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FunTranscript
00:00At the time, yes, because you're a human being and you have, you know, the juices started to flow, in retrospect.
00:08No, I think I could have handled it a little bit differently, but, like I said, you know, even Sarah agreed that she shouldn't have gotten this thing,
00:15and she even went down with me to the place where she got it pierced at to get it out.
00:20But when we got there, she made a stance that, I'm not, you know, I'm not going to do it, Dad.
00:24And I said, well, then we just can't have this shared custody arrangement anymore.
00:28Excuse me, Your Honor. She didn't want to go down to the piercing place.
00:32He made her go down, and when she wouldn't get it out, he dropped her off at the corner of my street and said, get out.
00:36In no uncertain terms. They had no discussion over the shared custody thing outlasting itself.
00:42The term was, get out.
00:44A judge is not a computer. A judge is a human being, and we bring to our job all of our history.
00:50You know, all of our own personal stories. So I'm going to share one with you.
00:54All right? I have five kids, and they're all older now.
01:00When one of my children started college, and this was 14, 15 years ago,
01:08he came home from school after his first couple of months, and I picked him up at the bus station,
01:14which was pretty far away from our house, and he was coming home with a friend.
01:18And he got off the bus, and I looked at this handsome child, and he had something wangling from his ear.
01:28So I kissed him hello, and I said, you can get in the car.
01:34That thing stays outside.
01:38Oh, mother, don't be ridiculous. You know, everybody's doing it.
01:42I said, listen, I don't have to look at it. I brought you into this world.
01:46I still pay the bills. As long as I pay the bills, I want to be able to look at you unencumbered by things coming out of your face and your ears.
01:55He thought I was kidding. I said, you got five minutes, boy.
02:02And he hung around. He spoke to his friend, and they were trying to figure out whether I was serious or not.
02:07Five minutes passed. The thing wasn't out of his ear. I got in my car, and I went home.
02:12And about two and a half hours later, because it took that long by public transportation, you know where this was?
02:19This was in the Bronx, all the way up in the Bronx, where the bus came in from Albany, Bronx, New York.
02:25He managed to find his way home without the earring in his ear.
02:31Now, that doesn't mean when he was in college, he didn't have rings and ropes and dangles and doodads hanging out from every orifice of his body.
02:41But I didn't have to look at it. So you didn't do the right thing.
02:46You're supposed to be a parent first and a friend second.
02:51And a parent says, babe, you got a couple more years until you are 18 years old.
02:59Then I can't tell you what to do. You want to paint polka dots on your face? You can paint polka dots on your face.
03:05But while you're in my house, I don't want to have to look at this thing here. I don't want to look at something in your tongue.
03:10I don't want to look at something in your nose. I just don't want to see it.
03:13You didn't do that. That really irritated him. Right, Mr. Carlin?
03:20That's correct, Your Honor.
03:23So the problem is this. I find it difficult, Mr. Carlin, to imagine that three years have gone by with you taking no action whatsoever,
03:36even to get $100, $200, and have done nothing over the three-year period of time to recoup any money if you say that there was this verbal agreement.
03:48I have a problem with that. So I'm going to take care of the lawsuit right now.
03:52I'm not satisfied that you have established to my satisfaction that there was this contract.
03:57Your Honor, child support is more than just a check in the mail each week.
04:01Sir, if that's what you're banking on, I'm telling you, it doesn't hold water.
04:06Karate lessons don't come under the category of necessaries for anybody.
04:11So I'm not... If that's what you're hanging your hat on, forget it.
04:15More importantly, Mr. Carlin, you have invested 16 years in your daughter.
04:22And I think it's a mistake to cut her off after 16 years because she, as a 16-year-old, made a foolish mistake.
04:32Big mistake, Mr. Carlin. I want you to rethink it. In any event, this lawsuit is dismissed. That's all.
04:37Parties are excused. You may step out. Out the back door to your right, please.
04:45I took care of her...
04:46Not one phone call since July 15th. Not one phone call. Nothing.
04:51Sarah don't know how to use a phone.
04:53Your duty is to call her at 7 o'clock at night.
04:55Oh, that's my duty?
04:56Yeah, you're the father. She's a child.