A new lawsuit claims that Judge Judy gets paid too much.
Every mid afternoon Judge Judy graces audiences across the world with her wit, attitude and knowledge of the law. But, one group of people are a little upset with the reality star and are suing the judge for getting paid way too much.
A new lawsuit claims that popular TV judge Judy Sheindlin’s paycheck is cutting into the profits owed to a company associated with the series. According to the lawsuit, Rebel Entertainment discovered Judge Judy and pitched the show to executives. Now, Rebel wants a piece of the action.
From The Wrap:
In the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, Rebel Entertainment Partners — described as “the successor-in-interest to the talent agency that packaged the Show” — claims that the company’s principle, Richard Lawrence, met Sheindlin more than two decades ago, “recognized Sheindlin’s star potential and successfully pitched” the court show “Judge Judy.”
An agreement was struck in which Rebel’s predecessor-in-interest would receive 5 percent of the show’s net profits, the lawsuit claims. However, according to the suit, CBS and Big Ticket “have acted in blatant disregard of these contractual obligations to Rebel.”
The suit claims that, despite “Judge Judy” having generated more than $1.7 billion over 19 seasons, the defendants found ways to make it appear that the show is in the red. Among the ways that CBS and Big Ticket have allegedly bilked Rebel out of profits, according to the lawsuit: By more than doubling Sheindlin’s compensation to $45 million in 2009, “thereby wiping out Rebel’s net profits.”
Judge Judy spoke with The Wrap and said, “Neither I nor anyone involved in the day-to-day production of my program has heard from him in 20 years. Not a card, not a gift, not a flower, not a congratulations,” Sheindlin said. “Yet he has somehow received over $17,000,000 from my program.”
