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Another lawsuit against Judge Judy

Original series producers want a slice of the lucrative Judge Judy earnings.

Judge Judy is at the centre of a lawsuit by two of the series’ original producers, over “breach of contract, unjust enrichment and civil conspiracy.”

Kaye Switzer and the Sandi Spreckman Trust are suing Big Ticket Television, CBS and Judy Sheindlin, claiming they should have been paid at least $US4.75 million when the series library was sold back to the network in 2017.

Switzer and Spreckman approached Sheindlin in the mid-’90s and pitched the then-family court judge the idea of taking her career to television. The producers left the series shortly after the ink was dry on the deal, and Spreckman died in 2009. According to their complaint, they were each promised compensation for the life of the series, even if they weren’t contracted to continue producing it.

Big Ticket and CBS transferred the Judge Judy library to Sheindlin during 2015 negotiations for more episodes of the hit series, and she turned around and sold the library back to CBS in 2017 for more than $95 million, according to the complaint.

With an annual salary of $US47 million, Sheindlin is No. 2 on the list of America’s highest-paid reality or news hosts. In 2016 talent agency Rebel Entertainment Partners claimed that it had not received contractually obligated payments for Judge Judy since 2010, because the show is losing money due to Sheindlin’s annual salary.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

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