Judge Judy has hailed a California appeals court which affirmed an earlier ruling that she was entitled to her $47 million CBS salary - despite an agent's claims that the monster payout was eating into profits he gets a share of.
'It's always gratifying when the correct judgment is affirmed,' Sheindlin told Deadline after the ruling was announced on June 30 but emerged earlier this week.
The lawsuit was originally filed by Rebel Entertainment Partners boss Richard Lawrence in 2016, over a deal it inherited which guaranteed the firm five per cent of the profits made by the TV star's popular CBS show.
Lawrence's suit and appeal claimed the huge pay rises given to Sheindlin - which saw her annual wage double from just over $20m to $47m in 2010 - ate into the profits he was owed as part of his deal.
That is because the extra cash used to pay Sheindlin's bumper check pushed up production costs, and lowered the profit the network made from the show.
Judge Judy is entitled to her $47million salary, a California court ruled, after the agency behind the famed judge's television show Rebel Entertainment Partners claimed otherwise
Rebel Entertainment Partners owner Richard Lawrence filed a lawsuit in 2016 claiming CBS was unreasonable for paying Sheindlin so much. The suit also said Sheindlin accepted the salary as a 'proceed' tied to the 'costs of production' as a way to deny profits to Lawrence
Formally Judy Susan Sheindlin, the 78-year-old received a hefty raise in 2010, doubling her wages to $45million and then to $47million as season 25 of Judge Judy aired on CBS last month.
Rebel claimed Judge Judy did not stick to the terms of their deal, which was originally agreed upon with Abrams Rubaloff & Lawrence, the agency that first proposed Judge Judy to TV studios and collected fees for doing so.
When Rebel took over the show, it therefore entitled the agency's owner Richard Lawrence to five per cent of Judge Judy's net profits for an infinite amount of time.
Formally Judy Susan Sheindlin, the 78-year-old received a hefty raise in 2010, doubling her wages to $45million and then to $47million as season 25 of Judge
