When Ms. Bruckner entered her rental property in November 2013, she didn’t see the home she had painstakingly remodeled two years prior. Instead, she saw a “disaster zone.” There were holes in the walls, piles of rubbish, and—most alarmingly—thick, black mold spreading across the drywall.
Convinced she knew the cause, she hauled her former tenant, Mr. Bowe, into Judge Judy’s courtroom. Her claim? That Mr. Bowe and his wife had turned the house into an illegal marijuana grow operation, and the resulting humidity had rotted the house from the inside out.
The “Pigpen” and the Missing Proof
The tension was high as Ms. Bruckner presented “before and after” photos. Judge Judy was quick to point out that Mr. Bowe had indeed left the place looking like a “pigpen,” filled with garbage and junk. However, when it came to the criminal allegations, the case began to crumble.
Ms. Bruckner claimed her contractor “smelled” marijuana and found specialized lights in the shed. But Judge Judy, ever the stickler for evidence, wasn’t moved. “I don’t see any lights in these pictures,” she barked. Furthermore, the photos showed a house already being torn apart by contractors. “You allowed your contractor to start ripping apart the house, and then you took pictures?” Judy asked, incredulous.
The Contractor’s Fatal Flaw
The turning point came when the discussion shifted to the mold. Ms. Bruckner insisted the tenants caused it through their alleged grow op. Judge Judy demanded to see the professional remediation report.
“I’m looking for the word ‘mold’ in these reports,” Judge Judy said, flipping through the paperwork. “And I am not seeing where he specifically wrote ‘mold’.”
Ms. Bruckner’s father tried to interject, arguing that the massive bill for replacing sheetrock was obviously because of mold. Judy wasn’t having it. She explained that in the real world, if you have mold, you hire a certified mold inspector—not just a general contractor who fails to even mention the problem in his invoice.
The “Smoking Gun” Text Message
The final blow came not from the landlord, but from a text message sent by the tenant. While Ms. Bruckner claimed she was never told about the issues, Mr. Bowe produced a conversation that painted a very different picture.
In the texts, Mr. Bowe complained about washing dishes in the bathtub and explicitly mentioned the mold “a long time ago.” He even invited Ms. Bruckner over for dinner, expressing his desire to keep a good relationship while firmly stating the structural issues weren’t his fault.
The Final Verdict
Judge Judy had heard enough. She realized that while the tenants were messy, the mold was a long-standing structural issue that the landlord had failed to address.
“He’s not redoing your house, Madam,” Judy declared. She noted that even upscale buildings can have “black gunk” under the floorboards, and it is the landlord’s responsibility to catch it.
The Ruling: Ms. Bruckner’s case for thousands of dollars in repairs was dismissed. Mr. Bowe’s counterclaim was also dismissed—he didn’t get his rent back, but he walked out of the courtroom free from the shadow of the “grow op” allegations.
As Judge Judy famously put it: “He’s not even paying to clean up the rubbish, ’cause I think they lived with mold, and you should have taken care of it before. Bye!”