Judge Judy’s salary revealed in new lawsuit!

Judge Judith Sheindlin was a Family Court Judge in the Bronx when she was featured on a segment of 60 Minutes in 1993. Judith’s no-nonsense and direct personality instantly won over viewers nationwide, and in 1996 Judge Judy was born.

More than 19 years later, Judge Judy is the number one syndicated show on television, averaging over 10 million viewers a day. The huge popularity of the show combined with the show’s low budget and the fact that Judy is basically the entire cast most certainly meant Judge Judy was making a boatload of money, with Forbes predicting that she earned $45 million in 2011.

Thanks to a new lawsuit, the “How much does Judge Judy make?” question has finally officially been answered, and Forbes was 100% on the money — literally!

The lawsuit was filed by Rebel Entertainment Partners, who claimed that the way that Judge Judy’s contract is structured prevented them from receiving their commission. From The Hollywood Reporter:

Rebel is the successor-in-interest to the talent agency that packaged Judge Judy and is due fee of 5 percent of the net profits per an August 1995 agreement, according to the complaint. Under the agreement, Big Ticket, a division of CBS, can deduct direct out-of-pocket production and distribution costs.

In 2009, Big Ticket more than doubled Sheindlin’s salary to $45 million and changed its compensation structure in a way that purposefully prevented the show from earning net profits, according to the suit.

From 1996-2007, Rebel received about $6.4 million from its share of the show, but has not received a dime in backend compensation since February 2010.

 

So there you have it! Judge Judy makes $45 million dollars a year! The lawsuit also reveals Judge Judy’s total gross income since the show began is more than $1.7 billion! $1.7 BILLION!!

And remember, that number is only Judge Judy’s salary from doing the show — it doesn’t include her extra income, including appearances, guest starring roles, and her numerous best-selling books, which include Don’t Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It’s Raining: America’s Toughest Family Court Judge Speaks Out.

As far as the lawsuit goes, Judge Judy seems unconcerned. “The fact that Richard Lawrence [President of Rebel] is complaining about my salary is actually hilarious,” Judy told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. “I met Mr. Lawrence for 2 hours some twenty-one years ago. 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. Yet he has somehow received over $17,000,000 from my program. My rudimentary math translates that into $8,500,000 an hour for Mr. Lawrence. Not a bad payday. Now complaining about not getting enough money, that’s real chutzpah! Since I have not spoken with Mr. Lawrence in over 20 years, to suggest that he had any involvement in my creating Hot Bench is equally laughable.”

Judge Judy rules in favor of the defendant.