did you meet the plaintiff?
>> The plaintiff was a friend of
a friend.
Approximately three years ago,
my cat needed babysitting, so I
initiated her.
I re-met her again a year ago.
>> Judge Judy: And when you say
you initiated something a year
ago, tell me what it was that
you initiated.
>> I had purchased a
hundred-year-old house, and I
was conversing with my
friends -- and she was
present -- about the problems I
was having with fixing the house
up.
I'd hired an inspector, but he
didn't do a good job.
I needed plumbing, a roof,
electrical.
There was no foundation on my
house.
>> Judge Judy: Were you living
there?
>> I was residing there, yes.
>> Judge Judy: With all those
things not being there?
No foundation, no plumbing,
nothing?
>> They were operational but not
totally functional.
>> Judge Judy: Now we're gonna
get back how you came to her to
help you with all these
problems.
Stop playing with the papers.
There are more papers there than
in the Supreme Court.
[ Laughter ]
>> He's got a long history,
Your Honor, sorry.
>> Judge Judy: This is gonna be
very short.
Trust me.
>> I hired...
[ Laughter ]
I hired an agent to redo the
roof, which I knew needed.
She offered to do it.
She said she was a contractor.
>> Judge Judy: She offered to do
the roof herself?
Or to...
>> That's what she offered,
with a crew of hers.
>> Judge Judy: With a crew?
>> Correct.
But she doesn't have a
contractor's license, and she's
been on disability since 1992.
And I gave her a small portion
of the job to put in a
solar-tube light in the roof.
>> Judge Judy: Did you hire
her to do the roof job?
>> Byrd: Stop playing with the
papers.
>> I did pay her, yes.
>> Judge Judy: How much?
>> About $25,000.
>> Judge Judy: To act as a GC --
general contractor -- getting
crews to do things in the house.
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: Do you
acknowledge, Ms. Smith, that you
were paid to do some GC work --
general contracting work -- on
his house?
>> No, I was not, Your Honor.
>> Judge Judy: You were never
paid?
>> I reimbursed employees that
he...
>> Judge Judy: [ Raps desk ]
Don't try to double-talk me.
Were you ever paid by Mr. Smith
for work that you or crews hired
by you did on his house?
>> No, Your Honor.
I helped him hire the people.
He said he needed people, and he
wanted me to oversee the workers
for work on his house.
I did not employ them myself.
He did.
>> Judge Judy: Just a second.
I got it.
I got her.
I got it. I got her.
How much do you get from
disability a month?
Tell me!
>> I don't get disability.
>> Judge Judy: You don't get any
kind of disability?
Be very careful.
You don't get any kind of
disability?
>> I had disability.
I've been -- That's why --
I met Mr. Smith --
>> Judge Judy: Just a second.
I asked you a question.
What year did you start to
collect disability?
>> I was injured at one time in
1992.
>> Judge Judy: 1992.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Judge Judy: In what year,
which is even more interesting,
did you stop collecting
disability?
>> 2015.
>> Judge Judy: So, according to
you, until shortly before you
started to do work for him, you
were collecting disability?
>> I did not work --
>> Judge Judy: Just a --
Now tell me why your disability
benefits were cut off last year?
>> That has nothing to do with
this case.
>> Judge Judy: Oh, it has
everything to do with this case.
It has everything to do with
your last answer.
Because when I ask you, "Were
you paid money to GC," and you
start dancing around because if
you were paid $25,000 to GC a
project, even though you paid
other people, then you committed
fraud on the federal government.
They're gonna come looking for
you.
It has everything to do with
this case.
You want to tell me why your
disability was stopped, if it
was?
>> It had nothing to do with my
case with him.
>> Judge Judy: Really?
Your case is dismissed.
You may be hustling for a long
time, Ms. Smith, but you don't
hustle me.
You don't hustle me!
You don't answer my questions,
your case is dismissed.
Now, according to you, you let
her stay in the house while she
was doing some GC work on the
house.
She, of course, said in her now
dismissed claim that she was a
renter and you illegally evicted
her and, therefore, she wants
$5,000.
That's what her case was about
that I just disposed of.
Now we're gonna get to your
counterclaim.
Your counterclaim says that she
proceeded to -- after her keys
were taken away, to engage in a
course of conduct that was
harassment and, at one point,
she broke into your house and
assaulted you.
You want to tell me about it?
>> I allowed her to stay in the
room as a guest.
She lived 40 miles away.
I was trying to help her.
She had lack of assets.
And she disappeared for three
weeks, and there was a fowl odor
coming from the room.
>> Judge Judy: When was this?
Give me the month.
>> December.
Uh, sorry. November.
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
>> I entered the room.
I found stolen property of
mine -- an old flight suit,
camera lenses, dog tags, seven
pairs of scissors.
It was a total mess.
I decided at this point in time
that -- she had been gone for
three weeks with no
communication -- perhaps it was
time I changed the locks.
She arrives home.
She doesn't even try the lock.
She climbs under the house where
the foundation wasn't yet, into
the basement, into the kitchen,
upstairs, pummeled me, grabbed
my laptop, and ran away.
>> Judge Judy: Did you call the
police?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: You have the
police report?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: I'd like to take
a look at it.
>> I'll provide you with all the
police --
>> Judge Judy: No, don't give me
everything.
Just give me the first police
report when she came in...
>> Okay.
>> Judge Judy: ...and came into
the house.