Judge Judy's $47 million salary dispute. Real judge gives the verdict on whether its too high

A real judge said that the TV judge’s salary wasn’t too much.

CBS won a legal battle as Los Angeles Supreme Court Judge dismissed a claim that Judy Sheindlin’s salary was too high, according to Hollywood Reporter.

Judge Joanne O'Donnell dismissed a talent agency’s claim that the Sheindlin compensation was structured with a view to wiping out profits on the syndicated hit.

The Judge ruled that Sheindlin’s $47 million-per-year salary was not too high.

The agency, Rebel Entertainment Partners, had claimed that the pay was structured to deny a fair share of profit participation from the show. The agency had originally packaged Judge Judy in the 1990’s.

The agency, headed by Richard Lawrence, filed the lawsuit in March 2016 against CBS and Big Ticket Television. It had asserted that it was entitled to a five percent share of net profits.

However, accounting statements show the syndicated show was running a deficit since February 2010 largely due to Sheindlin’s huge salary package that was deducted as production cost. Rebel Entertainment said that once Sheindlin’s salary doubled nearly a decade ago, it wiped out profits.

CBS, on the other hand, argued that the agency cannot challenge production costs. The network insisted that the salary paid to Judy Sheindlin was necessary to keep Judge Judy on the air.

The Judge hearing the case was satisfied with CBS’s actions for the continuation of the show. However, Rebel Entertainment is not completely losing the case.

It made another claim that it was not included in the deal for Hot Bench, which it said was a spinoff and demanded compensation under the original deal.

The court was not ready to dismiss this claim as well. Judge O'Donnell said that the court cannot conclude that the new show was not an ‘episodic television series’ based upon Judge Judy.

Bryan Freedman, the Rebel attorney, said in a statement that they were pleased the court denied ‘CBS’s attempt to eliminate Rebel’s substantial interest in Hot Bench.

He added that they plan to take the matter of Judy Sheindlin’s salary to the superior court indicating that the case was not over yet.