is the one.
He's the one that ordered the
fish with Tom.
He spoke with Tom beforehand.
>> Judge Judy: Did you place the
order on the Internet?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: You want to take
him out and show him?
>> Sure.
>> Judge Judy: You want to go
look?
>> I'm not concerned with that
part of it.
>> Judge Judy: Well, that's the
whole part of it.
This is the written contract.
It defines what the parameters
are.
>> Your Honor, can I quickly
just say that over the last at
least 10 years he has been
sending out sick fish to
hundreds of customers.
>> Judge Judy: Listen to me
carefully.
If that's true -- and he says
he's been in business for
27 years -- what you should've
done was investigate that before
you placed an order with him,
not after.
After is too late.
>> I had no reason to
investigate him because it
looked like a reputable website.
>> Judge Judy: Just a second.
Ms. Vestall, what do you mean
you had no reason?
You never dealt with him before.
What I'm telling you is this is
a contract case.
This is your contract.
This is the parameter of your
contract.
Unless you want your husband to
see that when he placed the
order, he had to -- You may
click it fast and it says,
"These are the terms and
conditions of the sale."
Some people go bing.
Some people look at it.
Do you want to see that this is
what you passed over?
>> No.
>> Judge Judy: Yeah, okay.
You're bound by the terms and
conditions of this contract, and
the terms and conditions of this
contract also suggest that you
not co-mingle your fish with any
other fish for 10 days, and
that's to give them a chance to
acclimate to whatever
environment you have, whatever
room temperature you have.
I mean, I've had tropical fish,
but not for a very long time.
And the suggestion is not to
take them and immediately put
them in your tank.
>> Okay, so --
>> Judge Judy: Just a second.
Not "so."
I'm trying to explain it to you.
That's his suggestion to you,
which you did not follow.
Healthy fish.
But that's not the parameters of
the contract.
The parameter of the contract is
he's not giving you your money
back for anything.
He's prepared to replace a fish
that died, and if you are not
satisfied with the order, he's
telling you here keep the order
and we'll replace the fish.
What do you want?
>> That was fine when I called
him about the first initial four
fish.
When we got to 11, he wasn't
replacing all fish.
>> Judge Judy: Just a second.
Stand up a second.
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: This is your
contract.
>> I understand that.
>> Judge Judy: This is your
contract.
>> And it says that he will
replace all the fish if we send
them back to him to show that it
died.
Within six days I showed him,
"Nine of your fish have died.
Eight of my fish have now died."
>> Judge Judy: Eight of your
fish is not his business.
The nine of his that died within
how many days?
>> Within six days.
>> Judge Judy: And you put his
fish in with your fish.
>> After I acclimated them --
>> Judge Judy: No, no, no.
That's impossible because he --
>> That's impossible as well,
ma'am.
I'm sorry.
>> Judge Judy: What I'm telling
you is you have no case.
I'm sorry that your fish got --
>> Well, they can't stay in
bags, the way he ships them, for
two weeks.
>> We're just looking is he
gonna replace our fish that he
says in his contract he's gonna
replace because verbally he said
he's not replacing the 11 fish.
So am I getting my fish
replaced?
>> Judge Judy: Just a second.
Now that I know -- How much did
you pay for these 12 fish?
>> $270.
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
So you paid $270.
And now I'm going to read this.
Number three of your contract
that you two are bound by.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Judge Judy: It says, "If you
get an order of fish that you do
not approve of, we ask that you
not mail them back.
We will replace them."
Are you prepared to replace the
12 fish?
Well, that's your contract, sir.
>> That's the D.O.A. -- on
arrival.
>> Judge Judy: No, no, no.
It's not.
That's in a totally separate
section.
>> That has to do with the
D.O.A.s.
>> Judge Judy: No, sir.
It's not and it's confusing, and
since you constructed this,
you're solely responsible for
it.
Number one says, "If you have a
fish that's dead on arrival,
we'll replace it, and you have
to pay for the shipping."
>> Okay.
>> Judge Judy: That's talking
about a dead fish.
Number three says, "If you get
an order of fish that you don't
like" --
Well, you wouldn't necessarily
like dead fish.
What if you got an order of
12 dead fish?
Clearly you wouldn't like it.
>> Right.
>> Judge Judy: Okay?
So, what I'm telling you is
this.
You have the choice, pursuant to
a contract that you wrote.
You can replace the fish that
they're not happy with the order
with 12 new fish.
>> Okay.
>> Judge Judy: Or you can give
them $270.
What's your pleasure?
What is your pleasure?
It's your contract that's most
heavily construed against the
person --
>> I have offered to replace the
fish for her even after the fact
that her fish had killed each
other.
>> Judge Judy: Do me a favor.
Don't give me more than "I will
replace the 12 fish or I'll pay
money, $270, that they paid me
for the fish."
>> Then we'll pay $270, if
that's how you deem my contract.
>> Judge Judy: No, no, no.
I don't deem your contract.
I'm looking here and it says
here that you will replace them
with live fish, number three.
No cash refunds.
It says no cash refunds.
But now we're in court.
Maybe you don't want to deal
with these people anymore.
So if you don't want to deal
with these people anymore by
sending them another 12 fish --
>> We'll do a cash refund then.
>> Judge Judy: Great. $270.
We're done.
Thank