Appeals Court Rule Judge Judy’s $47 Million Salary Isn’t Excessive

A three-judge panel ruled that Judith Sheindlin’s salary from her hit daytime show “Judge Judy“ is all hers.

“It’s always gratifying when the correct judgment is affirmed,” the 78-year-old daytime host said.

CBS and Sheindlin, one of the highest-paid TV hosts, has been entwined in a six-year court battle with Rebel Entertainment. The latter claims that the Manhattan family court Judge’s salary is unreasonable and that she accepted the salary to limit profits for the agency.

Sheindlin’s pay rose from $20 million to $47 million in 2010. Rebel Entertainment’s lawyers compared Sheindlin’s salary to David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Conan O’Brien’s earnings. The lawsuit states that the three men had annual salaries of $28 million or less.

“Any apportionment of Sheindlin’s salary to some form of profit participation would, by definition, introduce risk that Sheindlin was unwilling to accept,” the Court opinion said. “I any event, we have discovered no authority, and Rebel offers none, obligating an entity to reclassify a performer’s salary as something other than salary for accounting purposes.”

“Rebel argues CBS breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing by injuring Rebel’s right to receive benefits from the agency agreement,” the Court opinion says.

“For reasons discussed above, we disagree. Rebel lost benefits under the agency agreement, not because of any action by CBS. Still, because Sheindlin demanded a large salary, the agreement provided that a performer’s salary constitutes a cost of production. The agreement further provided Rebel’s benefit would be reduced by the costs of production.”

In 2018, LA Superior Court Judge Rupert A. Byrdsong ruled that Sheindlin’s salary was acceptable.

Rebel Entertainment’s attorney is not happy about the Courts ruling.

“My client’s lawsuits against CBS continue to move forward, and we are committed to right this wrong,” Bryan Freedman, a lawyer at Freedman + Taitelman, said.

“Studios and Networks being allowed to deny backend compensation to profit participants by artificially increasing costs is patently unjust,” the lawyer said. “The message should be sent as a warning to all backend participants that before they sign any agreements to make sure the studio does have the ability to redistribute costs and eliminate agreed upon back end compensation.”

The last original episode of Judge Judy aired last month. The show ran for 25 seasons and aired 12,500 episodes through CBS. Sheindlin is working with Amazon Studios’ IMDb TV division on “Justice” — the show will premiere later this year.