A Hollywood agency called Rebel Entertainment Partners has filed a breach of contract lawsuit against CBS regarding the show "Judge Judy." The plaintiffs claim that they have been denied contractually obligated payments since 2010 from the 19-season series.
In a report by Deadline, the lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, questioning the $47 million annual salary of Judge Judy Sheindlin as well as her profits. However, she was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs only named CBS noting that they reportedly told them the show is losing money, thus the unpaid payments since 2010.
The lawsuit adds that the defendants told them before Sheindlin got a pay raise that the net profits of "Judge Judy" was $3,572,195 and five percent of it, which amounted to $178,609, was paid to Rebel Entertainment Partners. Six months after Sheindlin got a pay raise, the plaintiffs claim that the defendants reported net profits of negative $3,195,217. Rebel Entertainment Partners then got only $159, 761. In total, the plaintiff has received around $6.4 million from their share from the show, says The Hollywood Reporter.
The plaintiffs also wrote that the defendants "further reduced Rebel's net profits by licensing the Show to CBS's corporate affiliates - television stations owned or operated by CBS - for below-market fees in transactions that were not negotiated at arms-length."
Other agreements reportedly breached by CBS include Rebel Entertainment Partners supposedly being part of the discussion regarding any spin-off, remake, sequel or episodic television series derived from "Judge Judy."
The show "Hot Bench" has also been cited as it is a spin-off from the long-running series and Rebel Entertainment Partners was not contacted by anyone from the defendants to discuss a packaging fee. However, the defendants then said that "Hot Bench" is not a spin-off despite being created by Sheindlin but it is produced and distributed by the same companies as "Judge Judy."
Rebel Entertainment Partners also called the compensation of Sheindlin as "grossly inconsistent with customary practice" as no one in the industry has come close to her $47-M salary, Fortune reported.
CBS has not yet commented but Sheindlin has. She said in a statement that the agency complaining about her salary is "hilarious." She added that "complaining about not getting enough money, that's real chutzpah!" According to her, the idea that she and Rebel Entertainment Partners were involved in the creation of Hot Bench "is equally laughable."
