Judge Judy could just as easily be called Referee Judy. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at the tensest, wildest, and most bizarre confrontations in “Judge Judy’s” legendary courtroom.
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00:00 "I've been under mostly distress."
00:02 "Sure."
00:03 "I'm gonna throw you both out. You're not listening to me."
00:06 Welcome to Ms Mojo, and today we're looking at the tensest, wildest, and most bizarre
00:11 confrontations in Judge Judy's legendary courtroom.
00:14 "Where do you think you are? You think you're on Springer?"
00:17 Number 10. Don't speak.
00:19 It's one thing to fight with another litigant in the courtroom, but plaintiff Kim Nola has
00:23 the bad judgment to fight with Judge Judy Scheindlin herself.
00:27 "Ma'am, I think that you are-"
00:28 "He called three days later."
00:29 "Listen to me."
00:30 "He canceled three days later. My policy is no refunds."
00:32 "Hey, Ms Nola. Ms Nola!"
00:33 "It's not my policy."
00:34 "I'm talking, you're not."
00:35 "I understand."
00:36 "I'm talking, you're not."
00:38 She nitpicks and challenges every word. After being dressed down for her questionable business
00:42 practices, Nola refused to stay quiet when Scheindlin invoked one of her choice phrases,
00:48 "Don't speak."
00:49 Amazingly, she has to repeat this several times.
00:51 "Great."
00:52 "I have no consolation policy."
00:53 "Just a second. I'm speaking. Hey, I'm speaking."
00:55 "No consolation policy."
00:56 "Listen to me. I don't give a rat's f---."
00:58 "People put these in their-"
00:59 "Listen to me. I don't give a rat's behind about what you're gonna show me."
01:03 Even then, the plaintiff can't help herself. She must not watch this show very often. It
01:07 takes a lot of courage, if not sheer audacity, to try to cross-examine TV's toughest arbitrator.
01:12 "Why did he drop the dispute?"
01:14 "If you're gonna talk over me, I'm gonna throw you out of here and I don't even explain."
01:17 "Why did he drop the dispute would be my question."
01:18 "Hey, just a second. If you're gonna try to talk over me."
01:21 "Yes, ma'am."
01:22 "I'm gonna throw you out."
01:23 "Yes, ma'am."
01:24 "It would be my pleasure anyway."
01:25 9. The landlord loses it
01:27 Some landlords overstep their authority. Plaintiff Lisa Palmer took things one step further.
01:33 "You kicked in her door for which she had paid rent for the entire month of August.
01:40 You had no right to kick in her door."
01:42 For reasons that defy, well, reason, she decided to kick her tenant's door down. She was desperately
01:49 trying to keep her cool, but she was fighting a losing battle. The defendant's video of
01:53 the event clearly shows Palmer kicking in her door, becoming aggressive, and charging
01:58 at her.
01:59 "The police came out and did not arrest me. I would have been taken to jail."
02:03 "They were borderline. They almost did. You can ask my witness who was there."
02:09 It would have sounded completely crazy without the evidence to back it up. Luckily, we get
02:13 to see it all play out on video. Watching the plaintiff seethe and struggle to maintain
02:19 her cool as the judge rules against her is oh so satisfying.
02:22 "Judgment on the counter claim for $1,500. You got a bad temper. You want to continue
02:27 to rent to her? You do so at your own peril."
02:29 "Absolutely, he will."
02:30 "Goodbye."
02:31 "Absolutely."
02:32 Number 8. You're not letting us talk. If there's one thing Judge Judy won't tolerate, it's
02:36 a litigant who can't wait their turn. In a particularly unhinged case about roommate
02:41 troubles, Plaintiff Lakin Pickerill is suing over being unlawfully forced out of the home.
02:46 "And they served me with a temporary restraining order and said the room was empty."
02:50 "Okay, fine. Very good. Uncross your arms."
02:53 "I'm not feeling good."
02:55 "Okay, then you can sit down."
02:56 Co-defendant Francesca Ortega doesn't do much to endear herself. Her dramatic outbursts
03:01 telling body language and announcement that she's come down with a sudden and mysterious
03:06 illness soon turn disruptive.
03:08 "Did you hear what I said? I'm going to give you one, two, three."
03:11 "No, I'm sorry, but you're not letting us talk. That's not even what happened. You got
03:15 all the dates wrong, everything wrong."
03:18 Finally, as the judge sends her out, she accuses the judge of manipulating the situation by
03:23 being so unfair as to present them with the facts of the case against them. Unfortunately,
03:28 the facts are not on their side.
03:30 "Put her out. Two minutes. I just want to say, explain her story for two minutes because
03:36 I feel like you're manipulating the situation with your questions."
03:41 Number 7. Behave Yourselves
03:43 If this early case is any indication, Judge Judy used to have a lot more patience.
03:48 "Somebody had an argument with your boyfriend."
03:49 "She had an argument with my boyfriend."
03:50 "She did."
03:51 "Who? No, you had an argument with my boyfriend because he broke your window."
03:55 "Because you wouldn't get out of my house."
03:57 "Because you wouldn't talk to me."
03:58 "Is there time? Ladies."
04:01 She let these litigants carry on for much, much longer than she would have toward the
04:05 end of the show's run. Defendant Ruby Washington's interjections go unchallenged by the judge,
04:11 but soon the plaintiff's witness gets involved.
04:13 "Excuse me, you left work early, honey. Don't lie."
04:16 "Listen, Nicole, don't lie."
04:17 "Excuse me, I am talking to the judge."
04:19 "Tell me what way."
04:20 "You want to get that up again, that's all that's going to happen."
04:22 "Ms. Washington, please."
04:23 Soon, the barbs and insults begin to fly. Everything descends into chaos as the judge
04:28 dismisses the case. The post-verdict interview is more of the same, but with some extra spicy
04:34 allegations tossed in the mix.
04:36 "How many friends buy you a convertible? How many friends buy you a tennis racquet?
04:40 How many people sign your apartment on your lease? How many people do this?"
04:45 Whether or not any of it's true, we'll never know, unfortunately.
04:49 6. Neighbor with a knife
04:51 A dispute about an argument between neighbors turns into an argument in the courtroom as
04:56 well.
04:57 "The living room blinds are heavy. It's a boy at the bottom of them. When I hit it,
04:59 it went right through."
05:00 "Well, you had a temper attack, madam."
05:01 "I didn't have a temper attack."
05:03 "You didn't?"
05:04 "I mean, I was upset."
05:05 After telling the defendant to turn down the music he could hear through their shared wall,
05:09 the plaintiff was shocked to see the defendant returning to his apartment with a knife.
05:13 "Did you come back with a knife? That's a yes or a no?"
05:18 "Yes, I did."
05:19 "Alright, go ahead."
05:20 "And so I'm like looking at this and my security door is still open, and I decide I better
05:24 try to get to the door and shut it."
05:25 The defendant, pulling a bunch of faces throughout the case, readily admits to this.
05:29 The two begin arguing back and forth about their conflicting versions of the events.
05:33 Despite this, it's pretty clear who's at fault.
05:36 She admits to having the knife, admits that she hit some of his property, but still insists
05:41 none of the damage is her fault.
05:43 "And got the woofer section of a speaker and threw it through the remainder of the window,
05:47 causing damage to my level of attention."
05:49 "I didn't throw it, I hit it."
05:50 "What do you mean you hit it?"
05:52 "I didn't throw it, throw it, I went up to his window and I hit it because I was upset."
05:57 Meanwhile, the defendant's young daughter is present for the whole case.
06:01 Number 5. Tupperware Tussle
06:03 Who knew that a seemingly simple roommate dispute would turn into one of Judge Judy's
06:08 most infamous episodes?
06:09 "And I followed her and she opened her Tupperware cupboard and forced all of her Tupperware
06:16 on me like that."
06:17 "Listen, listen, let me explain something to you. Don't get dramatic with me."
06:20 This one's a bit of a cheat, because we didn't get to see the fight itself in the courtroom.
06:25 However, given the legendary plaintiff's hard-hitting, emotionally wrought testimony
06:29 about this now infamous Tupperware attack, it more than earns its place on this list.
06:34 "She's leaning her whole body into me, pointing her finger at my face. How dare you?
06:38 Don't you even dare! Shame on you! That's it, I want you out of here!
06:41 And she hit my head with her finger. She had all of her weight."
06:45 Frankly, plaintiff Corina Roy's storytelling abilities are unmatched.
06:49 Her vivid descriptions of her ex-roommate's wielding of a deadly food container is so visceral,
06:55 it's almost like being there.
06:56 "She's looking directly at me and said, 'Hey, hey, the babies, the babies!'
07:02 as she's looking at me and I had not said anything through this whole entire time."
07:07 What's even more shocking is that she actually wins her case, but for a totally separate issue.
07:12 Number 4. Ex-lover's quarrel.
07:14 "How would I even do that?"
07:17 "You're capable of almost anything, I would say."
07:20 "I'm not liking the two of you, actually."
07:23 Unpaid rent, a burned couch, and a whole lot of unresolved anger
07:28 make up one of the more contentious and petty arguments before Judge Scheindlin.
07:33 The two litigants can barely contain their snide smirks as they trade slurs
07:37 and devastating insults about topics ranging from alcohol to the dangers of fire dancing indoors.
07:43 "Did you ever explain that you're a fire dancer?"
07:45 "I'm not looking at anybody."
07:47 "No one fire dances indoors. That's absurd. You're drunk all the time anyway."
07:51 "You're twice as drunk and half as attractive."
07:54 If these jabs seem a little too polished to believe, you might be onto something.
07:58 "Tell them goodbye."
08:00 "Parties are excused. You may step out."
08:02 "We're done. Come back when you can learn to behave."
08:05 This is plaintiff Brittany Kittredge's second time on the show with her supposed ex,
08:10 and according to her website, they were both fake cases filed for some extra cash.
08:15 Number three, she wanted a relationship.
08:17 In another case from the early seasons, things got very heated and very, very weird
08:22 in the aftermath of this case.
08:24 "She tried her hardest to take him away from me, but it just didn't work because the chew herb came out."
08:29 Apparently, this trio of litigants got a little too close for comfort.
08:33 Plaintiff Beverly Zwick says her collectible stamps were stolen and her married lover,
08:38 the defendant, owes her.
08:40 "I want all you people at home to decide whether you think I would be bored with this person,
08:45 with blonde hair, or the grey-haired lady over here."
08:49 Zwick even alleges the defendant's wife was fully aware of their affair.
08:53 The drama spills over into the hallway, where the middle-aged litigants make a series of
08:58 allegations and insinuations that had us wanting Judge Judy to call the case back in.
09:03 "You look pretty good for 51."
09:05 "No you don't."
09:06 "Oh I do."
09:07 "You know Bob, that's sad."
09:08 "The grey hair is boring."
09:09 "You are sick."
09:10 "I didn't want to get a hamster."
09:11 "Beverly Zwick wanted to get in bed with me."
09:13 We need to get to the bottom of this.
09:15 Number two, you think you're on Springer.
09:18 A jilted girlfriend is accused of pouring bleach over the plaintiff's clothes.
09:22 Her claim is that she was only threatening to pour bleach on the clothes when the plaintiff lunged at her.
09:27 This caused the bleach to spill on all of his clothes.
09:30 "And it fell over the rest of the clothes that she had piled up in the middle of the floor."
09:34 "That's your fault."
09:36 "No it's not my fault."
09:37 "Oh yeah."
09:38 "No it's not."
09:39 Being cheated on is heartbreaking, but the defendant refuses to take responsibility for the property damage.
09:45 She's not afraid to tell the judge she doesn't know what she's talking about.
09:48 It's a bold move, but it's not going to work out for her.
09:52 "He over there acting all just like he ain't want to say nothing now.
09:54 You know that's exactly what happened too.
09:56 You know my pile, you know."
09:57 "Listen to me!"
10:00 "Where do you think you are? You think you're on Springer? You're not."
10:04 It's when she starts trying to have a part two of her argument with the plaintiff in the courtroom
10:09 that the judge gets fed up.
10:11 Even then, she refuses to back down.
10:14 "But what about my computer? What about my computer?
10:16 But she won't sit here and let me. You're going to walk away like that?
10:19 That don't even make no sense.
10:21 What about my computer? I don't get no chance to say nothing?"
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10:39 Number 1. Divine Intervention
10:42 This one is a blast from the past in all sorts of ways.
10:45 After her public profile skyrocketed in the wake of a scandal involving actor Hugh Grant,
10:51 Divine Brown appeared as a defendant on Judge Judy.
10:54 "What was the date of the incident with this actor fellow?"
10:57 "Hugh Grant? I can't even remember right now."
10:59 "Month and year. Come on. Miss Brown, quiet!"
11:05 Sued by an alleged former manager for unpaid labor, Brown insists she doesn't even know him.
11:11 From the start, plaintiff Rick Lomas is unable to restrain himself.
11:15 After returning to the courtroom, litigants soon devolve into an argument so loud,
11:19 not even Judge Judy's voice can cut through it.
11:22 "I'm almost ready to throw you all out. You are testing my patience.
11:26 That's on burn, burn. Everybody out of here."
11:31 "Out. Step out."
11:32 After at least two recalls, the unruly case descends into utter chaos,
11:36 the likes of which is rarely seen on any court show, let alone Judge Judy.
11:41 "Step out, please. This way. Step out, please. Step out."
11:45 "Step out."
11:50 What's your most memorable Judge Judy fight? Tell us in the comments.
11:54 "Together, you decided to change your mind and had my daughter behind the closed door. Get out."
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