TV personality Judy Sheindlin is in the middle of a personal legal battle. The TV host was sued by Rebel Entertainment Partners regarding contractual obligations.
The talent agency claimed in the suit that it did not receive any payment from the TV host since the year 2010. It further claimed that it was losing money due to Sheindlin's $47 million salary.
The TV host, however, issued a statement, saying she had only met Richard Lawrence, the CEO of the company for 2 hours 21 years ago. She has never nor her production group heard from him ever again in 20 years. She added that he hasn't given her any card, gift, flowers not even a congratulations but she said that he already received $17 million from her program before he came out and claimed that he didn't receive any. "Now complaining about not getting enough money, that's real chutzpah," the TV personality said, as reported by Variety.
Bryan J. Freeman, Rebel's attorney, said that defendants in the show agree to pay Scheindlin an upfront salary that goes in excess of any person in a non-scripted television and eventually included that money to the show's production expenses. This prevented Rebel from getting any backend compensation, according to Daily Star.
CBS renewed Scheindlin's contract in 2013 that was further extended to 2015. Rebel claimed that her show earned a gross income of $1.7 billion since it started way back in 1996. Rebel continuously received payments from her until the year 2010, as per Fox News.
The suit also said that CBS was required to discuss with Rebel any "Judge Judy" spinoff which CBS failed to do before the start of her new program "Hot Bench". Scheindlin rebutted arguing why will she even talk about her new program to Lawrence when he hasn't spoken to her for 20 years. The suit further claims that Scheindlin's salary is grossly inconsistent with customary practices in the television industry.
