[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, like she said, she asked to move up with me till she could find a place. I asked her not to bring the cats. I said the dogs were bad enough. We got, uh, I got a smaller house with two dogs of my own. Her two dogs, my 11 year old son at the time and also,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Her little daughter, so it was not going to be much room in here. Besides the fact that I expressed, I did not want a cat in my house again. I don't like the smell of the litter boxes. I don't like them in general. She brought up an unfixed male cat and at two different times I went up and found the blanket covered in cat pee with their daughter in the playpen. I tried to catch the cat to, uh, I was going to take it out, uh, down a couple of miles down the road to a farm and, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, well I grabbed the cat and scratched my arm. I was upset.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I shot at it. I thought I missed it because the cat didn't even flinch. It ran off and hid and I never seen it the rest of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was not trying to hurt the animal. I was trying to get rid of it completely. And I'm sorry that it's injured.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of course, same, I'm deeply sorry, uhm, and I want you to know that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's not true. That's not true at all. Steven, you're a shyster.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After that 30 day period, I was no longer able to use the washer and dryer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I came home from shopping on a Saturday morning and my clothes totally soaking wet were thrown in a box and then she turned the cable off.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, she had sent me numerous texts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And my food was totally gone. And I asked her fiance, I said, Joe, so you know what happened to my food here?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And he goes, oh, I have no idea, but literally the only way I could eat was you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are you going to tear the carpet out and put tile in like they had been doing throughout the house?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And he said yes. And I said the reason I asked was because I was going to get a carpet cleaner and clean it. He said no need to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know your honor, but like I said, the carpet wasn't left that bad. I'm not talking about the carpet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, well, well, see, the reason is, and you haven't got into the damages, is the reason was, is cause they were banging on my door to get me to move out, so when I moved out,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No ma'am, I don't. I wouldn't have saved the receipt for that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, no, that's, that's fine. You know, Ms. Conrad was a nice lady. Uh, you know, most of the time I lived there, it was beautiful. But, you know, the judge knows best, so I'll honor that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, I might've went from my bedroom to my bathroom, which is like two feet away. I'm glad you brought that up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everybody gave me my money back. I even, I remember talking to the limo guy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then I, we didn't talk anymore until February.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I went to the bank to Wells Fargo and I made the second deposit, which is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, I called him up, I sent him a text on the 14th and I said, you have been paid in full, we'll see you soon, the wedding is just right on, it's right here around the corner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So on the, uhm, in March I received a call, a phone call from the venue.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they told me that they were shutting the whole thing down. All the events were going to be shut down for everybody. Immediately I called all my vendors.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I let them know that I had received a call from the venue.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I talked to, to Mr. Leal and he offered to reschedule immediately. He said, don't worry about it. I have been there. I have done that many times. It happens, but we reschedule. At the moment, I say, okay, thank you. And uh, 48, 48 hours later,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To see the governor's order, and I realized at that point that it wasn't going to be two weeks, three weeks, four weeks. It was going to, it was a serious problem that we had.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So on the 19th of March, I wrote an email to all my vendors, and I said, this has happened, my daughter is going crazy, she keeps crying, the whole thing is falling apart, and at this point, we don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. It seems like it's not going to be this year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just like I did with Mr. Leal, I did with everybody else. But he refused to pay, you know. All the money has been, is not refundable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We can re-scale, but uh, we will not, I will not give you the money back. And I try, like- I have a question.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My daughter, you know, she, it was, it was tough. It was very tough because she, we had 600 people invited. We had 275 already at SVPS to come. Finally, I was, she already got married.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, we, she got married on May 25th, just my husband, myself, and my four kids, and the groom. That was it. Six people, seven people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's what we're thinking about. I don't know when because I just called the venue yesterday and they are still closed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes. No, I just wanted to say our, we will, we're still dreaming my daughter to have her wedding. So during the whole thing, I, I got into reading a little bit about, about law.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I was in college, I took this class. I'm an engineer and I took this class. This book is all about contracts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uh, I found he should give me my money back. Because if you cannot perform, you will find a replacement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You couldn't perform because it was illegal for you to perform. You couldn't find a replacement because the replacement will be illegal to perform. Therefore, this con, you have to give me my money back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I thought it is so clear that it is completely wrong for anybody to use this opportunity of the pandemic when everybody's suffering because I feel for him the same way he's suffering because of the lack of money I'm suffering too because I had


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thousands of dollars out in the vendor's hands.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That they, you know, it's just I feel bad. It's a bad situation for everybody.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People's Court is now in session. The Honorable Judge Marilyn Leigh is now presiding. Litigants have been sworn, Your Honor.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so I hope you God.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, we, uh, ship parcels for our clients. We process about 2000 pieces of, uh, mail each day and ship about 100 packages each day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was no charge, the postage had already been applied


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By the, uh, eBay base seller. And we were just facilitating the pickup by the vendors.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Other shippers who actually pay for their products to be shipped. Also, we have fax services, uh, notary services and our mailbox customers pay a fee for us to handle their, uh, uh, postage and mail.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, the four packages, I believe,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I feel that it's unfortunate that Mr. Lopez had to experience the, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well in my experience, I've never been able to find out why.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That will do it for this case, litigants inside the courtroom for the next case.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The federal government cannot mandate mask wearing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I don't think it would stick, because COVID is hitting the country in different ways, where some states are safer than others. So it is the state's responsibility generally. I will say.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is the federal government's responsibility to set an example and make it clear to people that mask wearing and social distancing prevents COVID.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That will do it for this case. Let's go back into the courtroom for the next.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] when a covid vaccine comes be forced to get one, the force everybody to take a is that a lot of people ar


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And these vaccines are going to be vital to tamping down COVID. So this may not take us out of the woods even when a vaccine is developed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He said he was putting a room addition on his house to make it a three bedroom and he said the county health department wanted a verification of how big his septic system was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, I went out there. I talked to them. Uh, I says, uh, for me to do it, I have to run a camera with a locating head. That way I can push the camera through there and physically measure the distance of each run.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I told him the camera rental would be $300 for the day and I've charged $50 an hour per guy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I said figure about four hours with two guys. Did you have them sign a contract? No, we did not. I did everything verbal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With each other? Yes, I told him I'd be out there Monday. I showed up out there with my helper.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She meant the labor price to around $300 to go ahead and do it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you add sales tax to that, it comes to 214.85.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If I agreed to it, he would pay me $300, which I never responded back to him for his lawyer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That uh, according to the county, that that is not a big enough septic system.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For a three bedroom house. And she's told, she says, well, I'm not gonna spend a thousand dollars to run.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To enlarge it. I said that's up to you. You do, I was just told to come here to verify how big the system was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, later, the next day, Ed called me up. He says write your report up, but do not write no measurements down for the system. And I told him I will not lie.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, write contracts out, but this was referred to a friend.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I didn't do it and I thought we had a good understanding on the first meeting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I am licensed in Lake County, Indiana. You gotta go by Robert, ballast, trucking and excavating.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then he decided he wanted to bring a, what do you call it? The perimeter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, at the end of this year I was gonna get a home loan and buy the house.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I made myself accessible to the realtor. She wanted to bring people into the home and I couldn't be there. And I didn't, I wasn't okay with that. And at that time, that's when he told me I need to leave.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's not true. I had his consent, I had mold, and I have a witness attesting to that. And then also...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, he was in Iraq at the time and that was something we did within the first week of me staying there because I had trouble breathing and we couldn't figure out what was going on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've read over the lease before. Before court? Yeaah, many times.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I knew I was being sued for the sauna, so I didn't think it was at least a matter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's leaning up against the fence that's still good between the two properties.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, he knows where it's at and actually talked to the guy across the street and I never had a problem with it since.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, they did not. The police said it's a he said she said and they couldn't make a police report. They actually spoke- I'm sorry, that's-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can see black mold going up the side of the wall, on the panels, the wood panels. It's a wood, it's a wood inside.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So within the first week of me staying there, I had trouble breathing. And that's when we were trying to find where the odor was coming from. And that's where we discovered it inside of the sauna.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I probably should have got everything in writing in the beginning, but I did a lot of upgrades and nothing was in writing in the beginning and I was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Property management and John.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Email to Alan Barberino. When did you send the email to Mr. Barberino? Okay, it looks like on March 20th. Okay, and then what happens?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then I find out that they're going to...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Speak to Steve about getting tiles for the drop ceiling.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, I have an, I have a, um, email from, uh, Diane telling me that, um, Steve was working on getting the tiles and that was on May 21st, on May 29th.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I said to her, what's going on with the tiles on June 1st, she told me that she's checking on it. And on June 3rd, I had just had enough of it. And I said, I'll look for someone to do it. And I didn't want my breathing to go this in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What do you mean it's not fixed? No, we still have stains. Mr. John came by and he painted it, but he didn't treat it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, because, oh, I'll submit a bill, but the 169 wasn't important. What was important was that it was repaired.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I, I just had my fill of it. And sometimes you have to do this in order for people to pay attention to you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Timmy wants to know, hey Harvey, when a person uses the phrase, time is of the essence, how long does that give a person to complete the job? Well, there's no magic figure, but the reason you put time is of the essence in is this, that if you put a date that something has to be completed in the contract,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you write the words time is of the essence, then it has to be done by that date or you can generally undo the deal. If you don't say time is of the essence, a lot of times judges will give you some kind of leeway or the other person some kind of leeway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So that'll do it for this case. Uh, litigants for the next case are inside the courtroom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Welcome back to the People's Court next case on the docket. The plaintiff says an unlicensed plumber hired by the defendant started a fire and the plaintiff had to vacate the apartment. But the defendant says the plaintiff turned evil once she found out she was selling the condo and that's what's really behind all this. It's the case of what? A terrible tenant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that'll do it for this case. The litigants for the next case are inside the courtroom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Welcome back to the People's Court next case on the docket. The plaintiff rented a beach house in Long Beach Island, New Jersey.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the whole state was shut down so she wants a refund on the rental. But the defendant says the beaches were opened and it was legal to stay at the time so she shouldn't have to give the plaintiff her money back. It's the case of refusing to take a loss.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, why don't plaintiffs use or claim destruction of private property or vandalism?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I get your point because dogs in most states are considered property. I think that's really unfair.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but it's not so much an issue of vandalism. You are entitled to vet bills or the value of the dog if sadly the dog dies, but dogs are not considered living beings under the law.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are a few lessons that you can take away from a case like this. Certainly one of them is if you're a tenant in an apartment or a home that you've rented,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You don't get to just start remodeling and destroying things like this guy's sauna, Mr. Long's sauna, and just remove it and then hope that you don't get in trouble after the fact. I mean, there are certain jurisdictions where people might have criminal liabilities. This could be a grand theft or some kind of malicious destruction of property or criminal mischief.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's the kind of thing that keeps small claims, court judges in business.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I gotta say, the Boilermaker sounds like my kind of place. Yes, it does. Just the name alone. I like it. It's gritty. When I was a kid, a Boilermaker was a shot and a beer. You could get it for under two bucks in my part of the world. A buffalo. Exactly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly, and then he decided to table her complaints and put that aside for a while because as you said she probably wasn't


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not right, because her politeness, uh, hurt her in the end, in a sense, in that part.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, sometimes, uh, being nice puts you on the back of the line, I guess. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have to say, I have never in my life heard of somebody coming to look at a building, multi-unit building, three or four units, whatever it was, and say, oh, one of the people there had a cat? No, no, I don't want that building.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, another thing that came through in this case is the idea that now landlords are going to have to be a little bit more careful about how they show


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Apartments like this, and make sure the people who are showing up are gonna have masks, are gonna...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I don't expect you to go outside. I meant, what I'm saying is, you know, you don't care if he damages her, but if he's damaging your car, you're gonna call 911? I mean, you know, I don't know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so here is where we have some pictures that you have introduced into evidence of a very, very distinct scratch across the front of, this is your car obviously, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why is he scratching that guy's car with a key?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well why doesn't he scratch your car? Or someone in your, like I don't get why he's scratching a random car.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just a minute, just a minute. When and how does, I presume he's your ex boyfriend, right? Yeah, it is my ex boyfriend.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When and how does your then boyfriend scratch this man's car? How does he do it? When in the argument does he turn around, walk over to a strange car and key it? Because I gotta be honest with you, it actually does look like a keying, but go ahead.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it doesn't make any sense, Ms. Guzman. Why would somebody, when he's mad at you, what a violent man does is he chases you. He doesn't turn around and say, oh, just a moment, put a pin in that, let me take a key and scratch a neighbor's car. It doesn't make sense what I'm hearing. So, but I gotta be honest with you, this does look like a keying rather than something else.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you think that that means that you don't have to do anything. I'd like to talk about what happens when the police show up. Tell me what happens, Mr. Ellis, when the police show up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was actually, it was just some weird discussion where she said, I wanna take it to whoever I wanna take it to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can get it done cheaper. You don't want to do that. It's your car. It's up to you. You don't get, you're not going to have some alley mechanic take care of it in order to save her money. All right. Talk to me and tell me Mrs. Ron, what happened that night when the police come?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wait, wait, no, no, no, no, hold on, hold on, hold on. We're gonna talk first about what happened that night with the police. You tell the police, I'll pay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If the police don't care whether you pay or not, then why is it that the police are, and they're not going to arrest anybody? See, if you and your boyfriend are committing a crime, if you're beating each other up, excuse me, excuse me, do you hear me talking? So if you and your boyfriend are forming a show,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At two in the morning and you're, and people are hitting each other and stuff is going on for some reason. It is in your best interest, whether it's because you don't want to get arrested or because you don't want him to get arrested, whatever the story is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You are resolving it with the police that you will pay for the damages. Please don't tell me that somehow I'm supposed to glean from that, that the police didn't care about the damages. I think the police cared about the damages. And so what happened? You convince everybody, nah, nobody gets arrested, I'll take care of the damages.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, and lo and behold, what happened. After she does that, the next day, it's, ehh, no, that's too expensive, ehh, no, I don't want to pay rent, the car, ehh. This is how it happens. This is why...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not always the best idea to work it out on the scene because then you lose your leverage. You see, you got leverage at night and then you don't have leverage. But Ms. Guzman lets you and I talk. What was it about Mr. Ellis's quote that all of a sudden made you do the Michael Jackson moonwalk to get away from having agreed to pay for the damages?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of course you are. Here's the thing though. Now that's fine. So you don't want to sign a contract. You might want to tell the people giving you advice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you had already entered into a contract. I don't think you realize that what happened that night when you're talking to the cops and everybody's trying to calm everything down and then the cops don't end up arresting boyfriend and blah blah blah blah. What you're doing is entering into a contract. You're telling him, don't worry about it, I'll pay. Everybody calm down, I'll pay. That's a contract because he gave something up. He gave up being able to press charges against you. Don't be agreeing to pay if you're not gonna pay later.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's how the police didn't end up arresting people at two in the morning who are fighting and scratching up cars, which apparently is something you didn't want. You didn't want that police to make that arrest, either on you or on him, probably on him. You didn't want that because that's why you offered to pay. No, no, no, no. Everybody calm down. I'll pay. That's why you do that. So he gave something up and you got something in return.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the something in return that you got was not making things escalate anymore with the boyfriend who was dumping you. Okay? Or, I'm sorry, with the boyfriend who you had dumped.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright folks, now we've got him. You actually went ahead and took care of it, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The cost that you paid to repair the car, which actually was kinda really reasonable, was $340.51.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And apparently, see I, if you had paid that, cause that's what he wanted you to pay, he was just gonna make do while they fix his car. And then, cause I don't know that he actually presented the, did you originally present the rental car bill to her, or did you just say, just pay the 840.51? Mr. Ellis.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I got it and you're gonna get the money. Here is my question to you. When did you tell her pay the $3.99 also? From the beginning or later?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's it. Alright. And here's the thing. Stop. That's all I wanted to know. You see, you could have gotten away with paying only the 840.51, which you thought was too high, but it really isn't. And you don't get to pick where he fixes his car. He's the innocent bystander in all this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I know he's not blowing that up because he actually already paid the rental company and he has the bill. So I'm ordering you to pay him exactly what he's asking for, the $1,240.26 not because you keyed his car.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But because that is the agreement you reached that night so that no one would end up getting arrested.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] $1,240.26 verdict for the plaintiff plus of course your court costs. Good luck folks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In order to get them to go and not arrest anybody. Right. You say, I'll take care of it. I'll take care of everything. We've all got it worked out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and of course the plaintiff can't be unreasonable either. He can't decide who wants a, you know, $20,000 paint job, but he wasn't unreasonable. It was super reasonable. Right. And she stands in the position of the tortfeasor even if she's not the person who scratched the car because she took the responsibility and she got something in return, which is she didn't want anybody arrested then.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ms. Atkinson. Yes. You decided that you wanted to come down from, where is it, North Carolina? Yes. And you decided that you wanted to spend some time in the Florida Keys. You find Ms. Wood's rental on what venue? Where do you find it? Craigslist? On what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so you decide to go down there and how long were you going to spend down in Kajoki? February and March.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and so Ms. Wood, you own a house with how many bedrooms? Four bedrooms. And you have taken to renting the rooms out, uhm, because it's something you enjoy, it gives you extra income, and, uh, and then you have some company. So,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You had some tenants there before she gets there that were a bit of a problem, correct? Yes. Tell me about that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I like to help writers and artists. Are they the ones who became, are they the ones who became the problem tenants?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's actually called the eviction. That's when you've actually started the eviction, when you pay the money, pay the sheriff, start the court case. So that begins in January, and did you eventually get them out? Or do they still live there?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All right, so now Ms. Atkinson, let me ask you, you were supposed to be going down, hold on Ms. Wood, Ms. Atkinson, so you go down there, you're going to pay $500 a month, which is a pretty good deal for a house that's, you're right on the water. You're very, I got to say, I'm looking at you remotely in your home and the whole thing's very bloodline.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To me, it looks like that show. It's, you know, all the dark wood, the old Florida. It's gotta have that feel where the breezes are coming and I just, I know the keys very well and I just have this feel looking at you and where you are right now that that's what you're selling to other people and that's what you're enjoying in your home. Am I right? Yes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, but she rented a particular room, correct Ms. Atkinson? And when did you first learn that you weren't gonna get the room you rented? When I pulled in her driveway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, Ms. Wood, when did you first tell Ms. Atkinson that she wasn't gonna get the room that she rented?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, Ms. Wood, here's the question I have for you. Why is it that you wait


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Until she calls you the day before to tell her, hey, listen, before you drive down from North Carolina, I gotta tell you, they haven't left. You know it for weeks and weeks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So why aren't you informing her of this before she comes down so that she can make a decision about whether or not she wants to rent the different room? Why is it a surprise when she's in your driveway? I think I told her that I expected them to be out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes darling, but you know they're not out. That's right. So if things change and they weren't out, then it was time for you to call the person you had a contract with and say, listen,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You really don't have to go any further past it didn't have air condition.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ms. Wood, why wouldn't it be something that bothers someone from North Carolina especially if it doesn't have air conditioning?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Spend a lot of time in the Florida Keys. So yes, it is not miserable and death-defying like it is in August.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And yes, you could catch a wonderful breeze, but you know who that's not up to? You and I. It's up to the person who rented the room who thought she'd have an AC.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, so anyway, but you come down and let me tell you what doesn't happen, Ms. Atkinson. You don't leave. And I know it's hard because you've driven down, you're in a car, you have all your belongings, and you have a, uh, your service animal with you, right? Your pet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you decide, okay, let me try to make the best of it. And according to you, you look for other places in the Keys and of course you're not going to find a room for $500 in the Keys in February when all the snowbirds are here. So what is it that you do? You end up trying to make the best of it. Tell me how the best of it worked out for you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right. And how is that, can I ask you a question? How is that Ms. Woods fault? I mean, there are, there are fire ants, there are ants in the outdoors, you know, I mean, you're, you know, you're from North Carolina. It's not like you don't understand.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, don't let my dog see that because she's gonna get jealous. Okay, is this you and your dog? Yep. Nothing like the zinc on the nose from the northerners coming down here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Good lord, what am I looking at here? What's this ventriloquist dummy with the bushy eyebrows? What's going on? What's this? What's the ventriloquist dummy?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are you a ventriloquist or you do this for fun? Are you good at it? Do you know how to do it? Do you have the dummy with you? She's in the back room.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I did. I did. What's a dummy's name? Katie doll. Katie. What was it like living there?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why were you having to go from the van to the room and to the van to the room? What was causing that to happen?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, so let me ask you, did you sustain some kind of injury when that happened?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She was under a lot of stress. She was under a lot of stress? Okay. Did you ever get bit by the rats or the ants?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, okay. We're good, okay? I'd like to speak to Suzanne now. Thank you, Your Honor. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, Ms. Atkinson, at the end of your tenancy, after the 11 days, you couldn't take it anymore because, according to you, the tenants were out of control. What was wrong with the tenants? Besides Ms. Wood pointing out to you that they would steal anything that wasn't nailed down, according to you, did they actually steal your stuff?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I'd buy food and they would eat it. They would eat your food. Did they, did they ask you permission or did they tell you they were going to eat it or they would just eat it behind your back and deny it? Alright, uhm, and.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wow. It's not really your place to have to soothe their need for food. You end up leaving because you can't stand it. And I know you can't stand it because you actually ended up leaving. So it's, uh, you do that on the 11th and you say to her, I want my money back. And what does she do? Does she give you back your $500? No.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, now Ms. Wood, let me ask you a question.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know that what you solder is not what you delivered.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That, hey, it's gonna be a diff- According to her, you didn't even tell her until she was at your doorstep.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You knew that those people didn't leave the month before. You never call her. You wait for her to call you the day before and tell her, ah, I got a different room for me, you'll be fine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then, she's so miserable, because you keep telling her they're gonna steal your food, they're gonna do this, they're gonna do that, that she, and plus you have a rat-infested place. Okay? Uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tell me, is she making up the rat issue or is there a rat issue? Cause there's often a rat issue by the water. I know that. I'm not naive. But is there, are there, there is a rat. Okay. So if you know all that, why isn't it fair that you return, if not all, at least most of her money?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm gonna need you to prove that. Prove to me that you did that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, okay, well here's how it works. You can't, as a litigant, look at the judge and then tell them, oh don't worry about what it is you're basing your ruling on, judge.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, cause I told her. You can't do that. You gotta show me proof that you told her.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you're gonna alter a verbal contract, show me the proof that you did. Show me a text. Show me an email. I've been through all the evidence. I know you haven't submitted anything like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, and I know she's upset about the lack of AC, but let's put aside the room issue. Let's just talk about you've been trying to remove people who you say are a problem, who you say steal, and you have a rat problem.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why is this not, in your eyes, sufficient to return Summer Oliver money until you get your house in order?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ms. Wood, I think that what we have here is uhm, is a failure to communicate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not only between you and Ms Atkinson, but between you and I. You seem to think that you are the arbiter of who rents what.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Don't complain because this is better. That is opinion. I'm here only to enforce contract.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not opinion. So it's not up to you to say, well, the view's not as good, but the breeze is better and it's bigger. Those are things that are important to you. If they're not important to the person who booked the room, then you don't get to use those as a defense.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright folks, I've looked through all of the evidence and here is how I'm gonna rule.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have a situation where you rent out one room and then you give her another and you feel like she shouldn't complain because you think that room's better. That's not up to you. That's not what a contract is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A contract is an offer and an acceptance, an agreement between two people that things are gonna go a certain way. And one side can't unilaterally change that and then pretend that everything's gonna be okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Normally, when somebody stays half the month, I would tell them, well, you know what, you stayed, so you gotta owe half the month. But this is a situation where not only did she get the wrong room, not only were there rats,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not only were there people you were telling her steal her food, uh, but, much more importantly,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That these problems were going to continue. So in this case, I think she's right. I think you owe her the full 500.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm not gonna turn, because you're angry at her, a $500 case into a $4,000 or whatever it is you're asking for. I forget because it's so silly every time I read it. You know, where you've got these receipts for everything. My Pop Tarts were stolen. Everything I bought was stolen. That's not how we prove up a case in court.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I agree with you that you should have gotten your $500 back. My verdict in this case is for the plaintiff in the amount of $500.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Never blinked. Didn't look like anybody was coaching her.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, not between, you know, between the rats and the other people living there and everything else.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fire ants outside, that's certainly not on the landlord, but controlling a rat population inside. And it really doesn't mean that anybody's filthy or anything else. When you're by the water, it can be a pro- you know, that's- that's- there are a lot of rats, it's not your fault. But, you do need to do something that's effective to keep them from the house.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She needed to move ahead. I felt I could have counter sued for the other half of the contract, which I didn't do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I ended up renting it for a month, literally, to cover my cleaning and pool costs, just to cover the costs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No. No, I feel horrible. There's no winner here. I feel horrible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In middle of November. So I didn't actually even, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Lease them. It was the company that owned the unit before I did that had made a lease out to them. And I did not know that there was a


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Washing from the dryer and that I would get. Cause they're coin operated. Washing machine. Okay. So no, it has not been fixed, but it's just. But you worked out a deal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where you put the quarters in and they taped that and uhm, they basically, they also told the other tenant that they could shut off the, uh, the power in the other tenants kitchen if they wanted to, but they weren't going to do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Erin was there and we all went in and he turned on the faucet in the kitchen, he ran it for a while, then we went to the first, there was hot water, then he ran it to the bathroom, there was hot water, then he ran it to the other bathroom and there was hot water. And then they kept texting, oh we don't have hot water. But she was there, she saw them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I serve them the cease and desist, I believe I'm the third.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] During that time, I texted him and I called him and every time I text and call him, he charges time because he's a lawyer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They reported me to two different agencies for false claims about the hot water.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How, how I had gotten this citation, and the man from Lake Worth, uh, told me that they had reported me saying that uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think only some of the evidence was presented and I think it was pretty ridiculous. Uhm, but that's okay, uh, everything's fine and we move on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Victor from Maine wants to know, I just bought my first used car and the thing died two days later. Is there anything I can do to get my money back from the used car guy? Unless you can prove fraud, I got to tell you, you buy it as is, you know the saying, you pays your money, you takes your chances. That'll do it for this case. Lennigan's for the next case on the way into the courtroom right now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Barney from Vegas wants to know, how long have you and Doug Llewellyn been working together at the People's Court?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wow, I gotta tell ya, during the first run of People's Court, I knew Doug for the 12 years of the run. Uhm, and, you know, we talked from time to time afterwards, and now he's joined us again. Doug Llewellyn is just one of the great people I know, one of the nicest guys, and nice to this day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We became very good friends. We got along better than we ever did when we were married.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, she was on vacation visiting family and friends. Uh, May, air condition went out on a, uh, apartment that she owns in a fourplex.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was very hot down in Jacksonville. It's hot all the time, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, at the time, there wasn't any need for that. Even when I paid her the rent, there wasn't any.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We had that relationship, it was a trust relationship, and I didn't have the, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've never done that and never got a receipt for anything like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we have been divorced for quite a while, uh, for several years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I met a young lady at Weight Watchers and we liked each other and I picked her up at the airport.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Elena may even met her in the house, in the apartment. She was very congenial and very warm and friendly and then


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The next morning she asked me if my friend has spent the night, and I said yes, and then things changed instantly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Instantly it was a different story from that point on and then she became angry and then wanted me to move.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How was it trying to get, uh, the rest of my money from her that she owed?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I texted her and she told me to come by. I came by and met her on the porch of my old apartment. Sit face across from her about six feet apart.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And after she got through chewing me out and calling me everything but a child of God, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She got up and left to walk towards her apartment and I said, Lenny, you said I could have my money. Where's my money? She pointed over the brown paper bag.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I went over and picked it up since she had already left and looked down in there and there was nickels, dimes and quarters and $500 that had been removed from the packaging. And then she laughed about it, thought that was really funny. She even said that they joked about it at the credit union and she said that was the last money I was going to be getting from her. And then at that time she said something about owing her for some back rent and I


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, when I moved in there, we agreed a verbal agreement. Again, nothing in writing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, Mr. Peppler, you're suing for $7,000 in damages as a result of an incident that happened at Marilu's Coffee. Tell me your version, what occurred.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So when you take pictures, what do you do? Like you sell it to them? Or how does that work? Or you just upload it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so you ask the baristas, can I take a picture? And they say yes. Then what happens?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so she asked you why isn't this something that was arranged in advance and you tell her because that's not how this works and then what happens.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, alright, so this happens and then, uh, do you end up calling the police or anything on July 3rd?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, but what was the situation that happened? He asked permission, he took a picture of two baristas, and that was the situation. So what really was the situation from your perspective on July 3rd?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, honestly, they don't look that uncomfortable, but okay. They're telling you that they're uncomfortable or you're just kind of uncomfortable with the pictures or whatever and...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I understand. I know what you mean by getting caught off guard or whatever and agreeing to do it and then later feeling like that was creepy. But whatever, I mean...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At the end of the day, he asked permission, they posed, he took a picture, and then you said, you know what, you gotta go. Did he say no, I'm not leaving, or did he just leave?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so now fast forward to the day in question, Mr. Peppler, uh, the, the day that we're, that you, that everything really hits a fan is what? July what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So all that happened the second time is you went back to a store where they had asked you to leave for taking a picture the first time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You walked up to the baristas, you showed them the picture of the other baristas, and then you ordered lunch. That's it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you have, you were not actually there, Ms. Kochi, on the second day on July 12th, correct?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, perfect. Uhm, Douglas, will you please swear her in? Absolutely. Raise your right hand, Caitlin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I testified that it was a phone. Are you now no longer sure it was a phone?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, and then leaves that object there and then does he sit and eat or does he do something else?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, so you call your, your, uhm, manager, she says call the police, and you call the police, correct?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes. Alright, so the police get there. Mr. Peppler, let me hand the floor to you. What happens when the police get there?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just to record it, to record the incident, is what she's saying. Uhm, but let me ask you this, did you put something on the counter, in the pastry counter, that was a camera?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did Ms. Kochi ask you to get out? On the third?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They ask you to leave, and then what you do is come back a week later.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you put a camera-taking device pointed at the women working there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you leave it there, according to you, for 15-20 seconds. According to you, uh, Ms. Snead, how long did you leave it for?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you remember how long you saw it there or once you saw it you kind of... Once I saw it there I got a little freaked out. Okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, the police come, and what do the police say to you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because that's kind of awkward. If there was a place to ask me to leave, I probably wouldn't go back. So you came back to get breakfast and that's fine. So you tell the police, look I'm back here to have breakfast. And then what happens?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you did what that made them, uh, pin you down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you took like a furtive movement past their sergeant and then they...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Decided to pin you down, correct? That's what they say in the report, something like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I understand. I understand. So you end up getting arrested for... what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, and then you actually had a trial on disturbing the piece, correct?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you won the trial. The judge found you not guilty.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're coming after Mary Lou's coffee for seven grand because what? How are you out seven grand and why should they, and then the next question is going to be why should they pay you that? But how are you out seven grand?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because you took a picture of their baristas? Does that happen a lot? That people ask you to leave because you took a picture of the women working there? Right. No, that's never happened to me. Then it should stay in your head. It should kinda stay in your head. But how are you out seven grand?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, that's for showing up for court for your criminal charges. That's what you mean.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then a thousand in emotional distress and a thousand in defamation of character. So now is my follow-up question. Why does Mary Luz have to pay you all that? Let's assume for a moment you're really out seven thousand for all this. Why is that Mary Luz's fault?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But why is that up to you to decide? Ms. Kochi, does this warrant a letter of no trespass? You're the head of security there? Yes. Is this a privately owned restaurant?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes. Okay, so who are you to decide whether or not they don't want you there? It's a privately owned place. Unless they're violating some law by asking you to leave.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, look, I get why you felt like the cops had no reason to make such a big deal. But you understand that it was really making the big deal here, right? It was you. Because if you want to stand by your principles and not give the cops your ID, that's great. But there's a saying among the cops, you can beat the rat, but you can't beat the ride. And that is exactly


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What you ended up succumbing to by not showing them your license, taking the stay-away order, and walking on your merry way. If you'd done that, nobody would have arrested you for disorderly. Now, let me be clear.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you had been arrested for disorderly and your trial came in front of me, I also would find you not guilty. I agree with you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was not disorderly. That's what we call contempt of cop.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you're not being respectful to the police and they don't like it. I get it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you explain to me how that means Mary Lou's has to pay you seven grand. When you're a guy walking in there for the second time taking pictures after the first time you took a picture, the manager told her to leave. What did Mary Lou's do wrong? Call the cops? Everybody has a right to call the cops. They don't have to be right in the end. They have a right to call the cops. That's what we pay taxes for.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If she feels uncomfortable, she calls the cops and the cops sort it out. You got arrested for disorderly because of the interaction between you and the cops and the direction it took, right or wrong. Why aren't you suing the cops if you feel you should make money? Why would it ever be anyone at Mary Lou's fault for being creeped out


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you put a camera facing the women working there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I thought you said you didn't take a photo.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I think you were trying to take a picture of the women after the manager had already told you not to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, now, maybe it's a free country and this is open to the public and it felt like taking a picture of you and if you don't like it, your remedy is to call the police and get a stay away order because they don't like it. So they did exactly


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What the law allows them to do. And then you ended up making it a huge deal with the cops, which is why you and the cops had a problem. Go sue the cops, see where that gets you. But you know what isn't gonna happen? They're not gonna pay you $7,000. My verdict in this case is for the defendants.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ms. Gonzalez, you are suing Mr. Jeremy for the return of $1,600 that you say you paid him for a Sweet 16 for your daughter that was scheduled for May, correct?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He agreed to $600. You, you wanted to pay the $1,000 deposit in two parts, 600 and 400. That's your text. I read your text.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, so as we all know, here it is, it's January, you like the venue, what's, what kind of venue is this? Is it indoor, outdoor, what is it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, and a catering hall, and how many people, uh, were you planning on having at your party?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so then you make the next, so you pay 600 that day, and then you pay how much more later? You pay another thousand in two payments.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, eh, right? And so now we're in the beginning, or we're in the beginning of March, and you're supposed to make another payment, and the world happens.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I halted. Tell me about the discussions you have with Mr. Jeremy about this. Go ahead.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you can't have the party because he can't give you the party and neither can anybody else. You can do a ten person party in your backyard, but you can't really proceed the way you wanted to. So the question is who takes the hit, right? That's the question. So let's talk about that. So you say to him, I want a full refund, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So let me talk to you, Mr. Jeremy. You've had, I mean I don't know of any other industry, worst hit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tables outside in those jurisdictions that are allowing that. They can do takeout.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But venues, my god, what do they do? Now, is this also a restaurant?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I understand what she's saying. I understand both philosophies. Like, you may say, hey, the moment passed. My philosophy is, I'll celebrate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If I can't celebrate my 60th birthday, I'm gonna be so angry. But I will celebrate it at 61.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, who's supposed to eat this? Now you made an offer to her.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That I'll keep the deposit, which in your eyes is a thousand, because that's exactly what the contract says, whether she only gave you six hundred because you were kind, or whether, um, you know, uh, she, you know, the, the, the contract


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Literally says the deposit's a thousand, and then where you sign for six hundred, which she keeps insisting means you change the deposit, let's look at that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, it says deposit received, deposit received, deposit received. It says it three times because he's a nice guy trying to give people a chance to pay in parts on the deposit. So that's not true what you're saying. I'm not sure if it matters.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I agree with you 100%. The deposit is 1,000. The rest of what she paid is 600. I do not agree with her on that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But because you guys have not been able to come to a resolution of how to handle the rest of this, it kind of puts me in the position of trying to figure out whether all of it goes back to her or none of it goes back to her. And so I have to look at the contract.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because at some point you're offering $600, then to make this go away you offered her $800. Let's split the baby, $800, and she still didn't take that. So now what I have to do is look at your contract and see whether what has happened


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gives you an out. Because there are many ways to look at this, folks. And this is something that is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Presenting itself to courts of law all over the nation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rescheduling for events cancelled due to inclement weather or acts of God and then in parentheses it says fire, death, etc.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I feel for both of you because I don't think either one of you are unreasonable people. You don't want to be out your money because you couldn't have your party. And you don't want to have to shut down your business because everybody wants to get back their money. Uhm, you know, because I see all sides of this. And I'm tired.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am so tired of the isolation. You know, I'm tired for our kids. I had two kids who were class of 2020. I had a high school student and a college student. My high schooler had no prom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is. It's very sad for everybody. It's very, it's sad for everybody. And then I, you know, and I feel, when I sit here and I complain about the loss of prom and the loss of my high school graduation, the loss of the other one's college graduation, the loss of both their senior years, I feel like a jerk because there's people who lost their lives.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I don't wanna complain out loud. And the people who lost their lives, of course that's infinitely worse. But you know what? Everybody else's pain that didn't die, our pain is real too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's hard, man. It's just not safe. I was, I was playing this


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know. There's no question. There's no question. You are making the right decision. And there's no question. You can't give her what you contracted for.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And why? So I look at the contract, and the contract says, if it's canceled due to inclement weather, acts of God, for example, fire, death, etc., shall be accommodated without penalty whenever possible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why would she be, really, why would I be charged more for a postponement? Postponement would never cause me to charge, because the person who can't have the party is you. There's not death in her family, and that's why she can't have the party. There's coronavirus. So, the question becomes, does coronavirus


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the, the fact of coronavirus, is that an act of God? Now, in this contract,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It doesn't just say act of God.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And leave me to interpret my definition of act of God based on history, case law, whatever else. It says,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By the way, all of your contracts should now say epidemic, pandemic, or whatever else you need to add that in your, right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But this contract went so much further than a regular contract that just says Acts of God.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This contract encompasses if there's a death, if there's a fire that prevents it, what is it that's gonna happen? And what's gonna happen is rescheduling. That's what this contract encompasses.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So in this case, specific to this case, after great thought and turmoil.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am not going to order this defendant to return the $1,600. I am ruling in the defendant's favor. Now let me just suggest something. Jeremy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know that there was a point in time in this lawsuit where you were, you wanted to part ways and you were willing to go $800 back. I can't compel that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can't split the baby. That's not how you make decisions. You make decisions based on the law when the parties can't decide and agree on anything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it might behoove you to never have to deal with each other again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You are willing to give her to walk away. But if you two can't come to a decision and an agreement on your own,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then here is my decision. She has a $1600 credit that she can use however she sees fit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, within reason rescheduled events are subject to availability. Of course they are. That is within reason. But she gets to use it. You, however, as a business person might want to think to yourself, hey, better to not have to reschedule this event and give her back half the money or whatever it is you decide. But like I said, that's up to you folks. It is completely 100% up to you folks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did his contract take into account something like this? And I find that it did. My verdict in this case is for the defendant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, she, if I, if I, if I were her I'd be a little nicer so I can get my $600 cause my verdict is she's do nothing but go ahead.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People's Court is now in session. The Honorable Judge Marilyn Lee has help presiding. Litigants have been sworn, Your Honor. Thank you, Douglas. You're welcome, ma'am.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and the wall, there became a hole in the floor. So the tile floor that I had in my kitchen,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, you'll see on the exhibit a very large, extremely large hole, no tile, underneath the cabinets that were used.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the transition between the dining room and the kitchen where the wall was, yes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have a counterclaim because the whole thing that he set up cost me to have to replace the kitchen floor.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] believes that a homeowner should be taken advantage of by an hourly contractor who starts the job and never completes it, sends an email and a text saying, I'm not coming back and you owe me $10.50.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To 90? No details, no nothing. It's absurd. It's, it's a disappointment. And they cost me a lot of money in damages.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well anyway, hello to all out there. Fuck you. What was your, what was your last video that you put out there, Thick? Ark, the artifact of the clever. Of the clever. On that video, Hailfire Tesla says, guys, they just released the dragon as a boss in Ark. You should all try it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is an amazing experience. PS Dragons are better than giant spiders. Have we seen the giant spiders? I don't think so. No, not yet. What's that called again? There's so much in that game you haven't seen. The brood mother. The brood love. So have you seen the dragon?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so how big in comparison do you think it is to like a brontosaurus? Eh, it's bigger than a brono.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It feels amazing to sit down and binge watch my favorite channel. You guys are great and you make my days a hell of a lot better.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, now, you must have in that video, you must have talked about the Quetzal. You never released anything on the Quetzal, did ya?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and record that. I wanna see that. Venom Ahab Snake says, Neves, can you start having your videos show up in my sub box? They don't show up for some reason. And I've seen that before. I thought maybe you guys might have some insight for Venom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So wait, so mark it on your calendars. You were wrong. No, I was right. Oh, were you? Yea. Oh, cause he switched over?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, RockBros100 says the champion should face the best Battlefield player, Simon. And I agree with him. Okay, we can do that next time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There you go, slip falling bridges says, geez, that was funny as fuck. You need more. Every video I watch is very good. By the way, you guys should have called rage cop. He could have helped y'all. And that's something that you said as soon as we went in it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rage Cop will hopefully be coming back in the next couple of months or I'll be done animating hopefully at the end of this month, beginning of next and I can make more fun stuff for the channel. I'm looking forward to it. There you go. Um, Uber Laufer says, man, you gotta match your shoes and your tie. Cause we got dressed for this party that we went into.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I loved it. I think that was when I first realized that I liked you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, well, this is the last comment, guys, so prepare yourselves. Okay. Alright, I'm ready. Hit me with it. Tripp says, as someone who just lost their home to a fire, this was good for a laugh. And I was like, damn, this guy- On the Inferno video? Yeah, and so I looked at it, it says on here, hashtag Fort Mac Strong.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But if you guys wanted to send this guy some love, go to hashtag fortmaxstrong. He's got like seven subs. He puts out a few videos. He seems like a nice guy. I watched one of his videos. He's stuck in a hotel or at least he was three weeks ago. So show him some needs, love and support.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah. Stay positive. Yeaah. Alright, well thank you very much for writing those comments. You know we love it. What do you think Neves? Do you love it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, I'm gonna get some weird ads for the next month because I'm googling Shrimp Turd.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was about to say, you can't, it said you can't eat them. So it's not gonna hurt you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If I want to feel really disgusting about myself, I like to go to, uh, Smithfield's Chicken and Barbecue and I'll get fried chicken. I'll take the skin off of the chicken and I wrap it around the hush puppies and then I'll dip it in ketchup. Wow, okay. Wow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyone else? Another nasty thing is the, uh, the red hot dogs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Her sneeze, it like, it'll scare the hell out of you because there's no build up. You know, most people have that, uh, uh, and you know, then the sneeze, hers is just...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My body is strolling out and like one guy was giving CPR. Nobody was stopping though. It was just like it's the norm there. Because they're so used to seeing wrecks all the time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I feel like the helicopter was there before the policemen were. There was a helicopter there?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah. Yeaah. Get it wherever you want to, baby. Alright. Thanks a lot, guys. Bye, guys! Later!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They scored two points just for showing up. Alright, what kind of trouble are we getting into now, Linda? So you've never seen GTA before, have you, Linda?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The reason why it's important is most chicks aren't able to do things that guys could do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was just gonna say, if you were like, I want to, you know, go back to the dating thing, but I would check out maybe e-harmony, but maybe it's evil too. Maybe they're all bullshit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a beautiful game, but it lacks the depth that the Battlefield franchise has, and I think people were expecting that depth to be there, but it's not, so it loses its flavor a little bit quick.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well see, here's the thing, I think that they didn't want to blow their load on the first one and they're gonna have that available in the second one. I don't know why you wouldn't want to blow your load. Well you give them a little taste, you tease them with potential.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're great. Oh, Smith ASB says, I feel this may be Simon or Kermit the frog on acid. And no, it's thick. And it's funny you say Kermit because thick actually does a really good Kermit impression. Go for it, thick. Oh yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Keith Sandoval says, please turn this into a series. Do Chuck Norris next please. Chuck Norris.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So who would be? Like, you talked about, obviously you do walk-in thick, and is that like too overdone? Is it like you're like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If so, got any tips for a fresh DM? And I played Dungeons and Dragons once when I was in like 5th grade for an hour and a half and I didn't know what the fuck was going on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] GTA Watch Dogs Mod, Skyl McCloud, uh, says, I think you guys need to upload more content a day. You guys are super funny, and I would love to see you guys release more videos a day, like two or three, instead of just one. Alright, I'm out, love you guys. Well, you're in luck! Yeah. Cause we might upload less.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To be continued can make one 10 minute video into six videos.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Shlongkowski says, Hey, Neves, I'm leaving for the military and just wanted to say you are great and would love to see some throwbacks to older games when I get back, perhaps some older gen systems and whatnot. Thanks for the fun and can't wait to binge watch all I miss. First off, Shlongkowski.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, be safe, thank you for serving. Uh, we always appreciate our, uh, veterans, past and present. And Duralius has always been a big advocate along with Anthony for the older, older games nostalgia.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Doraleous, if you had to pick one game, retro game, BAM, you're gonna do a video next week and everyone says okay with it. What's it gonna be?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We tried to tame it up a little bit. Cheekster Rider says, I hate games like this. Uh, and you guys at Niebz Gaming are the only reason why I watched it. Been watching your vids for a long time. Games like what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Basically saying keep up the funny shit, uh, uh, favorite recently are the fallout vids with Apsro. Hope you guys stay on that series and make them more often. A lot of fallout vids are out there, but yours is- Listen, what the fuck? You let me read?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rockley, Rockley G, uh, says, Hey Neebs, can you do a video on the handling


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How to deal with a breakup. And I think that this is actually a discussion, and he's not the first person that I've seen ask about this, so I'm voting for us to do a discussion video about that. Everybody goes to breakups.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jesus Christ on push the button gave us, uh, would you rather? And it's, uh, you guys could achieve world peace, but four of you have to kill one of you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mexican Jumbalaya, uh, says, will you guys be voice acting in the new battlefield? And I would like to tell everyone right now officially that yes we are, and we're getting paid millions of dollars. We are, we are.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright guys, listen, I always have fun with comments. Are you done? Yeah, I'm done.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, any of them? Scrap Mechanic? Uh, Scrap Mechanic would be great. We've got a campaign.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pro tip, try clothes on at the store, then go online and order them. Used. I'm not above buying you shit. Use condoms. I'm not either. I have a lot of shirts for three dollars that I got at Goodwill.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I remember when I saw that. 99 million year old, but the first... I hear they're pulling all the Jurassic Park movies. There's a lack of feathers. They're gonna update them. Oh yeah, they're gonna. Lucas style.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I wanna talk about medical. That's related to science, isn't it? It is. I've been reading about this, uh, what is this place? The Oklahoma Surgery Center?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They have a pricing list for all their surgeries. That's how it should be. Flat rate. Yeah. Perfect. None of this, how much insurance do you have, we're gonna inflate the price. That's why people fly out of this country. Look at this, I gotta pull it up right now. Achilles repair. $5730. That's not bad. Flat rate. That's what it is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's awesome! Do they do payment plans? Uh, probably. Do they work with Groupon? Uh, let's see. Do they have logos?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pop-ledio bypass graph with, uh, Safius Vane. Ten thousand seven hundred bucks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I guess if everyone believed what they heard, like most of us here don't believe anything we hear on the news or on the internet. Right. Until you see it with your eyes. Yeah. I'm not gonna be affected by something that came out on Facebook on how I vote. Betty White's dead. Jesus, she's been dying for 30 years. No, she turned 95 today, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was saying this more of a, isn't this interesting? Maybe someone that watches the video knows more. Cause I would be curious to ask a doctor, what do you think of this model?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's no one person at fault. You have a big formula of things that are coming together to create this problem.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I saw a big playground, uh, just outside of San Diego. You go across the bridge and there's all these sand dunes, and they have the whole thing fenced off where you can't get in there and play. Just there to tease ya?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is everyone defending that a board game is a good topic?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's a story. I got two stories. One's about a cat with no front arms, like a T-Rex, and the other one's about a board game. Which one you wanna hear? Well, it depends if you like board games. You keep on talking about it, you're gonna


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're used to fake news and information living in a thigs house. You're getting the thigs household. Huh?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you don't have one board game. You didn't play any as a kid. As a kid, but then I learned about fun things. What was your favorite? I mean, probably the game I played the most was checkers. God, I hated checkers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think I like charades and Pictionary because I like communicating. Yeaah. I like to be challenged to communicate with someone. Cards against humanity, like, you have to make your case. No, no. You've played it? No, that's fun. Because listen, that game, if you get with the wrong group, they don't know what's funny. No, true, you have to be with the right group. You're like, man, my answer was funny. Right. None of you know what funny is. I'm leaving.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So those are the two things? Yeah. What do you guys want to see? A boring, uh, game? Cards Against Humanity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As you know, Audible is the internet's leading provider of audio entertainment with over 150,000 titles to choose from. When you're done with this episode, go to audiblepodcast.com forward slash revolutions. That again, audiblepodcast.com forward slash revolutions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By going to that address, you qualify for a free book download when you sign up for a 30-day trial membership. There is no obligation to continue the service, and you can cancel anytime and keep the free book.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can also keep going with one of the monthly subscription options and get great deals on all future audiobook purchases.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This time, I am going to go with a double feature, as both will be relevant for our latest revolution. 1776 by David McCullough, recommended by listener McShawn, and Common Sense by Thomas Paine, recommended by listener Nia L. Hopefully I'm pronouncing both of those right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I haven't actually read 1776, but McCullough's other stuff has always been top-notch, and Common Sense is of course one of the foundational texts of the American Revolution, and everyone ought to go through it at least once.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, when you're done with this episode, go to audiblepodcast.com forward slash revolutions so that they know who sent you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, welcome back to the show. We are now, as you know, jumping a hundred years forward, and three thousand miles to the left, to play out the tumultuous drama of the American Revolution. A tumultuous drama that occasionally parallels, and sometimes even explicitly recalls, the tumultuous drama of the English Revolution.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But before we can get into the guts of it, we need to do a survey of the stage and the players. So today, we'll do a quick and necessarily blunt tour of Colonial North America.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who lived there? Why did they live there? What did they do when they got there?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then we can get into the good stuff about the colonists going crazy after parliament started randomly taxing stuff at the end of the French and Indian War.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Broadly speaking, we divide the future United States into three big colonial chunks. New England, the middle colonies, and the southern colonies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Above New England was French Canada, and below Georgia was Spanish Florida. There is a map of all this at RevolutionsPodcast.com for those of you who would like to follow along at home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now each of these colonial regions was settled at a different time and for different reasons. And on the eve of the revolution, the inhabitants of each lived very different lives from one another. And indeed, one of the great feats of the revolution was binding together the separate colonies into a single unit. Something many revolutionary leaders feared was impossible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Starting up in the north, we have New England, which includes Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These days, New England also includes Maine and Vermont, but on the eve of the revolution, Maine was still a part of Massachusetts, and Vermont was populated by a bunch of unruly squatters who had not yet succeeded in breaking away from New York.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For our purposes, colonization of New England is a nice place to start, because it is an offshoot of the same Puritan movement that eventually led to the English Civil Wars that we just covered.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Shortly after King James I came to power, a group of Puritan separatists decided they couldn't hack the ungodly ways of the Church of England anymore and decamped for the Netherlands.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But a decade in Holland only convinced this congregation that Dutch was a really hard language to learn, and by 1617 they got it into their heads to maybe start over again in the New World.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As we'll see in a moment, the English had by now planted a permanent settlement at Jamestown in Virginia, and the Puritan dissenters applied for and received permission to set up a colony of their own in Virginia.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But of course, when the first hundred colonists, known to all American school children as the Pilgrims, set sail on the Mayflower in 1620, they were blown off course and wound up landing on Cape Cod instead.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Undeterred, they elected to stay and found the Plymouth colony.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The early years were of course tough for our fanatical Puritans, but with the help of some friendly American Indians, they managed to survive, establish the permanence of the colony, and invite their brethren to follow. And follow their brethren did. Between 1628 and 1642, about 20,000 Puritans abandoned England for the New World.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And of course, as we all know by now, that period corresponds exactly to the era of personal rule, when both the monarchy and the church started drifting in a tyrannical direction, at least according to the Puritans.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There is even a nice little story that I passed over, that during the early days of the long parliament, an obscure backbench MP Oliver Cromwell noted, that had parliament not passed the Grand Remonstrance in 1642, that he and his friends were prepared to pack up and move to America.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which means that world history was about 10 votes shy of Oliver Cromwell becoming an American.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As the Puritan diaspora continued through the 1630s, the other core New England colonies were founded. Connecticut came along officially in 1636, founded by men looking for a little more religious freedom than the men running Massachusetts allowed, because remember, religious freedom doesn't really mean religious freedom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Shortly thereafter, the Earl of Warwick granted a patent to Lord's Brook and Saiyan Seal to establish a settlement in Connecticut called Saybrook.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And as you'll recall, all three of those guys were in the inner circle of the parliamentary revolt against Charles I. So the connections between New England and the men who were about to start a war with the King ran very deep.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Little Colony of Rhode Island was also founded in 1636 by a guy named Roger Williams, who was looking for more religious freedom than the men running Massachusetts allowed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it wound up being populated by a group of obnoxious free thinkers who just didn't fit in anywhere else.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As a result, Rhode Island tended to go its own way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As we will see, they were very difficult to convince of the utility of non-importation agreements, they were the first colony then to declare independence from Britain, and the last state to ratify the US Constitution. There is just no accounting for Rhode Island.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Finally, we have New Hampshire, which started being settled shortly after Massachusetts, and basically became its own thing after 1629, though the on-again, off-again political connection to Massachusetts wouldn't be settled until 1691.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] New Hampshire was defined predominantly by small farming hamlets cut off from each other by the local terrain.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Economically, the New England colonies were limited by the harsh land they planted themselves on. Land that would never support the kind of huge cash crop plantations that were growing up in these southern colonies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So through the colonial period, they survived on small plots of land for food and started to engage in transatlantic trade with England, mostly providing fish, lumber, and fur to the mother country.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Through it all, the New Englanders, excepting Rhode Island of course, ran quasi-theocratic communities dominated by church leaders who were trying to put into practice beliefs that had been stifled in England.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There were more than a few Puritans on both sides of the Atlantic who saw the colonies as a laboratory for ideas that could be put into practice back in England.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But of course, the Restoration put an end to all that, and rather than being the vanguard of a Puritan Revolution in England, New England became something of a time capsule, as England resettled into its old, familiar traditions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The dominant city of New England was of course Boston, first settled in 1630, and soon became one of the main trading centers in North America, as the surrounding towns and villages shipped their produce overland to Boston for transit back to England.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On the eve of the revolution, Boston had a population of about 15,000, and believe it or not, they were not all fire-breathing radicals.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The middle colonies were settled under very different circumstances from New England, and under different circumstances from each other.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] New York was of course initially populated by the Dutch, who arrived in 1613, in between the founding of Jamestown and the founding of Plymouth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Dutch interest was focused on the fur trade, and they built a series of forts up the Hudson River to barter with the native Indians for the lucrative furs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In 1626, the leader of the Dutch merchants allegedly purchased the island of Manhattan for 60 Dutch guilders, though the details of that deal are way more complicated than the old legend about buying Manhattan for $24 worth of beads.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyway, the Dutch built New Amsterdam on the southern tip of the island, served as the capital of the New Netherlands.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the Dutch hold in North America was always precarious, and after a series of wars with Britain, the new Netherlands were handed over to the English in 1674. In exchange, the Dutch got to hold Suriname.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which probably seemed like a better deal at the time than it does today.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The English promptly renamed everything New York, after James, Duke of York, the future James II.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Aside from the trade operating out of the now renamed New York City, the economy of New York was dominated by huge, essentially feudal estates up the Hudson River, where the landlords were able to wield extensive legal power over their tenants. South of New York was New Jersey.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Starting in 1638, the area was actually colonized by the Swedes and called New Sweden, until it was absorbed by the Dutch in 1655, who then handed it over to the English in 1674.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] King Charles II then gave it to his brother James as a gift, and James turned the territory into a proprietary colony, wherein huge tracts of land are handed over to individuals or corporations who then act as a sort of private government.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Colonial New Jersey wound up being defined by a running conflict between small holding farmers who traced their claims back to the initial Dutch and Swedish settlements, and the newly arrived English aristocracy, who traced their claims to the proprietary grants from the king.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was a conflict that would run right into and then get merged with the unrest of the revolution.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] New Jersey would be reorganized as a royal colony, that is one directly under the crown, in 1702. Which I mention so that I can mention that the first royal governor of New Jersey was none other than Edward Hyde, the third Earl of Clarendon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Grandson of the Edward Hyde who was so instrumental in the history of the English Revolution.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of course, this Edward Hyde wound up being so corrupt that he was stripped of his title in 1708, whereupon New Jersey was governed by New York for the next thirty years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Speaking of proprietary colonies, the biggest was established right next door to New Jersey in 1681.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To clear out old debts to the Penn family, Charles II granted William Penn control of an enormous tract of land in the New World.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Making Pan the single largest landowner in terms of square miles of any man in the British Empire.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] William Penn was also a Quaker, one of those dissenting sacks that had flourished in the chaos of 17th century England.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By now, though, the Quakers were defined mostly by their quiet pacifism. And it was along those lines that Penn founded his colony.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Achieving probably the most enlightened relationship with the native Indians of any of the North American colonies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because many of the settlers who started filling up the colony were not Quakers. Many indeed were German Lutherans, settling on the western edges who dealt constantly with Indian attacks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The tension within Pennsylvania between the Quaker leadership and everyone else came to a head in a series of political battles that saw the Quakers essentially admit that their principles were incompatible with the rough business of actual governance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pennsylvania also boasted the city of Philadelphia, which on the eve of the revolution had a population just north of 30,000.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] was the largest and most cosmopolitan city in North America, thanks in no small part to the efforts of its most famous citizen, Benjamin Franklin, who I assure you we are about to have extensive dealings with.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The last of the middle colonies was Delaware, and is the one that earns you trivia bonus points if you say that, technically, there were only 12 original colonies, not 13.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because Delaware, known as the three lower counties, were included in the 1681 land grant to William Penn.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Though Penn quickly saw the utility of allowing the lower counties their own legislative assembly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Its attachment to Pennsylvania was always a little strange, because as you can see from the map, if anything, Delaware should have been a part of Maryland. But it wasn't. And though it was technically a part of Pennsylvania, it achieved more than enough de facto autonomy to be considered by everyone, both past and present, to be its own colony.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The economy of the middle colonies was a mix of agriculture and trade.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The land was better than New England, and the barons of Hudson Valley, for example, were able to run their operations like little kingdoms.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The western frontier became populated with small-hole farmers, while the coastal areas became dominated by merchants operating out of New York City and Philadelphia.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These two groups did not necessarily see eye to eye on how to run things, with the western farmers always chafing under the thumb of the coastal elites.