‘Judge Judy’ Producers Beat Lawsuit Over Star’s $47 Million Pay

The makers of television’s “Judge Judy” did not breach their contract with a talent agency by increasing the salary of Judy Sheindlin, the show’s star, to $47 million and treating it as a production expense, a California appellate court said Friday.

The predecessor of Rebel Entertainment Partners Inc. sold a court-oriented show featuring Sheindlin, a former New York family court judge, to producers Big Ticket Television Inc. and distributor CBS Corp. in 1995. As part of the transaction, CBS agreed to pay Rebel 5% of the show’s “defined proceeds,” calculated by gross receipts minus production expenses.

In 2009, CBS doubled ...