Judge Judy & CBS Get $95M Series Library Sale Suit Dismissed; Appeal Planned By Rebel Entertainment

Dominic Patten
·3 min read
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The dogfight between Judith Sheindlin and CBS against Rebel Entertainment Partners over the $95 million sale of the Judy Judy library is over, but not finished.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kristin S. Escalante has granted a motion by Sheindlin, Big Ticket Pictures and the Paramount Global-owned CBS to dismiss the two-year-old suit from self-described “successor in interest” Rebel over the more than $5 million the latter claims it is owed for the admittedly convoluted 2017 sale.

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“Defendants Big Ticket Pictures, Inc.; CBS Studios, Inc.; CBS Corporation; Judith Sheindlin; and Her Honor, Inc. are entitled to judgment in their favor on all causes of action as fully reflected in the Order, which is signed and filed on this date and incorporated herein by reference to the Court file,” the judge wrote in a September 28 minutes order (read it here).

The judge added later in the day in her official order: “Given the foregoing conclusions, the court does not need to reach the question whether CBS’ s reacquisition of rights from Sheindlin constituted a ‘sale’ by Sheindlin to CBS under the 1999 Settlement Agreement” (read it here).

However, before the victory dances commence, the Freedman + Taitelman-represented Rebel has a tune of its own to play.

“The judge found that despite CBS’s consistent denial that a sale of the Judge Judy library had never occurred, CBS’s own financial records showed that not to be the case,” Hollywood heavyweight attorney Bryan Freedman told Deadline on Thursday. “Given that fact this matter will be decided in the court of appeal. We are confident that the court of appeal will rule in our client’s favor.”

Contacted by Deadline, reps for Sheindlin, now the host of Judy Justice, had no comment on the ruling in the often acidic suit. CBS Media Ventures also had no comment. Sheindlin and her Her Honor shingle, CBS and Big Ticket were represented in this case by Loeb & Loeb’s Jim Curry.

Amid a series of lawsuits over the 25 seasons of the highly profitable and much-watched courtroom series, including one other suit by Rebel, the jury-seeking matter was first filed in the heart of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in August 2020. Tagging ex-CBS overlord Les Moonves, former CBS programming chief Armando Nuñez, Sheindlin and others over the seemingly low-balled sale of the now-defunct series five years ago, Rebel alleged it was owed 5% of any profits from Judge Judy the show, as well as a piece of corresponding enrichments like the on-again, off-again and on-again 2017 library sale.

Needless to say, Sheindlin and CBS made it clear they thought original Judge Judy packager talent agent Richard Lawrence and his Abrams, Rubaloff & Lawrence firm had gotten way over their skis on this one. “If Mr. Lawrence can produce a contract, signed by me and Mr. Lawrence on the same page, at any time in history from the beginning of time, I will toast that contract, smear it with cream cheese and eat it on national television,” Sheindlin told Deadline at the time. No contract and no such feasting has occurred, it should be noted.

Now, in the irony that lies at the heart of the business of Hollywood, the latest suit will have another half-life in appeals, even as all the parties involved have all but moved on to other things.

Once efforts to reach an agreement with CBS TV Distribution for more seasons of the Emmy-winning daytimer, which paid her $47 million a year, fell flat, Sheindlin announced the end of Judge Judy in 2020. Linking up with former CBS executive Scott Koondel’s Sox Entertainment, the former Manhattan family court judge was soon pitching a new series. That show found a lucrative home on streaming with the November 2021 debut of Judy Justice on the Amazon-owned IMDb TV, now called Freevee.

Judy Justice was renewed for a second season in March, with new episodes expected soon.

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