CBS/Judge Judy
Judge Judy Strikes Out in Bid to Toss $5 Million Lawsuit
Judith "Judge Judy" Sheindlin's attempts to have a $5 million lawsuit against her and CBS, surrounding profits from the sale of her courtroom reality show's library, was rejected by a Los Angeles Superior Court today. Judge Patricia Nieto denied Sheindlin's request, according to Deadline, on multiple causes of actions.
Last August, Rebel Entertainment Partners sued Sheindlin and ViacomCBS over the $95 million sale of the Judge Judy television catalog during the time Les Moonves was the chairman of CBS. Sheindlin argued Rebel had no grounds to sue on the contract because they were a third-party beneficiary.
Rebel, along with talent agent Richard Lawrence and his firm Abrams, Rubaloff & Lawrence, were the original packager for the deal. Rebel's attorney Bryan Freedman told Deadline in a statement:
In March, Judge Judy’s frivolous lawsuit against Rebel and Richard Lawrence was dismissed after the judge properly found that she lacked standing to sue. Ironically, Judy then asserted that Rebel lacked standing to sue her. The Court has correctly rejected this meritless argument. CBS and Judy have intentionally ignored the rights of the profit participants that made their success possible. That behavior will not be tolerated.
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Both sides vow to fight this all the way to trial. CBS remained mum on the ruling, but Sheindlin remarked:
Richard Lawrence has garnered 22 plus million dollars although I have seen him only once in an elevator since our program began 25 years ago. Look forward to a trial.
