well, at least he found out before we married.

Thanks! It’s funny, when my husband and I are home during the day, the court shows are one thing we can agree on to watch. We both love them!

tdn, could you link to one of those threads? I’m curious now.

second. I don’t watch the show a lot, but the cases I’ve seen all seemed like no-brainer small claims.