Mrs. Anderson,
do you own or manage
a trailer park?
>> We own the trailer park.
>> Judge Judy: How many trailers
does is accommodate?
>> It'll accommodate 19.
>> Judge Judy:
Do you live there as well?
>> No.
>> Judge Judy:
Does somebody manage it for you?
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy:
Who manages it for you?
>> Kathy Murphy.
>> Judge Judy: Is that you?
>> Yeah.
>> Judge Judy:
Do you live there?
>> Yes.
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: It is your claim
that the defendant,
who used to live
in your trailer park
and used to work for you...
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Judge Judy:
...defamed your business,
slandered your business
and caused damage
to your property.
One of the things you're not
suing him for here is rent,
despite the fact that you say
in your complaint he stopped
paying rent two years ago.
>> He signed his trailer
over to us for the rent.
>> Judge Judy:
When did he do that?
>> In, let's see,
January of 2015.
>> Judge Judy: And when did
he leave the trailer park?
>> January of 2015.
>> Judge Judy: So when he left
the trailer park,
he acknowledges
he stopped paying rent, when?
In what year, sir?
>> 2014.
>> Judge Judy: And am I correct,
Mr. Groff, that the reason you,
at least your stated reason,
for not paying rent was because
there were bedbugs in the park?
>> Correct.
>> Judge Judy: And you said
you took care of your trailer,
but there were bedbugs
in the park...
>> Correct.
>> Judge Judy:
...which is the reason
you stopped paying rent.
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy: Well, Mr. Groff,
that would be the reason
I would move.
That would not the be the reason
that I would stop paying rent.
Do you understand?
>> I was looking for a place
to as well.
>> Judge Judy: What?
>> I was looking for a place
as well.
>> Judge Judy:
It doesn't make any difference.
But while you were looking,
you should have been
paying rent.
I mean, the fact that living
in those circumstances,
if I believed you,
wouldn't be circumstances
I would want to live in,
especially if I had,
as you said, treated my own home
so I
didn't have bedbugs any more.
I would find a new place
for a mobile property.
Do you understand?
>> I understand that.
>> Judge Judy: You stopped
paying rent the same month
that they fired you.
>> They never fired me,
Your Honor.
I stepped down from the position
because my wife's health.
>> Judge Judy: Is that correct?
>> We had to let him go
because he wasn't doing his job.
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
In what month?
>> 1/31/14.
>> Judge Judy:
January 31st you let him go.
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy: And when was
the last time he paid you rent?
>> It was October of 2014.
>> Judge Judy:
So after you fired him,
he continued to pay you rent
for about nine months.
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
Now, he is no longer
in the trailer park.
>> Correct.
We had to evict him.
>> Judge Judy: And when he left,
how much money
did he owe you for rent?
>> Four months' worth, at 300,
$1,200,
and he owed us for utilities,
but they didn't put that
on there because it's...
>> Judge Judy:
All I want to know is,
at the time he signed
over his trailer to you,
you accepted it
for the money that he owed you.
>> Correct, which was basically
around $1,500.
>> Judge Judy: And that was 10
or 11 months ago.
>> No.
He signed his trailer over to us
right before he moved out.
>> Judge Judy:
I understand that.
But you accepted that
for the money he owed you.
>> Correct.
>> Judge Judy:
So what are you doing here?
>> Because he put us
on social media.
He's tried to...
He's causing libel
and defamation of our park.
He tells people
not to rent in our park,
and then he had a video
of the bedbugs
saying that everybody
in the park had bedbugs.
Well, the bedbugs don't travel
from trailer to trailer.
They don't pack
their little bags and go, say,
"Oh, I'm going to go
live there."
He and his three friends,
the two brothers and a sister,
had different, you know,
separate lots, their places.
They were the only ones
that had bedbugs in the park
because he's a junk man,
and he goes around
collecting refrigerators,
TVs and blankets.
He goes to storage wars
and gets blankets and all that,
so then they shared that.
>> Judge Judy: I'd like to see
what he posted on social media.
>> She has the video of it.
Okay.
That is one, and then here's
the one with the bedbugs.
>> Judge Judy:
You moved out when, sir?
>> I moved out on February 15th.
>> Judge Judy: Of this year.
>> Of this year.
>> Judge Judy:
When did you start
to make these postings?
>> Right after I had
to move out.
>> Judge Judy:
Right after you moved out.
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy: Why didn't you
put it on before you moved out?
>> I have.
>> Judge Judy: You did?
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy: Oh.
Okay.
Now, tell me the proof
that you had
that there were bedbugs
throughout the trailer park.
>> I had pictures of the source
of the trailer.
I also have the receipts
from the company that took care
of my trailer and...
>> Judge Judy: Well,
I don't care about your trailer.
>> ...my witness's...
>> Judge Judy:
I don't care about your trailer.
>> ...and my witness's trailer.
And...
>> Judge Judy: Just a second.
So you know that there
were bedbugs in your trailer.
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy:
I want you to tell me
what proof you have
that the trailer park was
infested with bedbugs.
>> Well, the gentleman that went
to the trailer that the source
of the bedbugs came from --
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
So you have a witness...
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy:
...that had bedbugs.
>> No, the witness
that lived in number three...
>> Judge Judy: Space.
>> He wasn't a witness.
He was a person there.
Well, he passed away.
>> Judge