Toni Meadows says ex-boyfriend
Martin Gustafson assaulted her
and removed her from their home.
Martin is countersuing for
attorney fees, vandalism, and
bills.
>> Judge Judy: Go ahead.
>> This is where it doesn't make
sense, and I can see why it
doesn't, okay?
There's two restraining orders
here, and there's a year in the
difference, and I was making
more money at a different job at
the time I applied for this
house.
>> Judge Judy: I absolutely know
that there are two restraining
orders.
Now, at some point, he came back
to the house.
You want to tell me your
version?
Now you know that I've been in
your business, what you got
involved in, for 40 years.
I know exactly what you did.
I know exactly what you wanted,
what you thought you were
entitled to, and I know exactly
what you did.
Now, you want to tell me about
the second time you filed a
restraining order, after
February of 2016, that kept
getting adjourned and adjourned
and adjourned by the lawyers and
adjourned, keeping him out of
the house.
Go ahead.
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: Tell me the date,
tell me what happened, and then
I'll tell --
>> The date was 3/10/17.
>> Judge Judy: Now, what had
precipitated that?
Had you been having discussions
about the sale of the house?
>> We had tried to, and then he
had me drop the restraining
order, which I did.
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
Now, he had you drop the
restraining order when?
>> Uh, it was February 16th, I
believe, of 2017.
>> Judge Judy: And tell me how
it came about -- that I'm gonna
believe, Ms. Meadows -- how he
convinced you to drop the
restraining order.
>> We had reconciled a bit.
We decided to --
>> Judge Judy: What does "a bit"
mean, that "we had reconciled a
bit"?
>> We started sleeping together
again.
>> Judge Judy: When?
Month and year?
[ Laughter ]
>> It was right after Christmas.
>> Judge Judy: January...
>> Correct, 2017.
>> Judge Judy: 2017.
>> Correct.
>> Judge Judy: And you were
sleeping together in whose
house?
>> Our house.
>> Judge Judy: His house.
[ Laughter ]
>> Judge Judy: Shh!
I don't want to hear it.
In his house.
So, he said, "I'm not coming to
the house if you have a
restraining order against me."
The first time you're using your
brain.
>> Judge Judy: So, for how long
was he coming to the house in
January 2017?
>> Like a couple weeks.
>> Judge Judy: And when did you
drop the restraining order?
>> It was February 16th, it got
filed.
>> Judge Judy: The application
to withdraw the restraining
order?
>> I gave that application to
him as a show of good faith that
we would do this.
And he filed it.
I don't know when he filed it,
but I know that's the date it
was signed.
>> Judge Judy: Did you ever file
her application to withdraw the
restraining order?
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
So, it was filed.
Go ahead.
So that's February 16th you
signed that.
Now you're sleeping together.
>> Right.
>> Judge Judy: Keep going.
>> Then he started getting mean
and drinking and drunk and
pushing and shoving and shutting
the gas off and stealing things.
>> Judge Judy: Just a second.
Wait a second.
Is what you're telling me he's
living in the house?
>> No, Your Honor, he was living
in Monticello with his daughter.
>> Judge Judy: And just coming
over for an evening?
>> He had nothing at the house.
>> Judge Judy: Just coming over
for an evening and staying,
couple of days here and there.
>> Not even a couple of days.
Yes, correct.
>> Judge Judy: So, now he's
filed your case, where you said,
"I don't need a restraining
order anymore," and then what
happened?
>> Like I said, he started
getting, what I call, weird,
okay?
>> Judge Judy: That's what you
said in February 2016.
>> He would come over.
I called the police.
Three separate times I called
911, okay?
He was caught stealing, breaking
in to the house, the garage --
his house, so he says, but the
locks were changed.
We lived there.
He lived in Monticello.
>> Judge Judy: Just because you
changed the locks doesn't make
you any less of a squatter.
You're a squatter when you live
someplace that isn't yours, that
you don't pay rent on.
That makes you a squatter.
>> I have equitable rights,
Your Honor.
>> Judge Judy: No, you didn't.
No court in this country will
tell you you had equitable
rights.
Equitable is when you're
married.
You're not.
>> So all the money that I put
in is just out the window.
>> Judge Judy: You didn't put in
any money.
You lived in the house for two
months before you filed a
restraining order.
There was a total of $1,000 put
down on the house, according to
you, which is what you told me
before, and he paid the mortgage
for 10 months while you and your
kid were living there.
So, how much money did you put
into the house in the two months
you were living there?
>> When I was living there,
Your Honor, I made no more than
$20,000, for one, okay?
>> Judge Judy: That's not what
you told me a moment ago.
>> You said the first
restraining order, you asked me
how much I made.
>> Judge Judy: And that's --
>> That's the restraining order
I was talking about.
>> Judge Judy: Well, get back to
what I'm talking about.
February 2016 -- you had moved
in to the house two months
before.
In the two months that you lived
there with him, how much money
did you put into the house?
>> For the two months, you say?
>> Judge Judy: Two months.
>> $1,900.